Whilst
today's programs afford the homosexual community some visibility,
it's hardly wide'ranging. The Fab Five are slotted straight
into the gay man stereotype ' fun, fashionable, fickle ' and the
Madonna'Brit'Christina'three'way boils down to performance lesbianism
acted out for attention, not attraction.
According
to Gay and Lesbian Rights Activist, David McCarthy, it's
this portrayal of homosexuality as something to dabble in, or
a 'lifestyle choice', that ignores the social, financial
and emotional hardships attached to being gay.
It's
a concern shared by Gay and Lesbian Rights lobbyist, Catherine
Roberts. "The media only focuses on the saucy, sleazy aspects
of our community," she said.
Gay
prime time characters have been represented on TV to date as one'dimensional.
Jack from Will & Grace is that funny gay guy that everyone
can laugh at and Will is that sensitive gay guy that is the perfect
male friend. Carol from Friends is merely the butt of tiring jibes
from Chandler and Joey and Jack is perpetually unlucky in love
in Dawson's Creek. There's a reason for this: none
of these gay characters have other permanent cast members with
whom they may enter into relationships or sustain an issue'based
storyline. Such is the difficulty faced by television producers
who must then make entire casts gay (a la Queer As Folk and The
L Word) to develop gay characters beyond their sexual identity.
Until
recently, the sensibility of the homosexual community was used
as an excuse for networks not to include gay representation on
TV at all. However, as Queensland University of Technology Media
Commentator Brooke Harris noted, homosexual groups have lobbied
for more representation as "often, the media is the only
source that can allow members of the gay and lesbian community
to realise that there are others just like them."
In
the US, a surge of advertising revenue has been pumped into the
gay press. In 2001, advertising revenue doubled to $208 million
from $100 million, four years before. The increase has been attributed
in part to the "Will & Grace spill over effect"
where an upscale gay male in New York City buys a new product,
raves about it to his educated, urban female friend who in turn,
influences the purchasing decisions of her affluent friends and
their boyfriends. So what begins as a gay'targeted marketing campaign
in a gay publication becomes an effective, cheaper way to promote
a product in the mainstream.
Despite
evidence of successful advertising in a gay'orientated medium,
Australian advertisers are proving a little more conservative.
When Channel 7 bought into the lust for lesbians with recent series,
The L Word which centres around the lives of five hot LA lesbians,
major advertisers (including Just Jeans, Allianz, Roche, Centrum
and DaimlerChrysler) pulled their support. This came at the insistence
of the Christian right who objected to the show's "immorality".
Advertising worries aside, the show has also been criticised for
giving a false impression of all lesbians being beautiful. But
since when has television shown an accurate cross'section of society?
Not
all advertisers are so homophobic. Some are lapping up the money'making
opportunities that gay television is creating. For example, Queer
Eye, from which an Australian series has been spawned, has been
described in New York Magazine as less about the "understanding
between homos and heteros. It's about the mutual understanding
between Bravo/NBC and Diesel...Robert Cavalli and Ralph Lauren".
Regardless
of what has brought about the heightened demand for more gay television,
it's here, popular and likely to increase. And while the
political struggles that came to the fore with the first representation
of Bon and Peter in '72 have been overshadowed by fashion
and dollar signs, gay representation on prime time is still stimulating
public debate. That discussion might be led for now by John Laws
complaining about how boring it is to see "poofs painting
a room" on The Block, but it's a start. Gay people
on TV have got straight tongues wagging.