The Medium is the Message: Formatting and LGBT Representations on Television

          LGBT programming is a slippery slope and difficult to entirely theorize without stepping on too many toes, as the readings this week have demonstrated. Moreover, as with other minorities and their representation in media, the risk of making generalizations and broad, sweeping statements is fairly high. Nevertheless, these representations have become ever more prevalent in various forms of television as the medium has developed, as Walters notes in her historical outline. What I find fascinating is the manner in which different program formats themselves can be receptive to LGBT programming, even beyond channels that push their branding as such.

            For instance, the sitcom is a captivating example of the double-standards that operate in representations of homosexuals on television and heterosexuals that need to ‘deal’ with these characters. As Walter notes, regular, recurring homosexual characters on television bring different associations to an audience than dramatic art-house films that are selectively sought out. Television itself emphasizes notions of intimacy and familiarity that are particularly receptive to the half-hour sitcom format, which recurs frequently and presents a relatively cyclical structure and/or self-contained universe where problems often arise and are resolved within a single episode’s running time. The episode of Ellen where Ellen comes out to her parents both adheres to and defies this. On the one hand, Ellen’s homosexuality can’t be contained or rectified via the traditional sitcom narrative, as her sexuality is a core part of her identity rather than an ‘issue’ to be resolved. Nevertheless, the issue at stake in this episode – her parents’ initially negative reaction to the revelation of her true sexuality – does adhere to sitcom tendencies as by the end of the episode her parents have blissfully learned to accept their daughter’s choices and miraculously rectified their previous opinions. Ellen’s mother even assumes a satirical role in her final attempts to match-make her daughter with a female doctor, suggesting that parents will always have their own ideas and hopes for their children’s partners, regardless of sexual orientation. While this normalizes the discourse of homosexuality to a large extent, it also erases potential dissonances and homophobic opinions through the easy plot resolution and the jokes that cushion the blow. As Walters highlights, here homophobia is again not made visible in the same manner as homosexual characters are; this particular prejudice is very quickly stifled rather than examined and critiqued in greater detail.

            Orange Is the New Black presents an interesting counterpoint, capitalizing upon Netflix’s status as an online distributor and purpose-built producing company in order to deliver comparatively more daring and unorthodox content. This drama presents complex layers of lesbianism in its characterization and setting in a women’s correctional facility. Though homosexuality seems to be a simple fact of life in such a setting, the program engages with some problematic representations of lesbians and the choices surrounding lesbian lifestyles. For instance, Piper’s relationship with her ex-girlfriend is presented as something that was merely an ‘experimental phase’ during her post-college years. Her heterosexual tendencies and heteronormative life with her fiancé afterwards is presented as the ‘legitimate’ life she led that was taken away from her when she was sent to prison. Her hesitant relationship with Crazy Eyes, who is presented as a desperate and mentally unhinged stalker/’prison-wife’ further emphasizes problematic lesbian representations. Finally, her ex-girlfriend is depicted as irresponsible and the reason Piper was caught in the first place. All this works to paint lesbians in a mostly negative light, replicating the standard that Larry Gross cites where gay characters are represented as either victims or villains; in this case, it’s clearly the latter. Ultimately, while the program may relatively break new ground in its thematic and online format, it has trouble portraying homosexuality in all its complexity.