> I love Queer Eye, for so many reasons. "Boy Meets Boy" I was less fascinated
> by overall, *except* the final episode was really interesting and Chuck0, I
> would love to hear your take on it. I was intrigued that the straight guys
> seemed to feel they had been "promoting understanding" by pretending to be
> gay on the show -- challenging assumptions, stereotypes about who is gay,
> etc. while the gay guys seemed angry at them for the deception, and felt the
> whole thing perpetuated and trivialized the oppression gay folks already
> have to deal with. aside from the fact that the gay guys are kind of silly
> to think the show would have been AT ALL interesting without the "who's
> straight" intrigue...I thought it was fun that the show seemed to be
> challenging its own legitimacy even within its climactic (and of course most
> watched) final episode, allowing debate over its entire premise. It would be
> cool if Queer Eye would similarly challenge/question its own social meaning,
> as they would probably do it much more artfully and amusingly.
Let's just say that my jaw dropped during the final episode when the "queers and their allies" discussion broke out. The producers didn't have to include that part, although it was a crucial part of the remarks directed at Franklin, the straight guy who was "eliminated" during the final cut. You expect to hear stiff like that around activists and radical circles, not on corporate TV. Of course, the show was about normalizing gay men and that came out in the interviews with the straight contestents who explained why they had decided to do the show. The queer ally stuff that was brought up by the gay men on the show is totally valid, but I think that it's important to see the big picture. A
TV show that presented gay men in all their difference, took the idea of non-hetero love and attraction seriously, and showed really cute straight guys showing support for queer people, was pretty groundbreaking.
And I think the gay men on the show understand that, since several of them are friends now with several of the straight contestents. I've checked the show several times since it ended and found out that several of the gay contestent are friends with Dan, who was the cute blonde actor who was one of the early straight guys that was eliminated.
Some people will argue that the whole covert straight guy thing really distracted from what could have been a strictly queer show. To some extent, you need an angle like this to make reality television more interesting. But I think that the straight guy angle was an integral part of the objectives of the show, which was to send a message to straight America that there are cute straight guys who have no problem with queer men and that queer people are just as crazy and fascinating when it comes to relationships as straight people.
Some of the more radical queers might dismiss this analysis and the show as being assimilationist and lame, but let's remember that there are many people in our society who are very homophobic still, despite all the progress queers have made in the last few decades. I watched the final episodes of Boy Meets boy at my parent's house here in Kansas City. I still remember an incident less than 20 years ago, when I came home from college for the weekend and discovered my sister wearing a "Fagbusters" t-shirt. I went ballistic on her because my college had just been through a controversy concerning that t-shirt. SO I look back at that and then marvel at what I see on TV these days.
I agree that Queer Eye would be more interesting if it questioned things a bit more. I just like it because it's a friendly show and I like all the tips and the people on it. At least there is more of this stuff on TV. We progressives are good about whining about the media monopoly, but I'm seeing some big opening on cable TV for more radical content.
<< Chuck0 >>
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"...ironically, perhaps, the best organised dissenters in the world today are anarchists, who are busily undermining capitalism while the rest of the left is still trying to form committees."
-- Jeremy Hardy, The Guardian (UK)