Gay TV and Straight America Review
Becker, Ron. "Gay TV and Straight America", Rutgers University Press, 2006.
Ending the Silence
Amos Lassen
As we learn in Steve Capsuto's fascinating study on gays on TV and radio, Ron Becker takes us one step further as the looks at the 1990's and the increase in programming that incorporated and/or centered on gay material. So many shows dealt wih gays--"Friends", "Seinfeld", "Homocide", "Ellen", "Will and Grace, "Party of Five" and so on. Gay and lesbian relationships were explored and often in detail. Becker looks at the politics and the culture of the age and explains the new trend in gay iamages and representation on the little screen. He shows Supreme Court rulings and the media coerage of civil rights as well as debates, political correctness and so much more to explain how we got to be where we are today. He looks at the business strategies of the networks as they targeted a new section of society and consifered the limits of how far they could go. He also looks at mainstream anxiety and the audiences that embraced the new GLBT material.
There are stil controversies over what is broadcast yet millions turn on their TVs to see the new programming. We cannot really take this as a sign that we have arrived but it is a lot better than it was.
Gay TV and Straight America Overview
After decades of silence on the subject of homosexuality, television in the 1990s saw a striking increase in programming that incorporated and, in many cases, centered on gay material. In shows including "Friends", "Seinfeld", "Party of Five", "Homicide", "Suddenly Susan", "The Commish", "Ellen", "Will & Grace", and others, gay characters were introduced, references to homosexuality became commonplace, and issues of gay and lesbian relationships were explored, often in explicit detail. In "Gay TV and Straight America", Ron Becker draws on a wide range of political and cultural indicators to explain this sudden upsurge of gay material on prime-time network television. Bringing together analysis of relevant Supreme Court rulings, media coverage of gay rights battles, debates about multiculturalism, concerns over political correctness, and much more, Becker's assessment helps us understand how and why televised gayness was constructed by a specific culture of tastemakers during the decade. On one hand the evidence points to network business strategies that embraced gay material as a valuable tool for targeting a quality audience of well-educated, upscale adults looking for something "edgy" to watch. But, Becker also argues that the increase of gay material in the public eye creates growing mainstream anxiety in reaction to the seemingly civil public conversation about equal rights. In today's cultural climate where controversies rage over issues of gay marriage yet millions of viewers tune in weekly to programs like "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", this book offers valuable insight to the complex condition of America's sexual politics.
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