Sounds interesting... the guardian headline is a wee bit knee-jerk, if we're serious about free speech we have to listen to everyone who has a strong opinion after all. It'd be a bit of a pointless study if it didn't engage with everyone, hopefully there'll be sufficient input from sensible, sane folk to drown the bigoted areseholes. Can't say I've ever been all that impressed with the beebs portrayal of lgbt folk, nor most other tv shows, though not sure if that's really my call to make anyway. Reckon I've got a fair right to an opinion when it comes to their portrayal of heterosexual white 20-something semi-professional/semi-slacker scottish males, which tends to vary greatly depending on the quality of the program.
Not at all. You don't have to be gay to spot crap portrayal. My main gripe is "comedy" gays are still the same old camp mincing queens, as they have been since.. the 1890s?
Actually, yeah, when i was filling in their questionnaire it struck me that i did have stuff to say that was relevant. So I'm gonna write a bunch of it here becuase i'm over caffeinated.
I want to see gay characters who are believeable and act like real people, and have gay folk talked about like anyone else. Basically I want them to be treated as real people and their sexuality to be a part of who they are, rather than the entirety of it.
You're right about the comedy bit, the "only gay in the village" from little britain kept coming to mind. It's kinda funny and the ludicrous stereotype is part of the joke, well basically all of the joke... in fact you could see it as a commentary on media portrayal of gays, that might be a bit deep for little britain though. But that ludicrous stereotype seems to be the only joke anyone can find to make about gays, and yet we can find a lot to say about heterosexual relationships.
Comedy falls into the trap of allowing "gay" to be the entirety of a character; "sitcom pitch #1 - we'll have a stoner, a policeman, a black man and a gay guy all inexplicably living in a flat together. it'll be hilarious!"
Comedy lives on these stereotypes, and often they're harmful. If you're white and male you can have a personality, you might be allowed one if you're a woman or even sometimes if you're black, but if you're gay then that will almost certainly define you.
I can't think of a sensible portrayal of gays in comedy; there must be one surely?
The media's treatment of gay folk bugs me too; I'm impressed that the wire has a couple of major gay characters and I've rarely seen the media mention it, even when one of them is regularly cited as a favourite. That's how it should be, i feel - if the character's sexuality isn't a central issue then there's no need to mention it. It't not perfect, mind you, i did find the "wooo lesbians, look two sets of boobs!" scene a bit much. The same goes for news, all too often it'll make a point of mentioning when someone is gay even when it's not relevant in the slightest.
All that said I think the beeb does better than most other media, but I'm glad they're asking and hopefully they'll continue to improve.
man, sorry for waffling at you, coffee for breakfast and my mind isn't quiet working right yet!
You might also like Stonewall's report on BBC TV's portrayal of teh gays (2006): PDF here - my office also did one about the Scottish press, 2007 I think, which I look at when I need to go SHE HULK on someone's ass as it always makes me SUPER ANGRY. Woo.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 01:08 pm (UTC)I want to see gay characters who are believeable and act like real people, and have gay folk talked about like anyone else. Basically I want them to be treated as real people and their sexuality to be a part of who they are, rather than the entirety of it.
You're right about the comedy bit, the "only gay in the village" from little britain kept coming to mind. It's kinda funny and the ludicrous stereotype is part of the joke, well basically all of the joke... in fact you could see it as a commentary on media portrayal of gays, that might be a bit deep for little britain though. But that ludicrous stereotype seems to be the only joke anyone can find to make about gays, and yet we can find a lot to say about heterosexual relationships.
Comedy falls into the trap of allowing "gay" to be the entirety of a character; "sitcom pitch #1 - we'll have a stoner, a policeman, a black man and a gay guy all inexplicably living in a flat together. it'll be hilarious!"
Comedy lives on these stereotypes, and often they're harmful. If you're white and male you can have a personality, you might be allowed one if you're a woman or even sometimes if you're black, but if you're gay then that will almost certainly define you.
I can't think of a sensible portrayal of gays in comedy; there must be one surely?
The media's treatment of gay folk bugs me too; I'm impressed that the wire has a couple of major gay characters and I've rarely seen the media mention it, even when one of them is regularly cited as a favourite. That's how it should be, i feel - if the character's sexuality isn't a central issue then there's no need to mention it. It't not perfect, mind you, i did find the "wooo lesbians, look two sets of boobs!" scene a bit much. The same goes for news, all too often it'll make a point of mentioning when someone is gay even when it's not relevant in the slightest.
All that said I think the beeb does better than most other media, but I'm glad they're asking and hopefully they'll continue to improve.
man, sorry for waffling at you, coffee for breakfast and my mind isn't quiet working right yet!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 09:15 pm (UTC)