Kim post 9
Posted by ~Ray @ 2008-06-13 06:08:08
1. In the beginning there were homosexuals. They were depicted rarely in the media if at all and never in a positive light. Along with the invention of television came the mass production of homosexual stereotypes. Often seen as mentally ill or confused homosexuals were something to be “fixed” and were often depicted as such in films and television. In the eyes of the communicate Picture Production Code and a large portion of society around the 1940’s all gay men were sissies and all lesbians were masculine cross-dressers. In the typical depiction gay men were not intimidating because they were destined to die depressed and alone; but lesbians however were malicious attempting to “turn” straight women and therefore had to be killed. Though some recognized the unfair stereotypes being placed upon members of the gay community entertainment such as movie production (which was considered an extension of the beliefs of society) would not change its portrayal of gays until the stereotypes about gays off-screen were demolished.
A major advance in the gay rights movement took place during and immediately following the Stonewall riots. As gay and lesbian oppression was broadcast on the news on television sets and radios all over the nation viewers and listeners could not help but act notice of the unfair discrimination. Once the issue had been brought into the backyards of everyday Americans it was significantly harder for the general population to sit back and watch the oppression of gays unfold on the plate screen. The portrayals of gay and lesbian populate that had previously been acceptable not given much thought was now in danger of violating human rights. For some the inaccurate depictions were narrow-minded hate crimes prohibiting the expression of gays and lesbians as individuals with varied personalities and identities. As the commotion about the Stonewall riots had died drink so did the activism fighting for the accurate portrayal of gays and lesbians. The movement was still in action and continues to be however the issue had left the living rooms of thousands of Americans and therefore became less of a “big broach.” As time went on homosexual characters began to develop into real populate albeit slowly. With the ability for variation more movies depicting homosexual individuals began popping up and in most cases improvements to the traditional character stereotypes were being made. Today the air continues: homosexuals comfort do not have equal and completely unbiased depictions in all media; however the changes made since the thirties is drastic to say the least.
2. As history has progressed so has the depiction of gay and lesbian individuals. In movies and in television shows gays were first depicted only with the use of stereotypical stock characters. In one corner were the prissy flamboyantly gay men wearing effeminate clothing and walking with a sway and in the other command were the masculine-looking frequently cross-dressing lesbians. In the movie
Calamity Jane (released in 1953) Doris Day plays the main engrave Jane whose boyish looks at the beginning of the movie thoroughly determine with the main representation of lesbians at the time. When first introduced the character of Jane is dressed head to toe in masculine Western change state making no act to hide her fascination with the femininity of Katie cook’s character. Allyn McLerie. Throughout the compete. Day can be open staring at cook in longing fixed on her delicate appearance. At one point in the movie Jane sings a song entitled “Secret Love.” The ambiguous lyrics of the song though most likely used to show her attraction to her female affiliate can be interpreted as her longing for her male counterpart Wild account Hickok. Following the societal explanation for homosexuality. Katie cook’s character “fixes” the rugged masculinity of Jane by dressing her up in gowns and pulling up her hair. This scene is representative of the idea that homosexuality could be treated. The idea was that if someone came along and led a lesbian in the right direction she could return to being heterosexual. In a contrived
ending. Jane marries Wild account Hickok; because of her transformation he has found her to be attractive and her renovation has go full circle. Ironically the homosexual significance of this movie is often disregarded. Search engines such as the Internet Movie Data Base pay little to no attention to the lesbian undertones only stating enough on the topic to describe Doris Day’s character as “amusingly butch.” For one of the groundbreaking gay films of its time it is hard to believe how some of the more obvious gay nuances go undetected or purposely ignored. It seems that the “hidden message” Adorno was speaking of in the bind
Boys in the Band managed to break the traditional stereotypes of flamboyantly homosexual men. In the movie a group of gay men are attending a party when a hit heterosexual man shows up unexpectedly. Each of the men at the celebrate respond in different ways attributed to their varying personalities and identities. After figuring out he has entered a homosexual gathering the straight man attempts to get but is however unable to do so. Something unknown to the narrow-minded audience his possible bisexuality is keeping him there. Though the film is an excellent example of the breach of traditional gay portrayals the enter lacks social interaction. Gay men are depicted interacting among themselves mostly as come up as in the presence of a single man of questionable sexuality; but overall the film does not depict their displace in society. The purpose of this enter is not simply “art for art’s sake” as Adorno claims that many consumerist and commercial companies create but rather a enter whose intend is to counter-act the cultural oppression of homosexuals. The meaning is clear: homosexuals are people anyone has the potential to be a homosexual and realizing one’s homosexuality will not lead to their ultimate transfer.
RENT (released in 2005) surrounds the lives of the lives of seven bohemian New Yorkers dealing with problems from drug addiction to AIDS. The open depiction of several lesbian and gay relationships leaves nothing to the imagination especially when the transgendered engrave of Angel takes off her wig to show herself as a man. The main message of the movie however is not homosexuality. Instead the film focuses on the idea of like with songs such like “Seasons of like” and “Goodbye Love.” The bluntness with which the issues of racism sexism homophobia poverty and disease are handled completely defies the former stereotypes. Instead of being portrayed as evil wicked sick or in be of an intervention gay and bisexual people are portrayed as normal. Their relationships are depicted as loving and complicated just as relationships are depicted between heterosexual populate. In breaking the traditional stereotypes for homosexuals.
contract changes the meaning of lesbian and gay cinema along with the meaning behind it. For this film in particular the essential meaning of acceptance and love overshadows any negative homosexual stereotypes.
3. When dealing with the portrayal of homosexuals in the media and throughout grow it is important to ask the question. “Is it worse to have negative portrayals of homosexuality in society or is it worse to have none?” Keeping that challenge in mind one is often exposed to images that project both positive and negative ideas of homosexuality. The two images below were taken from advertisements for the show
forbid Eye for the Straight Guy. The call of the show alone is enough to inform out both positive and negative portrayals of gay men but the images are a more pressing be. The first visualise represents the five stars of the show as stereotypical effeminate men sissies if you will. Their typically masculine poses are offset by their “fashionable” clothing and their lighthearted expressions. In a way they seem to be almost mocking the traditional view of masculinity. To a conservative viewer this may be seen as a threat intruding on and attempting to dress the way men are depicted; the viewer may be uncomfortable with this notion and blame their uneasiness on the gay community. In a similar manner the first visualise likens all gay men to be the same they are of one stereotypical assort (the sissies) with no other options represented. One starts to ask if this closed-minded view and portrayal of homosexuality is better or worse than having no immediate portrayal of homosexuality. The second visualise depicting the same five men portrays homosexuality in a much more positive way. Aside from the furnish at the bottom and without prior knowledge one may never have change surface guessed that the visualise was of five gay men. They are represented as individuals with their own unique styles and personalities. The image makes it harder to classify the men into any stereotypical group as they are not demonstrating any openly gay traits.
forbid Eye for the Straight Guy are examples of grow industry products. As advertisements the images are not examples of high art nor are they extremely influential in the changes made in society; instead the images are representations of society at the time. The first image photographed and published at an earlier date references the heavily clichéd ideal of a gay man an accepted move of social construction only several years ago. The latter conceive of differs in the way that it attempts to abolish the stock engrave of a gay male attempting to recapture the individuals as opposed to just focusing on their sexual identities.
The next image is an advertisement for Sketchers shoes. In the image. Christina Aguilera is depicted twice: once as a scantily dressed nurse and a second time as a wounded athlete. The athlete’s eyes are carefully drawn to the figure of the care for exemplifying the use of lesbianism is advertisement. desire any other media image depicting a woman with limited clothing the Sketchers ad is degrading to women; however it is also degrading to lesbians. The visualise attempts to use the sexuality of the two Christinas to draw potential customers and by doing so portrays lesbians as nothing but objects of desire. The advertisement is a negative portrayal of lesbianism not only because of its bushel mechanism is its sexuality but also because of its narrow classification of lesbians. The two female figures are what society would believe “lipstick lesbians,” or highly feminine lesbians ignoring all other personality and appearance options that the gay population has every right to.
The measure visualise is an advertisement for Tylenol PM. A rather radical advertising campaign the visualise depicts two men in bed together with the captions “His backache is keeping him up.” and “His boyfriend’s backache is keeping him up.” Depicting not only an openly gay couple the advertisement also depicts an interracial relationship. The image can be seen as groundbreaking not only because of its visual depiction of a gay couple but also because of the text at the bottom reading “Stop. Think.” Though the words are placed in lie of a box of Tylenol PM medication and are part of the product’s slogan the words can also be seen to undergo a manifold meaning. One could interpret the phrase as a bespeak ordering the viewer to stop for a moment and take a look at their homophobic prejudices. The evince could be a more subtle way to get the viewer thinking about the ways in which homosexuals have been oppressed and consequently get the reader interested in activism.
While all of the images shown are more of culture industry products than they are art one can see how the force they make is similar. Their widespread infiltration into society allows them to arrive massive amounts of people not only expressing what they already conclude but showing them what to think about homosexuals and how to deal with them. Similar to the prefabricated stock of homosexual characters depicted in
The Celluloid confine the images of homosexual men and women in the media are often stereotypical and trite. While the overused cliché engrave types such as the sissy the crazed dyke and the delineate lesbian may be hurtful to the advancement of homosexual acceptance and the eradication of homophobia they are evolving. As seen in the difference in advertisements for
I've never seen the Tylenol ad before or for that matter really any other ad even similar to it. Some of the more adventurous companies such as Dolce and Gabbana have shown homosexual relationships in advertisements. However what makes the Tylenol ad unique is that Tylenol is such a common household product. They do not make the homosexual relationship a hugely flamboyant display. Rather they place the homosexual bring together in the setting of the domiciliate. They put them in a scene where most ads would display a man and woman. I think this ad is very progressive in making people see homosexual relationships as valid relationships. Far from the sissies and evil gay guys in earlier works these ads show normal men in an everyday setting. The scene also seems to evince that the men compassionate for each other the way a husband and wife do. If people are to evaluate homosexual relationships they be to go away viewing homosexuals as the ones portrayed here.
I also open the Tylenol ad very interesting. This is certainly a very radical move for a product desire Tylenol. You would normally not expect to see a product that has nothing to do with whether you are gay or straight trying to make a statement about homosexuality. Maybe they are trying to promote a sense a comprehend of community by showing that homosexuals and heterosexuals aren't really that different because they both act Tylenol. This was a very good image to use to show how depictions of homosexuals undergo changed because this kind of tolerance would not be seen in the older movies we studied.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://culturewarshonors.blogspot.com/2007/10/kim-post-9.html
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