Cody Sugai WRI 1000 Dr. Bailey 11/16/18
Homosexuality in Media: A Good Change?
What is love? What defines a couple being in love? Love (in its purest and simplest form) is a strong affection for another person or thing arising out of kinship or personal ties. Love towards another person is the same any way you look at it. A person decides on his/her own who he/she is attracted to and doesn't need anything inhibiting himself/herself from doing so.
According to pewresearch.org and the latest Williams Institute estimates from 2016, “there are 0.6% of U.S. adults, or 1.4 million people, identify as transgender.” This statistic has grown significantly because of the recent growing acceptance by millennials and Gen Zers. Media, particularly TV and music, has also started to become more aware of these changing ideologies. Recently in Pop culture, the Disney Channel show Andi Mack and “Same Love” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are two good examples of this pro-integration. Because of the lack of true information on the issue that is given to people, homosexuality is often misunderstood/ accepted poorly, failing to give the respect and rights that gay men and women deserve. To aid with this changing trend, pop culture has effectively involved homosexuality in its mediums to prove that this lifestyle is acceptable in today’s society.
Alongside other shows like Friends and Will & Grace, one of the most recent shows to involve a gay character is the Disney Channel hit TV show Andi Mack. These shows, and other areas Pop culture, has brought LBTQ+ characters into their shows to illustrate the motives and feelings that they hold, ones that are often overlooked by opponents.
Homosexuality does not have to be such a big and prevalent issue in Pop culture to make a stance: it can be a passive one. one of the most recent shows to involve a gay character is the Disney Channel hit TV show Andi Mack. In the show, the main character is Andi Mack, a 13-year-old Chinese American, who is coming of age as she handles all of the adolescent life events. While she herself holds a typical heterosexual attraction to boys, one of her best male friends, Cyrus, admits to liking another boy in the show, Jonah. While the issue is only prevalent in one episode, Cyrus’ identity as a gay character plays a role in the consequent episodes as a stigma that hinders him from living out a normal boy adolescence.
In the episode, “Hey Who Wants Pizza,” Cyrus confides in Buffy first and tells her that he likes Jonah. In their conversation in the booth of their favorite restaurant, Jonah tells Buffy, “Last night, when we were watching Andi and Jonah you asked me, am I happy for Andi?”
She says yes. Cyrus responds, “And I said yes, I’m happy for Andi. But I’m also not happy.” He is very pained to share this news and he looks to almost be crying.
Buffy then asks Cyrus if he’s jealous. He nods. Then she asks him if he likes Andi, to this he whimpers a no. Buffy puts the pieces together and then says that you (Cyrus) likes Jonah. To this Cyrus, almost guiltily, nods and says to her, “Buffy I feel different. Weird.” Buffy grabs him by the hands and assures him that “(he has) always been weird, but (he) is no different.” To close the scene, Buffy promises Cyrus that he is going to be okay, which makes Cyrus feel accepted for his bravery of opening up about his sexuality.
In a later episode, at his own bar mitzvah, Cyrus opens up to Andi in a similar way: he is hesitant to share his true feelings toward Jonah in fears that she might judge him. He tells Andi, “Andi, you’re not the only one who likes Jonah.” To this Andi laughs while tearing up, and just says Cyrus’ name, signaling that she is joyed that Cyrus is open about his true feelings toward Jonah, and not about her current situation with him (Andi struggles to know if Jonah really likes
her). He replies with a “hi.” After this, they enjoy the rest of the party almost as if this serious scene had not occurred.
This moment in the show is a big achievement for Disney. Not only for introducing a gay character in its show, but for also showing acceptance for people with queer love ideas. Cyrus is a very lovable character for many viewers because of the innocent quirkiness that his character brings to the show. To introduce him as a character with different views in sexuality, Disney is saying that no matter what a person is like, it’s ok to be different, emphasizing the importance to find people who will accept and support you. In many other forms of Media, homosexuality gets a bad reputation, with a lot of negative connotations and reactions attached with the identity. In both scenes, Andi’s and Buffy’s reaction to Cyrus’s boldness to come out about his sexuality is one of joy and acceptance. Disney does not condone homosexuality, and at the same time, it calls for viewers to be open and caring for those who may have differing ideologies about love.
In the Keywords article “Gender” by Jack Halberstam, Halberstam makes a claim that “gender is understood as a marker of social difference, a bodily performance of normativity and the challenges made to it. It names a social relation that subjects often experience as organic, ingrained, ‘real,’ invisible and immutable; it also names a primary mode of oppression that sorts human bodies into binary categories in order to assign labor…” (15). In today’s society, gender is used as a label that dictates everything about us: what job we are to do, how we are to emote, how we are to conduct ourselves, the words that we ought to say, the people we ought to love, etc. This label, as Halberstam says it, is oppressive. Media, in the forms of TV and Music are trying to break these stereotypical conventions of homosexuals by portraying it in Pop Culture as not so much of a positive thing, but one that should not be criticized.
Secondly, gays are the same person as everybody else and deserves the same rights. Some celebrities have come forth in support of this push for equal rights. In the song “Same
Love” by Macklemore featuring Ryan Lewis, the rapper Macklemore, who himself identifies as heterosexual, calls for change in American laws to broaden the scope of laws to include
LGBTQ+ communities. The song is an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community calling for recognition that their (gay/ lesbian) love is the same as any heterosexual love and that they should be treated in the same manner as a heterosexual couple would.
In the song, one of the most prevalent lyrics are “When I was at church, they taught me something else. If you preach hate at the service those words aren't anointed. That holy water that you soak in has been poisoned. When everyone else is more comfortable remaining voiceless. Rather than fighting for humans that have had their rights stolen.” Macklemore takes a stab at the public’s stagnancy in gay rights. By exposing that these privileges are being stolen, he
understands that many Americans feel like they have many rights; but to think that there are other Americans who are having these rights stolen because of their sexual orientation, may lead to guilt and anger for some listeners.
Again, in the same song, Macklemore drops more lyrics that attacks America and Pop Culture. He sings, “The right-wing conservatives think it's a decision. And you can be cured with some treatment and religion.” And later on, in the same verse, Macklemore sings, “America the brave still fears what we don't know. And ‘God loves all his children’ is somehow forgotten. But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago.” In this part of the song,
Macklemore attacks religion, particularly Christianity, which condemns homosexuality, mainly because of the unfounded beliefs that many holds. His claim is that if Christianity is founded on (God’s) love for everyone and Christians sharing that same love to others, why then should Christians condemn homosexuality? Macklemore brings up the theme question throughout the song: “Is this not all the same love?”
In the article, “Pop Culture Citizenship” it says that “pop culture (is) a domain of resistance against dominant power relations” (3). This is very true and prevalent in Pop Culture and media, Pop culture, in the forms of music, movies, television, etc. has now taken up the role of being a platform to which artists can freely express themselves and face minimal opposition. Compare this method to radicalism, calling for change at a rally or news conference; Pop culture will get messages, that are often overlooked or looked down upon, across to people in a way that does not seem radical. The repetition of these hidden radical messages in media has influenced our society to start believing in whatever Pop culture says to be the best truth that there is.
Certainly, there are oppositions to this inclusion of LGBTQ+ ideologies in Pop Culture. This opposition is founded on the views of those who identify as queer as being “different.” But despite this separation, there is little that is being done to abridge this tension. In the article, “Anxious Displacements: The Representation of Gay Parenting on Modern Family and The New Normal and the Management of Cultural Anxiety,” it discusses the dilemma TV, music and film faces on incorporating the touchy subject of homosexuality in media. Anxious Displacement is defined as “the overloading of negatively codified social differences and symbolic excess onto figures and relationships that surround LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender)
characters” (455). Later in the text, the article says, “the social anxiety surrounding queerness has been displaced directly onto queer bodies and subjectivities” (455). Opposition to the inclusion of LGBTQ+ ideologies and characters in media are loosely founded on the awkward connotations that the ideology holds. Pop Culture tends to stay away from the conversation: this needs to change. The conversation on this issue is a prevalent one and one that needs to be discussed more in Pop Culture.
So, if we look at homosexuality in our media today, we must be tolerant of each person’s own personal beliefs and views. Even with those with differing ideologies, we must be accepting
of those individuals nevertheless. Queerness is a real thing in our society and it is now everybody’s job to be accepting of other’s beliefs, even if it may not match theirs. Love (specifically homosexuality) is different for many people but is not endangering others
significantly. Love is love, and if we are to preach this motto, we as a people must be accepting of those who’s love is not considered “normal.” As a society, we need to understand the truths about homosexuality, and be willing to accept it in our society because it’s about inclusion and acceptance (love) above all, even if we ourselves don’t agree on it.
