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Edited on Tue Oct-26-10 11:49 AM by Kurt_and_Hunter
The most absurd gay stereotypes in film history are found in 1965-1980 movies. Real minstrel stuff.
This was because it was an era of unprecedented expansion of gay tolerance.
The MPAA production code forbade any hint of "perversion" (their term) in any Hollywood movie from the early 1930s to the early 1960s.
Other bad-sorts could be shown as counter-examples as long as they ended up dying in a fiery car crash in the final reel. But homosexuality of any sort could not exist in a movie's universe.
That literal prohibition didn't stop movies from having gay characters, of course. I remember one movie where Elizabeth Taylor cannot get her long-time platonic boyfriend to marry her because he's a "momma's boy." Sal Mineo in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE has a picture of Gary Cooper in his locker to remind him how to comb his hair... yeah, that's the ticket. SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER got pretty damn weird as they tried to do the story without teh gay, but they tried. And so on.
When things loosened up it was considered edgy and progressive to have gay characters, albeit outlandish comic-relief queens (or sometimes tragic doomed queens in the most progressive works)
Similarly, some of the outlandish comic black characters in films were progress. Some southern states didn't want films exhibited with any black characters whatsoever, even as servants. Black audiences loved some charcaters that make us wince today because it was nice to see a black person at all. To exist.
So, back to GLEE.
I love the show but am always aware of how faux-edgy it is. There are atheists, but their stance is tragically over-strong. There is a gay kid who is, mysteriously, the only gay male in his school and thus super-lonely. (A high school drama department or glee club with only one gay male???) There are disabled characters who you can laugh both with and at... in a nice way, but who are right out of a 1980s After-School special.
But you know what... it's a very progressive show. Surprisingly so. And pretty damn wild for a "family hour" show. (8PM-9PM)
Not everything is handled exactly how I would chose but at least an effort is made. It is out there.
Not perfection, but progress.
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