I am going to examine how mass media representations of homosexuality have changed over time whilst looking closely at the text 'Will and Grace'. After the termination of the ABC sitcom, 'Ellen', it didn't seem like there was

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How has representation of homosexuality changed in the media looking closely at the text 'will and grace'?

I am going to examine how mass media representations of homosexuality have changed over time whilst looking closely at the text 'Will and Grace'. After the termination of the ABC sitcom, 'Ellen', it didn't seem like there was going to be any show with gay characters as their lead cast, so it came as a shock when NBC's new show, 'Will and Grace' premiered. The show was co-created by David Kohan and Max Muchtnick and it premiered on Monday, September 21 1998 at 9.30pm. It featured Grace Adler (Debra Messing) as a strong willed, slightly neurotic interior decorator who lives with her best friend, Will Truman (Erick McCormack), a handsome gay lawyer in their New York apartment. The show is mostly about the trails and tribulations they face in their lives, both personal and professional. In their personal lives are their two best friends gay, narcissistic, immature, silly, effeminate and extremely insulting Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) and Karen Walker, a rich spoilt, shallow socialite. The show's huge success led to it being nominated for an award and led to the entire cast being nominated for two Emmy's and two of the cast winning it. It was so successful it was moved up to NBC's most coveted spot at 8.00pm on Thursdays, a place formerly occupied by 'Frasier' and 'Seinfeild'.

The show differs from others in its field in the sense it represents homosexuality as it is commonly seen but at the same time a completely new façade is created. The most obvious uncommon convention is the fact that it features two gay men as lead characters. The two of them 'Are foils representing diversity within gay masculinity, a diversity which argues for and against gender stereotypes about gay men' (Queer (UN) Friendly Film and Television, James R. Keller). 'Will is masculine without machismo but with a hint of camp' (Queer (UN) Friendly Film and Television, James R. Keller). Jack is his exact opposite; he is flamboyant in both word and deed and he is highly effeminate. The difference in their characters is made more obvious through the mis-en-scene. Will is usually seen in darker clothe colours usually dark blue, grey or black whilst Jack is in lighter colours, usually sky blue. Will's characters steers away from the usual stereotypes of gay men. He is not presented as the butt of jokes or the villain; in fact, his character is more like the 'new-man' characters that are emerging. He is reminiscent of the everyday men we see on TV, Frasier in 'Frasier', Ross in 'Friends' and Greg in 'Dharma and Greg' except that he has the occasional sex with men. He is a successful lawyer who works ordinary hours like normal heterosexual men; he is shown to be extremely loyal to his friends and is always there to bail them out of trouble they seem to get into all the time. Jack, on the other hand is the quintessence of all the negative things about gay stereotypes. He is fickle in all his relationships, he does not get a job until season 7 of the series, he relies on Will to take care of him, and he is the exact opposite of will's character. He is made lovable with his childlike humour and his flamboyancy. Even though he is often the butt of most jokes, we usually laugh along with him. Even though the two characters are very different, they share one similar trait, they are gay and proud to be so. Because Will's character has been so heterosexualised, he is constantly seen to be reminding us about his sexuality with little jokes and slight reminders. In episode 92, series 4, when Will takes Elliot, Jack's son, to his two day basketball game he is sarcastically asked by a fellow father if he is gay to which he laughs and replies 'Yes, been a proud member since '89'. In the pilot episode of the sitcom, Jack's queerness is confirmed when grace tells Jack 'My dog know you're gay', to which Will adds, 'Dead people know you're gay'.

To study representation successfully we have to understand the term, Stuart Hall defined representation as 'The process by which members of a culture use language to provide meaning'. (Stuart Hall 1997 representations: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage Publications Ltd).This implies that representations are not fixed notions and their interpretations can vary from one individual to another. Gill Swanson backs this up by her observation that 'There can be no absolute version of how things are but only many competing versions'. (Lusted, David. The Media Studies Book: A Guide for Teachers. London: Routledge). There has been an overall willingness by Hollywood to create gay stereotypes. These stereotypes have been well documented in various texts be it TV, Ellen, Gimme Gimme Gimme or film, Vitto Russo's Celluloid Closet. These stereotypes arise as results of having to characterize a character in the 30minutes slot allocated to that particular TV programme or in the case of films because of ignorance, prejudice and an unwillingness to change attitudes. Hollywood has historically been conservative, and as an institution of power, it could be argued that it is nested interest lie in maintaining the dominant order and ideology. This is why it often endorses hegemonic representations in its popular narratives. Even though there has been a recent increase quantitatively in the amount of gay characters in on TV, the representations are not always just constructive but they are also destructive. They are often presented as the villains in films or the butt of jokes on sitcoms. According to the book, Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film by Harry M. Besnhoff (reviewed by Patrick Cook), there has been much written about homosexuality as an emblem of monstrosity. In the film, Hannibal, Mason Verger is presented as the villain. This is quite ironic because he was the victim, he was victimised by the real monster in the film, Hannibal Lecter but we are made to pity Hannibal and hate Mason. He is presented as disabled and is quite monstrous to look at. It is implied his disability is because of his sexuality. His sexuality is synonymous to paedophilia and not much time is spent differentiating between the two sides to his sexuality. The 'wrongness' of his sexuality is encoded through the entire set-up of the scene where his sexuality cots him his face. The music played is diegetic, the tempo is fast, and upbeat, it is almost anti-climatic. The lighting is dim and his face is obscured both by the lighting and the mask he is holding up against it. The angle is low and he is made to look large like he is looming over the audience in an evil kind of way. The shots used are medium close-up. He and Hannibal are in a room surrounded by mirrors that reflect a lot of images of him. He breaks the mirrors and uses the glass to repeatedly slash of chunks of his own flesh; it is as if this symbolises him killing himself. This is further obvious later in the film we come to realise that he is no longer gay and has turned to a religious path, a psychotic one though.
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Because heterosexuality is reinforced everyday on TV as the normal way of life, homosexuality is implied to be abnormal and is often portrayed as the main identifying factor in the characters life. According to the article, 'Representing Gay Men on American Television', there are four stages of media representations; the first stage, non-representation which is a total lack of acknowledgement of the group by the media, the second stage, ridicule, which portrays them as flawed characters or buffoons, the third stage, regulation, which shows them as the protectors of the existing social order and the last stage, respect, ...

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