As you may have seen, Bravo recently started a new show, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," the premise being five gay guys give shopping and fashion advice to, well, a straight guy. Pretty self-explanatory.
As you can imagine, some conservatives have taken this as yet another sign that the world is about to end. (To these people, it seems like the world is going to end almost every day.) Brent Bozell III, nephew of William F. Buckley, hyper-Christian, ultra-conservative, arrogant SOB, rails against the program in his latest column. I find the guy more humourous than offensive at this point and I pity those who take him seriously.
The highlights:
-i> Bravo's publicity copy also explained: "Straight guys turn in their pleats for flat fronts, learn about wines that don't come in a jug and come to understand why hand soap is not a good shampoo (and vice versa). When the journey is done, a freshly scrubbed, newly enlightened, ultra-hip man emerges."
And I want to vomit. (emphasis mine)
-It's stereotypical to think of only gay men as top-notch connoisseurs of food, wine, culture, design and grooming. How heterophobic. It's the Gay Supremacy Hour. I'm sure I'm not the only one who reads Bravo's ad copy and wonders if we're talking hate crimes here. (what the hell?)
-Try this idea for a show, and tell me how many seconds it would last in a Hollywood pitch session: "A team of five fabulous straight guys teach a masculinity-deprived gay man how to throw a football, hunt for game, drink something manlier than fruity wine coolers and appreciate the fiction of Tom Clancy. When the journey is done, a newly enlightened, ultra-manly man emerges." (With respect to that list: football-good, game hunting-retarded and the least impressive "skill" ever, wow you can hit an animal with a high powered rifle and a huge scope from a mile away, gee hiz... wine coolers-not my thing, Tom Clancy-more offensive and vapid than game hunting)
-Let's try it with a racial twist, where blacks are cured of their stereotyped fancy for fried chicken, watermelon and malt liquor. Any takers in enlightened Tinseltown? (hillarious Brent...idiot)
-But it evolves -- yippee! -- into a we-kid-because-we-love ethos, and the show ends with everybody being thrilled about how the fairy godfathers have created the straight man's new looks and new confidence. (okay, the fairy godfathers remark was kind of funny)
-i>It's also -- surprise, surprise -- drenched in references to raw, perverted homosexual sex. (you know, it's perverted because its homosexual, obviously)
-i>This crud may be acceptable for that element in our culture that's already earning an advanced degree in Sin Acceptance. But it's also acceptable to the gang at NBC and the suits upstairs at General Electric? Remember this when you buy your next light bulb: Is GE always bringing good things to life? (that was your fucking ending, Brent? THAT made me want to vomit. And where can I obtain one of these degrees you speak of?)
A leading public intellectual of the right ladies and gentlemen, right in front of you.
Posted by mike at July 20, 2003 06:01 PMI have a concern about this show, but on the other end. It seems as though "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" allows people to 'accept' gays in the homes not because they are normal people like everyone else, but instead because they are funny and flamboyant.
To an extent, this show is used as a way to exploit the gay stereotype without being attack for doing so. It’s as if networks are saying 'aren’t they so gay, but its okay cause were not making fun of them, we're just showing you that they're so gay.' This is a sort of gay blackface. Would such an idea fly if it was five black men who exuded black stereotypes were teaching a white accountant how to 'act black (if there is such a thing)?'
Probably wouldn't fly.
Posted by: mike on July 24, 2003 11:53 AMThis week I saw the star of Bravo's "Boy Meets Boy," James, interviewed and was surprised and disappointed to learn that the network mixed straight guys into his pool of suitors. Bravo lead James to believe that all the men were gay (which should only make sense on a dating show for a gay man) and explained this trickery as an attempt to make viewers see gays as no different than straight men.
from Bravo's website: "In a world where gay is the norm and straight men must stay in the closet, will boundaries be crossed? Can sterotypes be shattered? Will romance prevail?"
Calling this move a misguided attempt at changing preconceived notions about homosexuals would be putting it too kindly. Shame on you Bravo. If I had cable I'd boycott the network. Oh, and there's some cash prize that goes to the straight man who tricks James. What a terrible idea.
Posted by: Lori on August 1, 2003 01:06 AM