The 'Glee' Approach vs. The 'Weekend' Approach

Recently, I experienced two different artistic experiences of injecting "the gays" onto screens (and yes, gays are still being injected. We're not just there, the way Cinderella stories run rampant in rom-coms or zombies run through theme parks. But we're getting there). For gays, the way this happens can be touchy: a marketing campaign with too many cooks in the kitchen. Do you go hard or soft? Peaceful protest or demanding rights, right now?

Well, that's the fun part right?

My first of two recent experiences I am sure you will be familiar with: Glee. What are your thoughts? Is it over the top "gay in your face" agenda pounding propaganda? Or is it just a modernized version of Saved by the Bell? It's not a staple of my weekly entertainment intake, but when I heard last week's episode was to gush over, complete with boot knocking frenzy, I figured I would take a peek. Glee's director and creative mastermind, Ryan Murphy, has been "bold" on projecting "real" gay characters into his series...yes...Kurt and Blaine have done so much as kiss, rub noses, and canoodle fully clothed on their bed. Groundbreaking, right? As one of my gay coworkers put it, "if that's what America thinks we do, they'll all be in for a big surprise."

But, yes, it is groundbreaking, sort of, and I have to give Murphy some credit. He's a "victim of the times" so to speak. Gays are going through their 1950's right now where shared beds on TV is still a display of hedonism, and where a candid portrayal of a gay person growing up "out" and confident, is an affront to people's world paradigms. So I give him credit, mainly because he's getting the ball rolling. Am I happy that such confidence in gays comes from a show flagrantly devoted to musicals, pop culture, and sex? Maybe not, but I also know that part of changing people's thoughts also requires starting on known territories.

Gays like musicals. Fine.

However, despite the kids gloves handling of the issues, these characters are reaching one of the widest audiences ever. So, that is the first approach, we'll call it The 'Glee' Approach.

Now, my second experience was a little more... brazen. I went to an indie film called "Weekend," and boy was it a treat. The aptly named film takes place over 48 hours from the end of a drunk Friday outing at"Propaganda," a gay night club in Nottingham, UK, through to the end of Sunday. After meeting on the dance floor, two attractive gay men spend the weekend doing everything from sex, to coke, to bumper cars, to amateur art exhibits. But most importantly, they spend the bulk of the film discussing what it means to be gay in a world meant for straight people.

Essentially, the movie is one big meta piece of art.

The more vocal of the two gay men proclaims at one point, "straight people will go to movies about, war, disease, murder, and rape, but if it has gay sex....whoa! they can't go to that. Only the gays will come." And of course, I looked around the theater to see only the prophesied pockets of gay men watching the film. Was it true though? Does gay sex stop straight people from coming in the theater better than a defensive line, or was this just a case of gay people flocking inordinately to see representations of themselves on the big screen? Who knows?

The film's voracious, thought provoking instigator works at the more reserved protagonist as he struggles with his own sexuality. And indeed, in the end, the movie certainly pushed me, an out gay man, to think even further about ideas of self loathing, pride, gay activism, etc. If the Glee Approach had kids gloves on, the Weekend Approach came wielding a sharpened bayonet, at least in terms of pushing gay characters into ultra representative settings. And the actors were spectacular as well.

So then, what do you think is the correct way to continue injecting gay characters into story lines? Should we stay slow, allowing the general public time to acclimate to the warm water before turning up the heat? Or should we push them in, knowing nerves may be singed, but hey, this is life, get over it? I would love to hear your thoughts.