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The Rules of Representing Gay Life on TV
Scholar Bonnie Dow identified persistent patterns in how gay characters were portrayed on American television from the 1970s through the 1990s:
- Gay characters are only peripheral in stories ostensibly about them. They are foils designed to teach the straight characters tolerance.
- Being gay is presented as the overwhelming problem in a gay character's life, often leading to misery and death.
- Gay characters appear in isolation, never in community with other gay people.
These tropes reinforced a dominant tragic narrative of homosexuality incompatible with fulfillment or social integration. Hit 1990s shows like Doing Time on Maple Drive centered a gay character's struggle, but still portrayed him as an anomaly, a Problem to be Solved. Such shows did little to undermine the assumption that heterosexuality was the necessary bedrock of family life.
Section: 3, Chapter: 8
Book: Revenge of the Tipping Point
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
"It's Not the Media Pushing This Button to Get That Effect"
Scholar Larry Gross argues that television's impact comes not from overt messaging but from the assumptions baked into entertainment:
"It's not the media pushing this button to get that effect. It's the media creating the cultural consciousness about how the world works... and what the rules are."
Gross found that heavy TV viewership narrowed the gap between liberals and conservatives on hot-button social issues. Exposure to the same set of stories week after week, year after year "brings them together."
Gross says, "I always like to quote this line from a Scottish writer, Andrew Fletcher, 'If I can write the songs of a nation, I don't care who writes their laws.'"
Section: 3, Chapter: 7
Book: Revenge of the Tipping Point
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
"Will & Grace" Subverts Sitcom Tropes To Normalize Gay Characters
The hit 1998 sitcom "Will & Grace" featured gay lawyer Will and his straight female friend Grace as leads, with gay character Jack as a flamboyant sidekick. Though criticized by some as stereotypical, the show subverted common TV tropes by:
- Making gay characters central to the story
- Not treating gayness as a problem to be solved
- Showing gay characters with gay friends and community
While Will remained celibate, the show portrayed him as a successful, funny, relatable person who just happened to be gay - a radical step for 90s network TV.
Section: 3, Chapter: 8
Book: Revenge of the Tipping Point
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
