About this episode
The episode discusses the evolution of gay representation in media, moving from tragedy to more positive narratives.
So much of being a gay man in this country has entailed resistance to neglect, to exploitation, to death. As gay men we have settled for stories about men wanting men that use tragedy in stories. If we didn’t suffer, we didn’t exist. But, have we turned a corner? The show “Heated Rivalry” is a beautiful, life-giving, hot take. Who wouldn’t wont to watch this? It’s a six-episode show that’s great as romance television. We have suffered during, say, “Cruising,” in 1980, that remains an index of gay sex clubs in the Meatpacking District. The men in that movie like it hot. A homicidal maniac is on the loose, and he’s killing “homosexuals.” He might, alas, be gay himself, and the heterosexual detective trying to catch him worries he might not be as straight as he thought. Pathos again. Or how about “The Talented Mr. Ripley” which also produces a body count. There is a lot of gay media of torment and death, but let’s also never fail to remember that for a long time “Brokeback Mountain” was our “gay love story.” But Jack Twist gets beaten to death and, in the final shot, Ennis Del Mar stands in a trailer all by his lonesome. Maybe we are accustomed to art that would enrage us as we are…
People in this episode
Host: Ken Scott Baron
Topics covered
- gay representation
- media analysis
- romance
- tragedy
- LGBTQ+ history
- cultural critique
Keywords
- gay love
- tragedy
- media
- representation
- LGBTQ+
- romance
- cultural critique
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Heated Rivalry, Cruising, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight
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