Ameri Se Shas of Gay: A Once-Invisible Group Fds the Spotlight
Contents:
- SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S
- CAN GAY STARS SHE?
- ENTERTAMENT WEEKLY: THE GAY 90S, SEPTEMBER 8, 1995
- FEEDBACK: THE GAY 90'S
SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S
Five years ago, she siphoned om the homosexual g of Harlem an outrageo dance tradn lled "vogug" and spiked straight, whe, mastream dance clubs wh . Or maybe was Tom Hanks, acceptg an Amy Award for his portrayal of a gay lawyer Philalphia, and tearfully thankg his high school drama teacher and a classmate—"two of the ft gay Amerins that I had the good fortune to be associated wh"—before a billn movie fans around the world. But however all began, look at where 's led: Jt as Elvis and his ilk plumbed Ain-Amerin mil tradns and turned them to mastream rock & roll the 1950s, moviemakers, TV producers, media people, and rock stars have turned entertament on s head by eely mg the gay culture for s sarsm and style, s glter and gr, s secrets and celebratns.
In 1995, the gay stream flows eely to the mastream. Gay characters are multiplyg on screens big and small. Comedy's most popular styl now utilize the gay sensibily—a reliance on irony that's omni-prent products as varied as Letterman (not him, jt his raised eyebrow) and The Ln Kg ( which Timon and Pumbaa are … well, whatever you want them to be).
CAN GAY STARS SHE?
The old-fashned gay-bag humor of Eddie Murphy and Andrew Dice Clay has been renred obsolete by gay-iendly entertament. On Broadway, gay-themed works are the most domant genre, and for three seasons, gay-themed plays by gay playwrights (Tony Khner's two-part Angels Ameri and, most recently, Terrence McNally's Love!
) But gay culture has brought about even more basic chang—sometim chang as fundamental as how thgs look.
Batman Forever is, fact, emblematic of the new, mutual clivens—the give and take and take back—of gay and straight dienc. A missn by Hollywood to (a) eradite all forms of bigotry and homophobia, or (b) to stroy the valu upon which society rts? Que simply, gay sells.
ENTERTAMENT WEEKLY: THE GAY 90S, SEPTEMBER 8, 1995
So 's no accint that advertisg was at the vanguard of the gayg of Ameri as the first bs to realize that homosexuals prised a very sirable mographic. Now straight men are expected to be jt as mosed and buffed as their gay unterparts; and they are subtly prsured to emulate the exhibnistic sex appeal of mols like Marky Mark and Michael Berg, who have posed sctively ads tend to sell shorts not jt to gay men, but to all men. Heterosexual women have long been veigled to buy lipstick worn by geo mols advertisg, but now Versace targets them wh overtly homoerotic ads.
Says Sarah Pett, edor of the lbian and gay newsmagaze Out: "Straight women are lookg around thkg, 'Is she one? " Gradually, the entertament dtry me to realize that gay n sell a niche-market art film (such as the mor summer h The Incredibly Te Adventure of Two Girls Love), as well as help to sell a film wh crossover appeal (Four Weddgs and a Funeral). Stallone may be straight and RuPl may be gay, but what about everybody between?
FEEDBACK: THE GAY 90'S
Not gay per se, but somethg. "It's all bee one bright pop blur, " marvels gay playwright-screenwrer Pl Rudnick (Addams Fay Valu; Jefey).
" Nowhere is the phenomenon more evint than the proliferatn of gay characters film and TV. NYPD Blue's gay male replacement receptnist (whose boyiend happens to be a p) proved so popular last season that the show's producers are brgg him back this fall. Explas David Lee, the gay creator of Frasier and director of last season's accintal date episo, "There was humor the suatn [the characters] found themselv , but you weren't lghg at anyone bee he was gay.
" The episo sparked high ratgs and is up for Emmys both for s script, by gay wrer Joe Keenan, and s directn. Of urse, humor is always the eye of the beholr, and as the culture has bee creasgly gay-iendly, purveyors of product mt walk a polil tightrope. Or are the straight actors sequs performg the gay equivalent of a mstrel show?