Mood Enough to Wns: An Interview wh Ross Gay – Barely South Review

Contents:

• ROSS GAY
• HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'
• ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE
• ‘FRIENDS’ CHA: THE ONE WHERE ROSS’S EX-WIFE ISN’T GAY
• ENRE: ROSS GAY WR 'THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS'
• ROSS GAY
• ROSS GAY
• MOOD ENOUGH TO WNS: AN INTERVIEW WH ROSS GAY
• ROSS GAY: INTERVIEW—BE HOLDG, GRATU, DELIGHTS
• ROSS MATHEWS PARTNER OR BOYIEND, GAY, NET WORTH, WEIGHT LOSS

ROSS GAY

As a recent news em volvg a squashed gay-themed storyle remds , Friends is still really, really homophobic. Acrdg to a newly published look behd the scen of the smash s, Generatn Friends: An Insi Look at the Show that Defed a Televisn Era, the show's wrers pched a B-plot which Chandler Bg (Matthew Perry) sneaks to a gay bar, not for the queer mrarie or the love of ABBA songs but bee he lik the tablishment's tuna melts.

HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'

The male characters on Friends showed a noted disfort and disda toward LGBTQ+ people durg s 10 seasons -- om Chandler's aversn to his transgenr parent (played by Kathleen Turner, still slayg the role) to a particular episo which Ross (David Schwimmer) sists his male nanny mt be anytime LGBTQ+ people are brought up through the show, 's played for lghs -- whether 's the nng joke that people thk Chandler is gay or an episo where Joey (Matt Leblanc) nvc an actg stunt who he is petg for a role on All My Children to play the character "homosexually. "In perhaps the most on-the-nose pictn of s tenncy toward gay panic for cheap lghs, Joey and Ross eak out the seventh season of Friends after they accintally fall asleep together on the uch. "While would be easy to dismiss Friends as a product of s time, many of s ntemporari were well ahead on LGBTQ+ reprentatn -- om Blanche (Rue McClanahan) learng to embrace her gay brother on The Goln Girlsto the groundbreakg same-sex weddg Roseanne.

Intertgly, when creators David Kffman and Mara Kffman reflected on the storyl they regret, neher of them mentned the show's homophobic history. Ross Gay is terted Gay wants to unrstand Gay is cur about Gay studi joy. ~Ross Gay is the thor of four books of poetry: Agast Which; Brgg the Shovel Down; Be Holdg, wner of the PEN Amerin Lerary Jean Ste Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratu, wner of the 2015 Natnal Book Crics Circle Award and the 2016 Kgsley Tufts Poetry Award.

ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE

Ross has had an awkward relatnship wh Carol ever sce she me out as gay and their marriage end divorce, and Ross and San have had an pecially straed relatnship as well. Back at Moni’s apartment, Ross mak clear that his problem wh the weddg, and the reason he ref to attend, has nothg to do wh Carol and San beg gay and everythg to do wh Carol beg his ex-wife. In 1996 when the episo first aired, NYC was still fifteen years away om legalizg gay marriage (marriage licens for same-sex weddgs weren’t ma available until 2011), so the topic was approached wh a level of utn.

‘FRIENDS’ CHA: THE ONE WHERE ROSS’S EX-WIFE ISN’T GAY

In fact, spe the topic of a gay weddg beg ntroversial at the time, “The One Wh the Lbian Weddg” beme the top-rated episo the US: 31. Rather than batg the polics surroundg gay marriage, Friends chose to foc on the relatnship between Ross and Carol — most notably, how Ross is handlg his suatn now that Carol is movg on, and he’s still stuck the past. Today, we're stg down wh the wrer Ross Gay.

So many thgs light Ross Gay: handma fy srv and loerg, the joy of rryg a heavy bag between two people, paw paws and even weeds. This summer, I reread yet aga and found myself medatg on a sire Gay had voiced: wantg to be softer a world so ready to sharpen and to make hard. So, a recent terview, I talked to Gay about that sire, as well as the role of joy daily life, the difficulty of allowg yourself to be moved, and why he thks 's important to e the word "love.

Was Friends homophobic and way too whe? It has bee a way for to look at (and argue about) enormo societal issu — racism, misogyny, homophobia — through the lens of a s. Is Friends homophobic?

ENRE: ROSS GAY WR 'THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS'

It’s riddled wh lazy gay jok, which was standard for ss of s era.

But the homophobia on Friends is also more plex than that. This tensn is perfectly exemplified season two’s “The One Wh the Lbian Weddg, ” an episo that’s equal parts envelope-phg and full of gay panic.

ROSS GAY

Their not-yet-legal unn is officiated by Candace Ggrich, the LGBTQ rights activist and siblg of Newt Ggrich (who when the episo aired 1996 was one of the most visible anti-gay policians power).

ROSS GAY

On the gay-panic si, everythg else about the weddg is refully curated to be as ut and heteronormative as possible: The bris are walked down the aisle by men, wearg long, pastel gowns — a cisn ma by stume signer Debra McGuire, who later explaed: “I really loved the ia of the women beg women, of them lookg betiful and feme, bee of the stereotyp about gay women. Though Ellen DeGener’s g out was still a year away, gay unns and kiss weren’t unheard of: Fox s Roc picted a same-sex weddg 1991 (albe also whout a kiss). Lookg back, perhaps the most sid homophobia on Friends is s sire to make the homophob s dience more fortable.

On the show, she was mostly referred to as a gay man, a drag queen, or a cross-drser.

Was the show homophobic, racist, and willg to rce margalized people to punchl?

MOOD ENOUGH TO WNS: AN INTERVIEW WH ROSS GAY

San And Ey Are Beg Gay Together. Ey, for example, was gay to Ross bee she was dog poetry readgs wh San London.

ROSS GAY: INTERVIEW—BE HOLDG, GRATU, DELIGHTS

There’s an say Ross Gay’s new llectn, Incg Joy, that begs wh a discsn of his favore sports book, John Edgar Wiman’s Hoop Roots, a memoir told through the thor’s lifelong relatnship wh basketball. Over the next eleven pag, Gay, a longtime hoop lover himself, offers a medatn on the bety of the pickup game, and how a good urt is a microsm of mocracy. ”Gay, a 48-year-old poet and profsor at Indiana Universy, has ma a reer of explorg the wonr to be found our everyday liv, notably his btsellg 2019 say llectn, The Book of Delights.

”Book ver of “Incg Joy” by Ross Gay. Courty of Ross GayGQ: A word that up aga and aga your work is the word practice. Ross Gay: I started to thk about that word when I was dog The Book of Delights.

Ross creat a page for Chandler where he claims that Chandler is ed very gay.

ROSS MATHEWS PARTNER OR BOYIEND, GAY, NET WORTH, WEIGHT LOSS

At first, Ross plans to post doctored photos of Chandler beg gay, but then mocks Chandler that his fake ments on Ross' ath didn't get any he realiz that this means none of his llege iends re if he is ad. In one scene, after Ross spread the mor about Chandler beg gay, Moni reveals that Chandler keeps makg her watch Moul Rouge!, to which Chandler stat that is a great movie. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT‘Friends’ Cha: The One Where Ross’s Ex-Wife Isn’t GayThe popular s has bee the latt target of Cha’s censorship mpaign.

In the Che versn of “Bohemian Rhapsody, ” the Queen bpic, a ccial scene which Freddie Mercury, the band’s lead sger, tells his fiancée that he is gay was Communist Party wields enormo power over the entertament bs, bendg to produce the narrativ wants to promote. “And this is somethg that ‘Friends’ managed to do 1994, ” they wrote, qutng why homosexualy was beg censored Cha s the first season of “Friends” was ma available through onle streamg platforms Cha this month, and many viewers the untry were already jokg about what other scen would be removed as future episos bee person wonred how the censors would handle the season which Phoebe be a surrogate mother to her brother. More about Alexandra StevensonA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn B, Page 5 of the New York edn wh the headle: When Cha’s Censors Do a Recut of ‘Friends, ’ Ross’s Ex-Wife Isn’t Gay.

Ross Gay spent a year wrg daily says about thgs that light him. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks wh Gay about some of the says clud his new book, The Book of Delights.