Empire’s Jsie Smollett Talks Gay Scen and His Character’s Directn

Contents:

• EMPIRE'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET
• EMPIRE 'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET
• EMPIRE'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET

EMPIRE'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET

Unr this bric, the lik of which is ed by GLAAD and other observers to judge the media, any profsedly gay character (who is not problematilly tragic or villao) is a sign of progrs, regardls of how much or ltle that gayns flects the material of the show.

What if we judged the gay bona fis of a show not only on whether queer people are prent somewhere s narrative universe, but also—and pecially—on how creatively that prence to lor or enhance the story’s basic amework? Her path to that reclamatn is through managg the gay one, Jamal (Jsie Smollett), of whom (spe her referrg to him as a fag, sissy, and queen over the urse of the episo) she is a voted advote and fan.

His gayns will mark him as threateng, weak, or merely alien the mil culture which she wants to make him a star; overg those prejudic is not the kd of thg wh which sensivy trag n really help. The plex relatnship between Cookie and Jamal may be the most poignant maniftatn of Empire’s engagement wh gayns, but ’s hardly the only one.

EMPIRE 'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET

I had been told before seeg the pilot that the show had an “tertg gay character, ” but the reports overstate Jamal’s still-th characterizatn and unrstate the extent to which gayns (as relat to fay and perhaps the black muny) appears to be the show’s central ncern. Sometim this ncern is exprsed overly blunt wrg, such as when Jamal’s boyiend rponds to his ncerns about how black dienc will rpond to a gay mician by sayg: “It’s 2015; nobody r. ” But more often is imprsively specific, faiar, and well-renred, as the way Jamal’s father and olr brother unfortably refer to his partners as “iends” and the early drs-up--mom’s-heels trma, a sort of ur-scene (apparently based on Daniels’ own experience) that will be pafully faiar to many gay men.

EMPIRE'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET

The pot is, I was thrilled to disver over the urse of the pilot that I was not jt watchg a show that happened to offer up a gay character an unlikely ntext, but rather a show that was largely about the fascatg ictn between that ntext and gayns.

We n bate whether is fair (or sirable) to term Empire a “gay show, ” but ’s arguable that the sissy seri—if liv up to the promise of s pilot—has the potential to advance the gay reprentatn nversatn a nsirable amount.

Rather than jt flailg agast his father's homophobia and retreatg to the fort of his keyboard, Jamal summoned his anger to a missn statement: He pledged to take over his father's pany.