HBO’s “Lookg,” Marriage, and the New Gay Sadns | The New Yorker

Contents:

• “LOOKG,” MARRIAGE, AND THE NEW GAY SADNS
• STT BAKULA CAST HBO'S GAY-THEMED SERI 'LOOKG'
• RSELL TOVEY: GAY MALE BACKLASH TO ‘LOOKG’ ‘BROKE ME, HONTLY’
• 7 HBO TV SHOWS THAT FEATURE PROMENT GAY CHARACTERS
• STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK’ ON HBO, A DOCERI THAT TAK A LOOK AT 1990S POLICE INDIFFERENCE IN THE FACE OF GAY MEN GETTG MURRED
• SERIAL KILLER DOCERI 'LAST CALL' RECKONS WH NYC'S HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY VLENCE

“LOOKG,” MARRIAGE, AND THE NEW GAY SADNS

2 Seasons | 18 Episos | TV-MAWATCH NOWHBO MaxMeet Patrick, Agt and Dom: three 30-somethg iends livg San Francis explorg the excg, sometim overwhelmg, optns available to a new generatn of gay men.

TV Seri2014–2015TV-MA30mThree bt iends livg San Francis share the nuanc and plexi of ntemporary gay relatnships as they explore a variety of optns, both love and bt iends livg San Francis share the nuanc and plexi of ntemporary gay relatnships as they explore a variety of optns, both love and bt iends livg San Francis share the nuanc and plexi of ntemporary gay relatnships as they explore a variety of optns, both love and productn, box office & pany Episos18Vios2More like thisReview FantasticHave watched this show multiple tim, and still love .

STT BAKULA CAST HBO'S GAY-THEMED SERI 'LOOKG'

Created by Michael Lannan, Lookg only ran for two seasons and a movie, but left an lible mark on the TV seri followed the liv of a group of gay men San Fransis -- Patrick Murray (Jonathan Groff), Dom (Murray Bartlett), and Agt (Frankie J. He also was one of the stars of Rsell T Davi' drama seri Years and Years, where he played gay hog officer Daniel Lyons and was nomated for the Cric's Choice Award for Bt Supportg Actor a Movie/Miseri. Asi om the obv drag elements (Andrews looks fabulo her tuxedo), the movie featur a gay lead character the form of Victoria’s own flouncy Henry Higgs, Toddy, played by Broadway and screen legend Robert Prton.

Featurg proment members of the scene proment rol — Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Angie Xtravaganza, and Willi Nja clud — the movie featur credible footage of the ball petns that the var ho take part , and sh a light on how s subjects al wh the racism, poverty, and homophobia surroundg them durg the peak of the AIDS crisis. The charmg Jeff Hiller, too often relegated to cliched character bs, is given center stage as a sweetly optimistic gay man makg the bt of datg the Midwt. ” From Murray Bartlett’s fugue-state breakdown Season 1, to Jennifer Coolidge’s inic “the gays, they’re tryg to murr me” awakeng, Whe seems to have crafted the beats of his darkly wty melodrama like a queer fantasy football league.

RSELL TOVEY: GAY MALE BACKLASH TO ‘LOOKG’ ‘BROKE ME, HONTLY’

While seems every show has a gay supportg character the days, “The Flight Attendant” has a few, all si a quick-wted, totally addictive, woman-onted thriller. Wh solid support om two gay characters, both wh distct personali totally unrelated to the other — not to mentn lic turns om seasoned actrs Rosie Perez and Michelle Gomez — “The Flight Attendant” will have you flyg high.

The show is also reful to skewer the lopsidns of attus — both hetero and homo — toward bisexualy as somethg that, as Carrie Bradshaw would say another HBO seri, is perceived as a “layover on the way to gay town.

Though may have ed terror the streets, when fans of “The Wire” hear the warng ll “Omar’s g” — announced the arrival of one of televisn’s greatt gay characters of all time, Omar Ltle.

7 HBO TV SHOWS THAT FEATURE PROMENT GAY CHARACTERS

The queerns and mps of the ics tends to get sand-off and replaced wh, at most, embarrassg tokenism serted to fill a diversy quota (the “first gay character” “Avengers: Endgame, ” anyone? When I watched the first season of Lookg 2014, HBO’s origal seri about a group of young gay men ntemporary San Francis (season two is currently airg Atralia), I was keenly aware of the burn that such expectatns mt have posed for the show’s creators.

STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK’ ON HBO, A DOCERI THAT TAK A LOOK AT 1990S POLICE INDIFFERENCE IN THE FACE OF GAY MEN GETTG MURRED

I uld already tect a distct self-nscns about how to approach the “gay issue” when I listened to the st terviewed on CNN last year, where they each went at lengths to strs the universaly of the them that the seri addrs. The actors assured potential viewers that the pot of the show was not to enpsulate gay life per se, but rather, to explore the liv of characters who “happen to be gay”.

Later, Patrick claims he is terted an OkCupid profile bee clus a Frank O’Hara quotatn, but then nfs that he actually had to google the famo gay poet. The show seems to be announcg that is alg wh a new generatn of gay men, who require a new mo of reprentatn that is distct om the tablished cultural narrativ.

SERIAL KILLER DOCERI 'LAST CALL' RECKONS WH NYC'S HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY VLENCE

Halper and Atralian thor Christos Tslkas, who have exprsed their disenchantment wh a perceived wang of radil thought gay culture, which creasgly steers towards assiatn and obeisance to the larger stctur unrpng wtern culture – nsumer palism, marriage, nservative genr norms. Benrson’s crique ns the risk of dulgg nostalgia, and there is a danger glorifyg past versns of gay culture whout acknowledgg their flaws and exclns. Nohels, he strik a chord: there is somethg d and unrwhelmg about an approach to gay reprentatn that clar s “revolutnary” stat through s pictn of characters who are themselv the oppose of revolutnary, and an athetic that traffics well-trodn trop of naturalism.

But the polics of Lookg are worth qutng, particularly light of the show’s tenncy to distance self om gay history and to dimish the notn of cultural difference.

Then aga, if there were more diversy on screen, I doubt that a show like Lookg would ever have to sell self wh prs ems explag how approach s “gayns”. The st is credible and clus Hannah Ebr as the bisexual Ava (the aforementned young edy wrer), Carl Clemons-Hopks as the edian's gay chief operatg officer, Poppy Liu, Johnny Sibilly, Megan Stalter, and more.

Nor the mpfir plugged to the cisg grounds of the dun—illegal, burng every the fifth episo of “Lookg”—the HBO seri about young, aspiratnal, urban gay men, whose send-season fale airs tonight—two characters stroll along the cracked pavement of the boardwalk. In 1989, Andrew Sullivan earned progrsiv’ srn by suggtg that marriage was a good ia for gays, argug The New Republic that “would foster social hn, emotnal secury, and enomic pnce.

” In 2015, his logic is scribed on the pro-marriage banners of the Human Rights Campaign, which sport the “=” symbol that has bee the raised fist of the jt-like-you gay-rights movement.