{"id":6,"date":"2019-04-29T17:05:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T21:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2019-05-03T22:18:58","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T02:18:58","slug":"a-history-of-queer-tv","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/a-history-of-queer-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"A History of Queer TV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The history of television is largely\u00a0white, straight, and cisgendered. \u00a0That doesn&#8217;t mean that LGBTQ+ characters haven&#8217;t existed on the margins, such as Jodie Dallas in the 1977 show <em>Soap<\/em> or\u00a0Steve from an episode of\u00a0<em>All\u00a0In\u00a0The Family <\/em>which\u00a0aired in 1971, and the many coded characters which largely go unrecognized. \u00a0Mainstream &#8220;out&#8221; queer characters are relatively new, however, beginning in the 1990s. \u00a0The most famous coming out scene, one which made television history was The Puppy Episode of\u00a0<em>Ellen<\/em> in 1997.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ellen - Susan, I&#039;m gay.\" width=\"525\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/68EyF9U4olQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While <em>Ellen<\/em> was canceled after 1 more season, a\u00a0year later, NBC aired\u00a0<em>Will &amp; Grace<\/em>, which featured a gay main character as well as other prominently featured queer characters. \u00a0Another notable show from the time with a prominent queer character is <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em>. \u00a0One of Buffy&#8217;s friends, Willow develops a relationship with another witch in season 4.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N1cdBQbTfuQ\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N1cdBQbTfuQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 2000s saw an explosion of shows featuring queerness, including\u00a0<i>The L Word <\/i>(2004-2009), <i>Gay as Folk\u00a0<\/i>(2000-2005), <em>South of Nowhere\u00a0<\/em>(2005),\u00a0and\u00a0<i>Modern Family\u00a0<\/i>(2009-).<\/p>\n<p>Some other famous moments in queer television history can be found in this video:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Top 10 Groundbreaking Moments for LGBTQ Characters On TV\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yXJAzPJFjQ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, due to the controversial nature of LGBTQ+ representation in television, portrayals have often been limited to the precarious nature of their sexuality, or simply chose to provide assimilationist representation (such as the suburban\u00a0white married couple in <em>Modern Family<\/em>). \u00a0Most shows miss the mark when it comes to examples of queer politics. \u00a0While\u00a0<em>The Good Place<\/em> was probably not written with radical queer ideas in mind, it fits nicely into some queer theories, particularly those of Jack Halberstam. \u00a0It provides representation not just for individuals, but a road map for queer ideas and a utopian future for all of us, if only we learn what to look for.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>For more information on queer theory, politics, and existence, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/the-classroom-the-theory-behind-the-project\/\">The Classroom: The Theory Behind the Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a list of resources\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">to learn more about queer television history.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ol>\n<li>Mccarthy, Anna. &#8220;ELLEN: Making Queer Television History.&#8221;\u00a0<em>GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and<\/em><em>Gay Studies <\/em>7, no. 4 (November 04, 2001): 593-620. doi:10.1215\/10642684-7-4-593.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Margaret McFadden (2010) \u201cL\u201d is for Looking Again, Feminist Media Studies, 10:4, 421-439, DOI: 10.1080\/14680777.2010.514115<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Calzo, Jerel P., and L. Monique Ward. &#8220;Media exposure and viewers&#8217; attitudes toward homosexuality: evidence for mainstreaming or resonance?&#8221; <em>Journal of Broadcasting &amp; Electronic Media<\/em>, June 2009, 280+. <em>General OneFile<\/em>(accessed November 24, 2018).\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/link.galegroup.com.libproxy.vassar.edu\/apps\/doc\/A203027125\/ITOF?u=nysl_se_vassar&amp;sid=ITOF&amp;xid=8b0f8c3e\">http:\/\/link.galegroup.com.libproxy.vassar.edu\/apps\/doc\/A203027125\/ITOF?u=nysl_se_vassar&amp;sid=ITOF&amp;xid=8b0f8c3e<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Heller, D. &#8220;Visibility and Its Discontents: Queer Television Studies.&#8221;\u00a0<em>GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian\u00a0<\/em><em>and Gay Studies\u00a0<\/em>17, no. 4 (2011): 665-76. doi:10.1215\/10642684-1302460.<\/li>\n<li>Joyrich, Lynne. &#8220;Queer Television Studies: Currents, Flows, and (Main)streams.&#8221;\u00a0<em>Cinema\u00a0<\/em><em>Journal<\/em>53, no. 2 (2014): 133-39. doi:10.1353\/cj.2014.0015.<\/li>\n<li>McFadden, Margaret. &#8220;\u201cL\u201d Is for Looking Again.&#8221;\u00a0Feminist Media Studies 10, no. 4 (2010): 421 doi:10.1080\/14680777.2010.514115.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">&#8220;Where We Are on TV.&#8221; GLAAD. Accessed April 29, 2019. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glaad.org\/tags\/where-we-are-tv.\">https:\/\/www.glaad.org\/tags\/where-we-are-tv.<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The history of television is largely\u00a0white, straight, and cisgendered. \u00a0That doesn&#8217;t mean that LGBTQ+ characters haven&#8217;t existed on the margins, such as Jodie Dallas in the 1977 show Soap or\u00a0Steve from an episode of\u00a0All\u00a0In\u00a0The Family which\u00a0aired in 1971, and the many coded characters which largely go unrecognized. \u00a0Mainstream &#8220;out&#8221; queer characters are relatively new, however, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/a-history-of-queer-tv\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A History of Queer TV&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5075,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5075"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/wmst240-19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}