It’s a Saturday night and you’re watching television with your family. A show comes on and it centers around the life of homosexuals. Back in the ‘80s, this show would have been brutally criticized and switched immediately. However, it’s not the ‘80s, but rather 2016 and the acceptance of homosexuals is continuously increasing. This television series would probably be kept on in most households with no backlash or disapproval. The term homosexual is becoming more common to the world around us and I believe that coverage in the media about them is a major stride for our culture. Before this progression, homosexuals would practically put on an act and hide their true sexual orientation so they would not receive condemnation. This performance
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Like mentioned before, queer theory focuses on the idea that identities are not fixed and do not determine who we are as a person. The main idea of queer theory is “criticizing the dominant heterosexual binary, masculine/feminine, which enthrones ‘the’ two sexes and which casts other sexualities as abnormal, illicit, or criminal” (Leitch, 26). A central priority of queer theory is to also recover the literature from many queer writers, characters, and themes through teaching more of this topic to others. This is where Butler’s famous work comes into play which helped further this development of gender being flexible and ever changing. Butler argues in her work, Gender Trouble, that gender is a form of improvised performance and that it is socially constructed rather than something of nature. The idea of gender being socially constructed is reinforced by society through the media and culture as well. Butler states that people have made the mistake of categorizing characteristics because of someone’s sex. The idea of labeling people as male or female is incorrect, according to Butler, because both males and females can show traits of the opposite sex. Butler states that “gender ought not to be construed as a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts follow; rather, gender is an identity …show more content…
Soaps are about “couplings, un-couplings, and re-couplings” and the worry is that these characters will not be able to deal with “the paradigmatic consequences of their entry into the community of the soap opera world” (Harrington, 2003). However, this is suggesting that homosexuals differ in the dating world compared to heterosexuals. We all know that this is not true; homosexuals and heterosexuals are very similar when it comes to relationships, and by showing a homosexual live the same life as a heterosexual confirms the progression and positive outlook on homosexuals. Despite these challenges, though, day-time television runs for 52 weeks without reruns or missed days. This is beneficial to the consumers and society because, like in All My Children, the consumers can readily watch Bianca and see how she navigates her lesbian identity. Also, viewers can watch the reactions of Pine Valley (fictional location) residents in real-time to see how they respond to Bianca’s new identity. Ultimately, day-time soaps are not a comedy and therefore produce their shows in complete seriousness. The portrayal of gay and lesbian characters are thought out and reflect the continuous struggle of homosexuals. Soaps have a certain history within the entertainment industry and therefore would not do anything to jeopardize their spot
Like mentioned before, queer theory focuses on the idea that identities are not fixed and do not determine who we are as a person. The main idea of queer theory is “criticizing the dominant heterosexual binary, masculine/feminine, which enthrones ‘the’ two sexes and which casts other sexualities as abnormal, illicit, or criminal” (Leitch, 26). A central priority of queer theory is to also recover the literature from many queer writers, characters, and themes through teaching more of this topic to others. This is where Butler’s famous work comes into play which helped further this development of gender being flexible and ever changing. Butler argues in her work, Gender Trouble, that gender is a form of improvised performance and that it is socially constructed rather than something of nature. The idea of gender being socially constructed is reinforced by society through the media and culture as well. Butler states that people have made the mistake of categorizing characteristics because of someone’s sex. The idea of labeling people as male or female is incorrect, according to Butler, because both males and females can show traits of the opposite sex. Butler states that “gender ought not to be construed as a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts follow; rather, gender is an identity …show more content…
Soaps are about “couplings, un-couplings, and re-couplings” and the worry is that these characters will not be able to deal with “the paradigmatic consequences of their entry into the community of the soap opera world” (Harrington, 2003). However, this is suggesting that homosexuals differ in the dating world compared to heterosexuals. We all know that this is not true; homosexuals and heterosexuals are very similar when it comes to relationships, and by showing a homosexual live the same life as a heterosexual confirms the progression and positive outlook on homosexuals. Despite these challenges, though, day-time television runs for 52 weeks without reruns or missed days. This is beneficial to the consumers and society because, like in All My Children, the consumers can readily watch Bianca and see how she navigates her lesbian identity. Also, viewers can watch the reactions of Pine Valley (fictional location) residents in real-time to see how they respond to Bianca’s new identity. Ultimately, day-time soaps are not a comedy and therefore produce their shows in complete seriousness. The portrayal of gay and lesbian characters are thought out and reflect the continuous struggle of homosexuals. Soaps have a certain history within the entertainment industry and therefore would not do anything to jeopardize their spot