Image credit: ABC’s Modern Family
The recent attack on society by the Valentine’s Day bug brought on an onslaught of love-inspired sales, jewelry commercials, and, of course, the latest romantic comedies and dramas making big splashes at the box office. This year, the movie Safe Haven, starring Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel was the Valentine’s Day date movie of choice, a romantic drama based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, the same author who came up with other cheese-fests like A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, and Dear John.
Mainstream romantic dramas and comedies all have one thing in common: heteronormativity. All of these movies portray romantic relationships as being between a man and a woman, which seems to be isolating a pretty enormous demographic of viewers who might like to see a romantic comedy about a homosexual relationship.
Unfortunately, a lot of queer characters that are portrayed in comedies both in the movies and on TV are not actually main characters at all, but are often designated to supporting roles. Furthermore, these queer individuals are often the close friends of the main character (who is almost always heterosexual), and their “queerness” is often what defines their characters (think Stanford in Sex and the City or Janis Ian and Damian in Mean Girls). These queer characters are defined, first and foremost, by their sexuality, giving them a one-dimensional storyline that is often the comic relief of plot. These characters’ storylines are rarely emotionally stimulating or focused on the love and complexity of their relationships in the way that heterosexual relationships are portrayed, but instead are almost always centred on their queerness and we rarely get to know the character beyond his or her sexuality.
To be sure, Hollywood has definitely progressed in recent years by making more TV shows and movies about homosexual relationships. The dramas Brokeback Mountain and Milk certainly seemed to break the heteronormative trend in a big way, both being nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture. More recently, TV’s most popular comedy, Modern Family, has broken enormous barriers in TV, with two of the main characters, Mitch and Cam being in a homosexual relationship. These successful hits prove that there is a demand for more TV shows and movies that have queer main characters, and yet, for whatever reason, Hollywood doesn’t seem to be taking the hint and tapping into more movies and TV shows with queer main characters.
I can’t possibly try to suggest that I know what goes on inside the heads of the Hollywood big wigs that are behind the financing of movies and TV shows, but I can’t quite understand why there hasn’t been a blockbuster romantic comedy that focuses on a homosexual love story that isn’t reeking of stereotypes. Obviously, there are still some people who would reject or be uncomfortable with the premise of the movie, but clearly, based on the popularity of Modern Family, Glee, and other shows with openly queer characters, there is a demographic out there that would embrace such a movie or TV show. Although some of the big wigs might fear that a show that centres on a homosexual relationship could isolate their heterosexual audience, homosexual relationships are nowhere near as taboo for most straight people as they were even twenty years ago, and more and more straight people are consuming queer-themed entertainment.
An untapped market for movies and TV shows about homosexual relationships exists, and I think it’s much more pronounced than many people realize. These programs shouldn’t be queer-centric for the sake of being queer-centric, but should be treated as any other program, with innovative, creative scripts that don’t perpetuate the stereotypes that are already so prevalent in show business.
It’s time for Hollywood to lose the tunnel vision and adapt to the changing attitudes in society, ushering in a new era of movies and TV.
And who knows, maybe when the Valentine’s Day bug attacks again next year, homosexual couples will finally have a movie they can see together that they can relate to.
What other TV shows or movies can you think of that perpetuate the queer, one-dimensional, supporting character? How else is the LGBT community portrayed in movies/TV?
Do you think a romantic comedy or drama (like The Notebook) that is based on a homosexual couple would be well received by audiences, or is it too much of a “niche” market to appeal to broader audiences?
The Power of Pink and Blue 
I thought this week’s episode was interesting… Mitch and Cam as “best men” at the wedding of someone who clearly was far less committed to marriage than they are. Perhaps this is a forerunner to an actual Mitch/Cam wedding?
Hi Naomi, thanks so much for reading and commenting!
I definitely think a Mitch/Cam wedding would help the idea of promoting homosexual relationships in Hollywood by leaps and bounds. Because of the popularity of the show, there is no doubt that other networks and executives would take note of the Modern Family template and try to apply it to their own shows, new and old. Modern Family is so good at portraying Mitch and Cam’s relationship as a REAL relationship, not JUST a gay relationship, and that’s something I don’t think you see very often in other shows. Like any couple, they have real problems, real stories, and real lives and characteristics that go beyond their sexuality. In other shows like the ones i mentioned in my original post (Sex and the City, Mean Girls), the homosexuality characters are so one dimensional and you rarely get to see another side of them beyond their sexuality. I am simply obsessed with Modern Family, and I hope more shows like it start to pop up, but I do have my doubts about whether networks will take the plunge…but maybe a Mitch/Cam wedding is just the thing to encourage it?!