on 4 December 2003 : 16:49, erika sez:
being gay is STILL hard! I dont think that they share a mask with the public but more a diferent idea of the male aesthetic. and there are shows that act as black eye for the white guy that attempt to make blacks FIT neatly into certain ideals....cosby show. and others from the 80's.
there is a marketable quality in "certain" forms of homosexuality...or should i say genres...lipstick lesbians were in for abit and now the mretro man is aided by the queer5.
i guess it boils down to being a show that works itself out from a stereotype about gay men...nonetheless some stereotypes carry some truth.
on 4 December 2003 : 18:20, tj sez:
"Queer Eye for the Straight Girl" was a Saturday Night Live skit earlier this season:
"Summer wardrobe -- plaid flannel, winter wardrobe -- football jersey, evening wear -- plaid flannel"
on 4 December 2003 : 20:47, Liz sez:
Good topic Justin.
Apparently being gay is still hard, as your first poster replied. My former boss was a lesbian 51 years of age. She still felt the need to refer to her lover, as her "room mate." I thought that was sad. Gay folks will have to overcome that stuff for themselves, but we straight friends, can support them in that effort. So many times I wanted to approach my boss about this topic, but she wasn't approachable. And what would I have said, as a straight female?
"Hey come on out of the closet!"
Not hardly. If some of us are living with this oppression, then were all oppressed.
on 5 December 2003 : 12:15, alison sez:
I just so happened to watch that same episode on my Tivo last night, and right away the straight guy bugged the hell out of me. I think he wasn't as much of an obvious schlub as the other straight guys have been , and was trying too hard to be down and cool on tv or something. He made a comment later on about feeling pretty witty most of the time, and that trying to appear witty in the presence of 5 gay men was impossible. He was trying to outshine the fab5, and this whole act did nothing but annoy. Carson and the boys can pout and prance their way through anything and look good doing it-this guy looked like an ass. That's my 2 cents..
on 5 December 2003 : 15:34, none sez:
on 5 December 2003 : 17:01, misuba sez:
I think that's who third-rate TV personalities actually are. He wasn't always as funny as the 5 (not many people are) but he didn't come across as fake to me.
on 6 December 2003 : 18:16, justin sez:
That's an interesting point Misuba - he was genuinely fake? That's possible - TV is a medium largely populated by people who pump enough air to keep a unusually inflated quality to them. This guy wouldn't have appeared exceptionally chessy for TV, except he was with some wittier, inquisitive folk. Which struck me as off. With CHecker, I wondered, was this a TV show tie-in? One TV show promoting another? It felt like an ill-advised casting decision. There's many more deserving shlubs in the world! But I guess they're going for a certain aesthetic - like, hey, even people in the entertainment business can benefit from gay mentoring. And so they can. Except the hair; his hair wasn't really helped.
I think back on the first episode I watched - the Greek guy, getting a makeover to please his sainted Mom. He'd saved her from a bullet! And he was so genuinely enthusiastic. And well-built! That was my first, and maybe my favorite makeover character.
on 9 December 2003 : 15:17, alison sez: