In Conclusion…

None of the portrayals mentioned in previous posts are perfect portrayals nor are they perfect stereotypes and, in a way, that makes it all a little better because the queer community is incredibly diverse and incredibly varied and portraying any queer character as perfect would only create another flawed perception. Everyone has their flaws, even queer people, and so none of the queer stereotypes is necessarily bad on its own, but it is when they are all people see that they become a problem because they limit the kinds of narratives that can be told about queer people.

Some will question the need for more queer narratives because they say, “Well, they’re gay! They won’t appeal to normal people,” and therein lies the problem. I’m gay and I read straight books and watch straight TV and listen to straight music, it’s not weird or gross when I read or watch or hear about a straight couple having sex. Why is it so strange then for a straight person to watch, read or listen to queer narratives?

But, I believe that the most damaging portrayal of all is one that perhaps people don’t even realize is going on, it is that queer people never seem to have happy endings.

There is a quote from Shrek 2 that is oddly appropriate for this final thought:

 Let’s see…
P-p-p-p-p, Princess.
Cinderella… Handsome prince, lived happily ever after…
oh, no ogres!

Sleeping Beauty…
handsome prince, no ogres.

Thumbelina, no! Handsel and Gretel, no!
The Golden Bird, the Little Mermaid, Pretty Woman… no, no, no, no, NO!

You see, ogres don’t live happily ever after.

-Fairy Godmother

Look back at this quote and replace the word “ogres” with “queer people”, “gays”, “lesbians”, whatever you want and the quote takes on a lot of poignancy. And, come to think of it, the Shrek series is a queer narrative, it is about someone who does not fit into any of the roles that are laid out in his society and, for a while, he accepts that, but eventually he realizes that he can and should have his own happy ending and, when it is denied to him, he decides to take it.

Because what these portrayals teach queer youth, and queer individuals in general for that matter, is that they are not normal, that they are a mistake, that they are a threat to everything and everyone around them, that they should be normal, they should be straight, that they need to conform to what straight society says they should be and that they do not deserve happy endings because happy endings are reserved only for normal people.

If you want to see more example of queer stereotypes in the media, watch the video below, it does a better job that I ever could (the ending always gets me).

And check out this blog post, it looks provides examples of stereotypes in literature and covers a couple that I did not approach.

http://slckismet.blogspot.ca/2011/06/please-avoid-these-gay-stereotypes-in.html

What I see many of these stereotypes as is what I call, the new minstrelsy. Minstrelsy is a movement that originated during the American Reconstruction, after the Civil War, where white performers would wear blackface and satirize and poke fun at black culture, an example being “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” or the Jim Crow character. Now, I’m not saying that the old minstrelsy has gone away, by any means, but what I am saying is that this genre has been expanded to include queer individuals. What this stereotypes do is poke fun and satirize queer culture and queer identity and an argument could be made that this is a way to push down queer culture in the wake of the numerous leaps forward that have been made in the fight for the queer community to be legitimatize, just as the “old minstrelsy” was an attempt to push down black culture in the wake of African Americans gaining their freedom from slavery. It could even be said that the straight actors who portray these satirized queer characters are wearing a kind of “gayface”. All of these stereotypes rob the queer community of cultural capital and it is important to recognize the threat that these portrayals display and an attempt needs to be made to round out the portrayals with some more positive displays because that will be the only way for queer individuals to truly have their voice heard and to be final and truly integrated into mainstream society.

And, as one final word, a young woman in my class said something that has stuck will me and something I think everyone in mainstream society should think about:

“What do you do when none of the stories are written about you?”