From The New York Daily News:
“OLTL" was taping scenes in late-June concerning roommates Cristian, Layla and Fish. (They’ll air in September.) Cristian and Layla suspect that sweet cop Fish is gay, but aren’t sure how to approach him about it. So they buy a book about how to tell if you’re gay and plan to give it to him.
Cristian’s mom, Carlotta, was supposed to find the book and assume Cristian is gay. Her reaction was scripted to be very accepting and even amused, citing his love of art and fondness for going shirtless as signs she should have recognized.
But Mauceri, who has played diner purveyor Carlotta Vega for 14 years, refused to play the story as written, saying a Latina mother would not be so accepting. Rather, Mauceri rewrote the scenes to make Carlotta confused and troubled, and submitted them to "OLTL" execs.
"That’s not the story we’re telling," responded an exec.
Of course not, because every show on TV has to have some kind of homosexual element. I was watching ABC’s "Flash Forward" this week, and they just had to have a lesbian plot line with kissing and the morning after glow. It’s just so normal, don’t you know.
Why is it that Hollywood is enamored of inserting homosexuality, no pun intended, everywhere it can? Because the worldview and values of the “execs,” the people who run the studios, believe homosexuality is no different than skin color, and that homosexuals have been oppressed by America’s religiously bigoted past and they want to change that.
The U.S. media, like all the professions of cultural influence in the nation, is a left-wing monolith. If it weren’t so, we would occasionally see story lines in TV shows or movies where there is serious moral disapproval of homosexuality that is not immediately dismissed. If such disapproval is shown in contemporary dramas, those who express it are portrayed as religious fanatics or close-minded hicks.
A little more nuance about such moral issues would be greatly appreciated and make the resulting dramas and comedies more realistic. A little more “diversity,” a value dearly held by modern liberals, would help. After all, that is what most Americans believe.
But this is what we get for the last 50 years of conservatives ignoring culture except to complain about it. All the obsession on the right with politics and public policy will not change the values and stories coming out of Hollywood. Only an influx of people who appreciate and embrace America’s founding values working there will do that.
–Mike D’Virgilio
Allow me to remind folks of SciFi (now SyFy) Channel’s response to GLAAD’s “Network Responsibility Index.” The message to writers, directors and producers is loud and clear when Mark Stern, the network’s Executive VP of content says, “We are disappointed, obviously,” .. of the NRI grade. “The ‘F’ is hard because we are trying, it is something that is in our vocabulary. But we need to work harder.”
However, the problem may not be the depiction of homosexual characters, per se. Rather, it is that the characters are almost uniformly portrayed in a positive, celebratory manner. The challenge to true talents in the Cultural Influence Professions is to create stories with well rounded characters, not just characters that meet an activist group’s ideological agenda.
Moreover, I suppose if one were to bring up the Hays Code with Stern and tell him should produce more content that is in line with that particular agenda, he’d waste not a moment shouting it down and tossing the presenter to the curb. Leftist grievance groups are creating a 21st century version of the Hays Code. In the 50s creative talents found ways to work around it. Who is going to step up and work around the Code’s latest version?
Great post, Mike. Your point about the falseness of Hollywood’s claims of supporting diversity is an excellent one. I think it’s important to recognize also, as you do here, that the contemporary approach also undermines the realism and thus the social relevance of these cultural products.
Mike and Steve, I agree that the interesting thing is how rigid the MSM are in their insistence that only one point of view on diversity is acceptable. That’s rather comical.
Well, Steve, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon, but if more conservatives and others who embrace good old fashion traditional values make their way into Hollywood professions we will see something like this some day.
This is what the conservative “movement” needs to realize. If we are going to move our society back forward, i.e. real cultural renewal, it ain’t coming through politics alone.
Thank you for the post. I was watching the most recent “Flash Forward” episode on the Internet earlier, and I noticed the same thing about the lesbian plotline. It felt a bit forced, but one assumes the producers felt like they were doing a great service to the country by adding it in, forced or not.
If the producers really wanted to be edgy and controversial, they’d have the lesbian character question her sexuality, and trade her love for women for men. Not likely to happen, though.