Situation Comedies are often bellwethers on social issues. Three’s Company (1977-1984), was a comedy about a heterosexual male, Jack, pretending to be gay, so he could live with two heterosexual women. (The Landlord forbade unmarried members of the opposite sex from living together). The show made stars out of John Ritter who played Jack the clutzy cooking student, and the object of his attention Chrissy, played by Suzanne Somers(remember the posters), the daft buxom blonde roommate.
Homosexuality, even for a single man, was treated as something deviant and to be ashamed off and was the premise for much of the farcical plotlines of the show. The show turned the concept of “coming out” on its ear as Jack struggled to keep his sexual identity secret from his Landlord. The Landlord’s wife, who discovered the truth early on, can be viewed as a metaphor for acceptance of homosexual identity by one’s acquaintances.
Flash forward to today and the biggest comedy on television is “Modern Family”. This show pokes fun at the changing definition of family, be it suburban, intergenerational, cross cultural, homosexual and even interracial. Many members of Its ensemble cast were nominated for Emmy Awards. Last year, Eric Stonestreet, who plays my favourite character of the show, Cameron Tucker, won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Cameron is a gay man in a committed relationship with Mitchell Pritchett, with whom he co-parents his adopted Vietnamese child Lily.
Eric Stonestreet, a heterosexual male in real life, paints a portrait of a warm, loving, over the top, gay house husband on television. I enjoy Cameron the most, because he is the character in the show that most accepts himself for who he is, foibles, flaming homosexuality, football fanatic, contradictions and all. More than any other character in the series, Cam is not embarrassed to be who he is - he relishes it.
Research has looked at issues of race, age and sex and attempted to test which preconceptions could be changed. Race was found to be the most malleable.
“"Less than four minutes of exposure to an alternate social world was enough to deflate the tendency to categorize by race." People seem to use race as a shorthand for "group," as if skin color were a different uniform, but drop it if the group cuts across
races.”
I also believe it is why public opinion on gay rights has changed so much in my lifetime. As gays have come out of the closet, people start to find out they have gay friends.
One gay friend - epecially one that you didn't know was gay - and you have tougher time being discriminatory.
My guess, and that's all it is, is that gender and age are harder to change because they are linked to the reproduction cycle and it's very hard to overcome the biological imperative to perpetuate our genes.
Homosexuality, even for a single man, was treated as something deviant and to be ashamed off and was the premise for much of the farcical plotlines of the show. The show turned the concept of “coming out” on its ear as Jack struggled to keep his sexual identity secret from his Landlord. The Landlord’s wife, who discovered the truth early on, can be viewed as a metaphor for acceptance of homosexual identity by one’s acquaintances.
Flash forward to today and the biggest comedy on television is “Modern Family”. This show pokes fun at the changing definition of family, be it suburban, intergenerational, cross cultural, homosexual and even interracial. Many members of Its ensemble cast were nominated for Emmy Awards. Last year, Eric Stonestreet, who plays my favourite character of the show, Cameron Tucker, won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Cameron is a gay man in a committed relationship with Mitchell Pritchett, with whom he co-parents his adopted Vietnamese child Lily.
Eric Stonestreet, a heterosexual male in real life, paints a portrait of a warm, loving, over the top, gay house husband on television. I enjoy Cameron the most, because he is the character in the show that most accepts himself for who he is, foibles, flaming homosexuality, football fanatic, contradictions and all. More than any other character in the series, Cam is not embarrassed to be who he is - he relishes it.
Research has looked at issues of race, age and sex and attempted to test which preconceptions could be changed. Race was found to be the most malleable.
“"Less than four minutes of exposure to an alternate social world was enough to deflate the tendency to categorize by race." People seem to use race as a shorthand for "group," as if skin color were a different uniform, but drop it if the group cuts across
races.”
I also believe it is why public opinion on gay rights has changed so much in my lifetime. As gays have come out of the closet, people start to find out they have gay friends.
One gay friend - epecially one that you didn't know was gay - and you have tougher time being discriminatory.
My guess, and that's all it is, is that gender and age are harder to change because they are linked to the reproduction cycle and it's very hard to overcome the biological imperative to perpetuate our genes.
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