Same-sex Couples in Television

Note: I wrote this for a media consumption journal for a media literacy class but wanted to blog about it as well so if it sounds a bit formal, that is why.

This past week I’ve noticed something in multiple forms of media I watch that has started to bother me. It’s not necessarily in the media itself, but rather the publicity of the media. The issue I’m struggling with deals with same-sex couples in the media. There have been instances in the media lately that show same-sex couples in an incredibly positive light and show how normal it is for the parents of the family to be gay. However, what I’ve started noticing, analyzing, and become frustrated about is the fact that the media has to take that inclusion of gay people and talk about it nonstop.

In the Disney channel show Good Luck Charlie the young daughter, Charlie, of the main family is going to have a play-date. When her friend Taylor’s parents arrive to drop her off for the play-date, Charlie’s parents discover Taylor’s parents are two women. Charlie’s parents don’t act too shocked and the producers make this inclusion seamless. However, after that episode aired, I logged into Facebook and saw post after post of the clip from the show. I think it’s great what Disney did with this and the way they handled it was very professional. The media, though, took the clip and talked about it’s significance over and over again.

This type of publicity creates a barrier between what is “normal” (a heterosexual couple as the parents of the family) and what is “strange” or “different” (a homosexual couple as parents). [As a side note, I think we can all agree that two Caucasian, heterosexual people is no longer the “norm” in America for parents anyway. But for this example we’ll call that the “norm”.] As soon as something in television is done controversially different, people in the media feel the need to talk about it again and again to point out the fact that something was done differently. This might be acceptable with certain issues, but because this is a very important political issue in our country right now, it can dramatically change the perspective people have on the issue.

If the media and people in our society just left the issue alone and acted as if nothing strange had happened, that same-sex couples were just expected as part of a show about families, there wouldn’t be such a divide between what is considered “normal” and what is “strange.” If we can break down that divide, nothing would be considered “stranger than” on a scale in comparison to something similar, yet more “normal.” We would instead have a society that valued the differences among people and families, rather than shaming them for their lifestyle and biology.

We’ve arrived at a point in media that requires we touch on multiple issues in every show in order to remain “politically correct.” While this is polite and may seem like the right thing to do, viewers can see right through what producers are attempting to do. For example, I enjoy watching the show The Fosters for the creative plot line and interesting characters. However, I get frustrated sometimes when the characters or story seems to be placed in the show just “because they had to” put them there. Shows are most entertaining when they break the PC rules; maybe not for everyone, but I guess to me I’m more entertained with parodies of real life versus a boring show trying hard to include all different types of people and make it seem as normal as possible. Certain personality traits should be included where it’s necessary but not every possible trait needs to be included in one episode of a television show.