The L Word Menace: Envisioning Popular Culture As Political Tool
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THE L WORD MENACE: ENVISIONING POPULAR CULTURE AS POLITICAL TOOL Marnie Pratt A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2008 Committee: Ellen Berry, Advisor Susan Peet Graduate Faculty Representative Bill Albertini Jonathan Chambers ii ABSTRACT Ellen Berry, Advisor This dissertation interrogates the intersections that may occur between media, culture, and politics through a case study of the audiences surrounding the popular television drama The L Word. While much of the press discourse related to the series is positive, often labeling it as groundbreaking television, the viewer response is much more diverse. Many individuals are deeply invested in the show and the ability to witness visual images of queer women in mainstream popular culture. However, other viewers are unsatisfied, if not angered, by The L Word’s representations and storylines. I investigated these varied responses and the ways in which audiences have made use of the series. My methodology was mainly comprised of participatory ethnography, but was also complimented by an online survey, which generated over 100 responses. These were placed in conversation with a historical narrative of queer women’s social and political interactions with popular culture, the economic framework that has been labeled the gay marketplace, and a theoretical framework comprised of several scholars. Employing Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s theories of the closet, I argued that queer individuals may have deep investments in visual representations because of the unique nature of their oppression, which is centered on invisibility. José Esteban Muñoz’s work on disidentification presented a possible rationale for audiences that continue to interact with the show, despite its unsatisfactory aspects. Finally, Henry Jenkins’ theories of convergence culture provided an understanding of how the Internet and new media influences audience interaction and use value, and his theories on fan communities’ extensions into political arenas helped support my contention that the actions of The L Word’s viewers may even hold implications for the wider queer women’s social and political movements. These ethnographic, historical, economic, and theoretical frameworks, iii when taken together, helped explain audience reaction to, interaction with, and use value of The L Word. Finally, this project has illustrated that the consumption of media and popular culture is an increasingly complex terrain, and as scholars, it is necessary for us to examine not only cultural texts but also the audiences interacting with these in order to gain a stronger understanding of a cultural production’s significance. iv This dissertation is dedicated to those who will create the future phenomena of queer women’s popular culture. May you have the strength and means to begin your journey, the support to see it through, and the willingness to bring all of our vibrant communities along for the journey. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank my committee, Ellen Berry, Bill Albertini, Jonathan Chambers, and Susan Peet. Your support, suggestions, and insight have been invaluable, and this work is much stronger as a result. This project has been several years in the making, and I would also like to thank the numerous current and former Bowling Green State University faculty members that offered suggestions along the way. I promise I gave each idea serious consideration and thought of your input during the process. I also owe a great debt of thanks to my numerous friends and colleagues (you know who you are!), who have offered endless hours of support and camaraderie. My days at BGSU have been some of my happiest and most inspiring. That would not have been the case without all of you. I would like to thank my family, who has always told me that I could be anything I wanted and that they would love me no matter what. Finally, I would like to send my deepest gratitude and love to my partner, Jamie Stuart. You have offered me so many things; I could never list them all. Instead, I will simply say that I greatly look forward to a life filled with many, many more adventures that begin with “crazy talk!” vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION. ................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER I. No Word to L Word: The Social and Political Histories of Queer Women ... 20 CHAPTER II. Sex(uality) Sells!: The Gay Market from Establishment to Implications ..... 77 CHAPTER III. Talking, Laughing, Loving, Fighting, Hating, Thinking, Dreaming: Audience Communities’ Reactions to and Uses of The L Word ........................................................... 107 CHAPTER IV. Converging Upon the Future of Popular Culture, Politics, and New Media. 152 CONCLUSION…….. ............................................................................................................ 193 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 202 APPENDIX A. SURVEY QUESTIONS .............................................................................. 214 APPENDIX B. SURVEY CONSENT FORM ..................................................................... 216 1 INTRODUCTION On April 30th 1997, Ellen Morgan, played by actor/comedian Ellen DeGeneres, made television history by coming out as a lesbian on her popular sitcom, Ellen. It is virtually impossible to find a history of contemporary queer representations that does not reference this moment. For many queer individuals, it remains one of those cultural events that is referenced ad nauseum, as if they are Americans remembering their location and activity when Elvis appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show or the first astronaut landed on the moon. After all, never before had a television series’ main character both come out as a homosexual and continued to exist within that identity. Of course, DeGeneres was not allowed to portray her queer character for very long; the series was cancelled the following season. But perhaps Ellen’s greater contribution rests within its impact upon future queer popular culture images. Since the show’s famous “Puppy Episode,” televisual popular culture that includes queer content has increased significantly, and it is difficult to imagine this trend occurring without Ellen’s significant role. Not only has there been an abundance of queer characters surfacing on “straight cast” shows, such as ER, Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, All My Children, and Nip/Tuck, but there have also been several shows with queer main characters, such as Will and Grace, Queer as Folk, Six Feet Under, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. In addition, queer- themed cable and online television networks have debuted within the last few years, such as LOGO and here!. Ironically, while Ellen depicted a lesbian woman, many of these newer roles, and arguably all of the main characters, are gay men. There are significantly fewer queer female images, and of these, almost none receive the same kind of acclaim as their gay male 2 counterparts. In fact, Showtime’s drama The L Word is the only series that stands out as meeting this cultural deficiency. Despite The L Word’s position within this representational void, its immense success and popularity, and its largely positive media recognition, it has failed to be universally hailed by the communities it aims to represent. Mainstream and queer presses, queer community spaces, and Internet discussion boards are rich with arguments over whether or not the show’s representations signify a positive change for queer individuals within mainstream society, or whether they are just as, if not more, damaging than no representation at all. Often these debates have been heated and thick with high levels of emotional investment. In support of these representations, viewers most often cite the excitement and empowerment they feel over finally being able to witness images and stories similar to their own lives within mainstream culture. For example, at a lecture given by the show’s creator, Ilene Chaiken, during a seminar on queer television, an audience member stood up with tears in her eyes to proclaim her gratitude to Chaiken. “I grew up in the 60s,” she explains. “When I was a teenager it was rough. You are doing something besides making entertainment. You are performing a public service. You’re not just creating television. You are saving lives” (Glock 26). A similar feeling is displayed by another viewer posting on a discussion board for The L Word: “As a gay viewer, the desire to see yourself or your life represented on screen can’t be underestimated… . It’s why as dykes we’ll watch any old crap just for an infrequent glimpse of a gay minor character because up until [The L Word] there have been so few opportunities to see any lesbians on TV let alone cool, sexy ones that are shown in a positive light” (honeytheif, emphasis in original). These two responses are neither extreme nor unique. Audiences of the 3 show frequently discuss how important the series is to them and how their lives have been profoundly changed by it. These types of reactions are also often connected with a politics of visibility, which has been popularized by the mainstream queer movement. This tactic generally argues that a greater number of public representations (i.e. visibility) coincides with an increase in political or