Aleksandra Klimowicz 1

Aleksandra Klimowicz 1 The Portrayal of Race, Sexuality and Gender in Happy Endings Although America has one of the most racially and ethnically diverse populations in the world, Caucasians make up its majority. Due to this and socio-political hegemony positions of power are generally assigned to white males. This notion was challenged most recently by the Obama administration and over the years members of minorities have witnessed dramatic improvement in this area, but many people still struggle for respect and perhaps more importantly, for rights. Part of the problem is the representation of minorities on TV and in cinema, as it is not representative of reality. “Media, especially television, continue to stereotype both majority and minority by means of some thought-provoking contrast” (Downing). America’s proud identification with the melting pot is not effectively displayed within the narrow paradigms of Hollywood and television. Much like positions of power, leading roles are assigned to white males and many characters that represent minorities are merely stereotypical caricatures of real people. While topics of gender and race are no longer the same taboo they once were, considering today’s media landscape the inclusion of a gay character is nothing short of a political statement (Tommy). The following paper will examine the manifestation of race, gender, sexuality and their intersections in the ABC sitcom, Happy Endings, and how it relates to the relations of power within society. Happy Endings is an ABC sitcom that ran from April 2011 to May 2013, and it was “the funniest Friends-rip-off-inspired comedy since Ross and Rachel got married” (Surette). Each episode focuses on the lives of six friends, (Alex, Jane, Penny, Dave, Brad and Max) and the pilot features Alex leaving Dave at the altar. But while the show may have been inspired by the Warner Bros. classic, it is far more progressive. For one, because the character Max is the antithesis to the stereotypical guy gay we know from shows such as Sex and the City or Glee. Aleksandra Klimowicz 2 Stereotypes about homosexuals tend to be harder to debunk than in the case of race, because we still don’t live in a world where everyone opts with gay people, “but in an effort to avoid one extreme portrayal of a gay man on TV, Happy Endings may has fallen into a completely different one” (Tommy). Max’s character is essentially portrayed as a ‘straight guy who likes dudes’, and he is even described this way on the show by his costars. Through this, the show put effort into avoiding the use of stereotypes commonly associated with gays (Tommy). Gay characters on TV have traditionally been extremely flamboyant. The industry has a habit of typecasting a very specific, easily recognizable member of the gay community because it’s simple. They are able to identify and include a homosexual without having to develop him beyond those characteristics (Tommy). Happy Endings offers a dramatic contrast to past gay representations of feminized characters. Out of the three male leads, Max is actually depicted as the manliest of them; he’s messy, he loves sports, beer and videogames, he’s notoriously broke, and he doesn’t pay much attention to his physique or fashion (Assaf). In contrast, Brad’s character is a straight and married, upper middle class with similar guy interests like Max, but he is simultaneously portrayed as feminine through his interests in romantic comedies, women’s fashion and SPA’s. He tends to act giggly and commonly uses gestures coded as feminine, like limp wrists movements or pirouettes (Assaf). Although Max is predominantly defined by his masculine tendencies he also behaves in ways, which are traditionally coded as feminine, such as being conscious about his weight or notoriously watching reality TV. There is also his act during the season two finale when Max wearing blonde highlights and fingerless gloves performs “Like a Prayer” during a friends wedding. But in most episodes, based on traditional notions of masculinity and femininity, it can easily seem as though Brad is much more Aleksandra Klimowicz 3 feminine than Max, which serves to reduce the power of categorization. (Assaf). A perfect example of this is the following scene from Season One: Brad: “Yup, it’s like they took the roof off a Tory Burch store and emptied it into this apartment.” Max: “What’s Tory Burch?” Brad: “She’s a—she’s a designer. It’s kinda preppy boho-chic meets uptown—Are you sure you’re gay?” Max: “Are you sure you’re not gay?” (“The Quicksand Girlfriend,” 11:40) Brilliant acting aside, the scene is funny because by having a straight character exhibiting greater expertise on women’s fashion than a gay character it derides culturally conditioned stereotypes, of masculinity and femininity (Assaf). Max and Brad are characters who defy categorizations and what they may further perpetuate; that masculine men are straight and that femininity in men is a signifier of gayness (Assaf). The show disrupts the binary distinction of masculine and feminine through the creation of more complex portrayals with combinations of traits that have been traditionally read as one or the other making it more difficult for the viewer to catalog any individual character based solely on their sexuality or gender and rethink their attitudes towards these individuals based on traditional notions (Assaf). Max’s new age portrayal does not end here. In “Mein Coming Out” Max comes out to his parents. ABC chose “to include Max’s coming out within the series, as opposed to creating a character who was already out to his family, which demonstrates the program’s efforts to legitimize the struggles associated with coming out” (Assaf). Since Max, who is portrayed as a confident gay man, is nervous to come out to his parents, then it’s clearly not an easy process. Viewers are reminded that Max’s life, however fun it may seem, is nevertheless affected by his sexual orientation (Assaf). However, it should not be forgotten that ABC is the same network that aired Ellen during her coming out party. Susan Hubert argues that what may seem as progressive will really be “geared to the Aleksandra Klimowicz 4 entertainment and political tastes of American moderates” (Dines). “Mein Coming Out” was the fourth episode of the first season. Max’s gayness as an issue was introduced very early on but he does not continue to face similarly serious issues or any sort of prejudice throughout the rest of the seasons. Just like Ellen’s close ones, Max’s parents respond approvingly and his mother simply shifts from trying to set him up with Jewish women to Jewish men, therefore clearly, the coming out takes places in a comedic setting, brushing over the relevance and weight of his sexuality, which cannot simply be justified with the fact that Happy Endings is a sitcom. The fact that Max is a character on a sitcom is significant and begs the question why hasn’t a character like him been present in any serious setting so far. This relates to Clark’s stages of media representations, which demonstrate that minorities struggle to be represented with the same respect that majorities receive (Dines). Minorities still struggle for drama because while they may be presented in sitcoms in a wide range of roles, traditionally sitcoms are also the lowest form of comedy. Max is the only gay lead on Happy Endings, but there is also a gay reoccurring character named Derrick in the cast. His utmost stereotypical representation of a gay man underscores Max as a character “where gay clichés go to die” (Bruni) in a way reminiscent of Will and Jack. Early in season one Penny brings Max’s gayness to the forefront declaring him a “terrible gay husband” because he isn’t interested in joining her for brunch skewers the sitcom trope of a “gay best friend”. (Adams) Max introduces her to Derrick who touches her breasts in a platonic way, playfully calls her bitch, and can do the splits. On their first date they visit four farmers markets. “Television shows of years past presented gay characters as flamboyant, body-conscious and theater-loving stereotypes, and currently popular shows like Modern Family and Glee still rely partly on these stereotypes for humor and character” (Todd). Instead Happy Endings contrasts these two characters and lays emphasis on Max’s new age portrayal, but is “careful to Aleksandra Klimowicz 5 acknowledge that Max’s version of being a gay man is not better than, or preferable to, other versions” (Todd). Ultimately, Penny realizes that she is not as thrilled about her gay husband as she thought she would be, as he continuously offends her in an over the top manner coded as flaming gay. Eventually, Max tells Penny that she is his gay husband, proving that anyone can hold certain qualities, regardless of gender or sexuality. Happy Endings adapts new meaning to this behavior by assigning these characteristics to Penny, a female character, demonstrating that such qualities should not define gayness (Assaf). Season one’s “Ordinary Extraordinary Love” depicted Jane and Derrick attempting to figure out which gay niche Max belongs to by hitting up every club in Chicago looking for Chameleons, Broadway Queens, even Sitcom Gays. The episode boldly ridicules the caricatures that society has reduced a complex LGBT identity down to. As a last resort, Max decides to host his own event, and plans Optimistic Red-Velvet Walrus Night. Of course, Max had no idea what an optimistic red-velvet walrus is, demonstrating that socially constructed categories for gay people do not define every gay person and more importantly that a person can be a homosexual without fitting into this framework (Kuchman).

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