Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Katerina Hasalova Queer American Television: The Development of Lesbian Characters Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A. 2013 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank the thesis supervisor Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A., for his support and inspiration Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 Historical Overview ......................................................................................... 4 The Early Years: Pre-Stonewall to the 1970s .................................................. 4 The 1980s ................................................................................................... 5 The 1990s ................................................................................................... 8 The 2000s ................................................................................................. 12 The 2010s ................................................................................................. 17 Meet the Creators, Shows and Characters ....................................................... 21 Criteria ...................................................................................................... 21 Creators .................................................................................................... 22 Shows and Characters ................................................................................ 26 Coming out .................................................................................................. 30 Relationships ................................................................................................ 39 Development within the Show ........................................................................ 49 Conclusion – Has It or Has It Not?.................................................................. 57 Works Cited .................................................................................................. 64 Summary ..................................................................................................... 69 Anotace ....................................................................................................... 70 Introduction ―’Queer’ has traditionally meant odd or unusual, though modern use often pertains to LGBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and non-normative heterosexual) people‖ ("Queer," ALGBTICAL). The usage of the word queer is still considered a bit controversial nowadays, however, the meaning underwent a change since the end of last century, when some LGBT activists reclaimed this term as a term of self- empowerment and today is often used as an umbrella term for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersexual, genderqueer, or generally of other than non-heterosexual sexuality. Media and particularly television play an important part in everyday lives of majority of the Americans. It is true that new media are used for watching television content, like Netflix, iTunes, Hulu or for example Amazon Instant Video, however it is mainly for convenience and to avoid commercials, not as a way to stop watching the content. As such, the broadcast is important for educating viewers. In the last several decades, queer (or for the sake of this thesis, LGBTQ – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) characters have been appearing on television more and more. They started with being shown as more of deviants, went through a phase when they were blamed for spreading AIDS, up to what we see on television today, and that is a valiant effort to give a semblance of ―normalcy‖ when introducing lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender characters. It does not always work as well as the LGBT 1 community would have liked it to work and in some cases, there is much to be desired in this way but it could be seen as ―visibility matters‖ kind of way. Is it true? It is hard to say because having many of the stereotypes and misconceptions of many straight people regarding LGBT community splashed over several seasons of a popular show means that some people will have wrong expectations when meeting non-straight individuals for the first time, maybe even fear them. Since Queer American Television is a very broad topic, I have decided to concentrate on the lesbian community and their portrayal on the broadcast television in particular. I will take three different television shows that include a lesbian character and I will try to compare if the portrayal of these characters has changed through time. The television shows were created at different times – late 1980s/early 1990s, mid 1990s/early 2000s and mid 2000s until today and while the number of lesbian characters has increased somewhat during this time, in this thesis I would like to analyze whether the way they have been portrayed has changed since the 1990s and also if the depth or realistic portrayal of the characters has improved. After a historical overview of the LGBTQ connected real life events and of what was seen on television, with mentioning some of the important or noteworthy television shows, I will then introduce the television shows and characters I have chosen, and also briefly introduce the creators. The historical development will be split in decades, rather than by the television genre to make it better structured. 2 In the first chapter of my analysis, called ―Coming Out‖, I will analyze this process and look at the ways this process was handled if at all. I will compare the ways used to convey this important step in any LGBT individual to the viewers. Since relationships are important in any television show, book or a movie, I will then devote a chapter, called ―Relationships‖, to this development in the characters’ lives. I will look at if they even had any relationships, how visible the relationships were and how they were handled. Where they equal to the heterosexual relationships and was there a difference between 1991, 2000 and 2008 when these characters were indicated to not be straight anymore? In the last chapter, called ―Development within the Show‖, I will look at just that – whether there was any development for these three characters on their respective shows. Were these three women well rounded characters or did they appear only two-dimensional? Did their sexuality play a significant role on the shows? And also a touch of – did the type of the show and the time when the shows were aired play a significant role in the portrayal? This last question will be valid for all the analysis chapters as sort of a common thread. By the end of this thesis, I would like to have proven that the answer to my initial research questions is yes, the portrayal has improved, and to have this conclusion backed by facts and examples. 3 Historical Overview The Early Years: Pre-Stonewall to the 1970s In the pre-Stonewall years of American television, the most anyone could hope or dread, depending on the stance of the viewer, to see on their screen in terms of LGBT themes were various local talk shows. Generally, these shows would gravely discuss the "problem" of homosexuality with a panel of "experts" on the subject, none of whom were identified as homosexual. These included such programs as Confidential File out of Los Angeles, which produced "Homosexuals and the Problems They Present" in 1954 (Tropiano 269) and "Homosexuals Who Stalk and Molest Our Children" in 1955 (Tropiano 3), and The Open Mind out of New York which aired "Introduction to the Problem of Homosexuality", "Homosexuality: A Psychological Approach" and "Male and Female in American Society" during its 1956–1957 season (Tropiano 4). Showcase, hosted by Fannie Hurst, was one of the exceptions to this rule as they presented several of the earliest well-rounded discussions of homosexuality and was one of the few programs on which homosexual men spoke for themselves rather than being debated by a panel of "experts" (Tropiano 4-5). With increasing visibility of the LGBT characters on fictional series post the Stonewall riots in 1969, a pattern started to appear beginning with a murderous female impersonator from The Streets of San Francisco and Police Woman and her trio of killer lesbians in 1974 and after that, of presenting LGBT characters as psychotic killers on crime dramas. On medical dramas, the disease model of homosexuality was supported in characters like 1963's Hallie 4 Lambert from The Eleventh Hour and Martin Loring from Marcus Welby, M.D. in 1973. Lesbians and gays, the viewing public was told, were concurrently dangerous and sick, to be feared and to be pitied. Following protest and complaints over some of the more over-the-top portrayals of characters such as 1974 Marcus Welby episode "The Outrage", that introduced male child molestation plot, and the before mentioned killer lesbian trio from the Police Woman episode "Flowers of Evil" forced networks to start moving away from the killer queer plot device and though gays and lesbians were still portrayed as killers, they were now killing not because of being gay but they started killing out of greed and jealousy, just like heterosexuals (Tropiano 71-72). The 1980s The 1980s started with the Democrats endorsing