Controversial sexuality?

[justagirl2]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:09pm

I'll start off by admitting that yes, I am asking you all for help with my homework.

I'm in a communications class that analyzes media texts (movies and television in particular) in regards to their representation of sexuality.

Now. I have a 10-page paper due at the end of the year in which I need to select a specific text that has stirred up controversy and brought to light cultural politics of the times. Examples that my professor gave were: Tinky Winky, Ellen, the Super Bowl half-time show with Janet Jackson, and the "Justify My Love" music video.

Because you're all geniuses when it comes to the media, can you think of any similar examples, preferably from the 80s or 90s? I'm considering writing on the Britney/Madonna kiss, but I'm not sure.

Thank you!
Updated On: 3/19/07 at 09:09 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:10pm

Roseanne's lesbian kiss. Sandra Bernhard and Madonna on David Letterman's NBC show in 1988 dress in ACT UP summer chic (rolled up denim shorts, t-shirts, Doc Martens) talking about The Cubby Hole.

Updated On: 3/19/07 at 09:10 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:12pm

Madonna's Sex book.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:12pm

Ellen's coming-out episode and all that surrounded it.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:13pm

When Rosie came out of the closet.

South Park episdoe where Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet.

Queer As Folk.

The Golden Girls.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:13pm

Oh yeah, please don't write on the Britney/Madonna kiss. Thanking you in advance.

[justagirl2]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:28pm

Thanks, guys. Hey, I was stuck. Unfortunately, we've pretty much exhausted Ellen, Rosie and Roseanne in class, so I'm not left with many options.

Now I'm considering The Crying Game.

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:29pm

boys dont cry

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:32pm

CAMP

The Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green (omg, I can't believe I watched this.)

[OddExoticCreature]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:34pm

t.A.T.u.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:34pm

Soap (tv series)

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:35pm

i think tatu turned out to not actually be lesbians, which i suppose only adds to the contorversy.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:37pm

Are you assigned to do something from the '80s or '90s? Why don't you go WAY back and do something about a true pioneer, Mae West?

She starred in a Broadway show in the '20s she wrote called "Sex." It so scandalized the powers that be, that the show was shut down and she and the cast were arrested.

Her next show was called The Drag, and it portrayed the homosexual underground of the era. Absolutely groundbreaking woman.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:38pm

Rock Hudson
Liberace
Robert Reed
Paul Lynde

[misschung]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:39pm

Actually I think that tatu thing would be good, considering they aren't gay, right? sort of a start to that whole "girls making out is hot" thing - not that it didn't exist before, but still.

what about Madonna's children's book? lol

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:40pm

There was no controversy about the sexuality of any of those men. There was controversy that three of them died of AIDS, but that's not the subject.

[OddExoticCreature]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:40pm

yes, t.A.T.u. was all an act created by their (creepy skeezy) manager. Yulia (the dark-haired one) has a baby now. And they were very young when their manager started 'grooming' them for those roles. 15? VERY controversial, as they were explicitly sexual in photographs and racey in performances.

Updated On: 3/19/07 at 09:40 PM

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:44pm

One of my favorites:

In Hedwig and the Angry Inch -- when the semi-castrated biologically male Hedwig (played by a man in drag) kisses the seemingly biologically male Yitzhak (played by a female actor). Now, it is people kissing the oppositely performed gender, but the same sex biologically in the film, but the actors are of opposite sexes. It's a really interesting moment in film, I think.

I wrote my thesis on the film, and spent about 20 pages talking about this moment alone.

Updated On: 3/19/07 at 09:44 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:46pm

Oh, the Hedwigian possibilities!

[OddExoticCreature]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:48pm

that's really cool touchmeinthemorning. my friend wrote her ph.d. thesis on the stage performance and focused on when Ally Sheedy played Hedwig.

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:48pm

i think there's a movement of people who claim that bisexuality is not "real" and that they have no place in the gay community. maybe find some information about that.

edited for spelling

Updated On: 3/19/07 at 09:48 PM

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:49pm

How about the movie "Making Love" from 1981? It was considered outrageous at the time, showing two men kissing and making love, but now you could probably show it on TV unedited.

When I saw it in the theater, a woman in front of me threw up in revulsion when the two men kissed. It really was something back then.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:50pm

Someone wrote her PhD thesis on Ally Sheedy as Hedwig? And they say academic standards are low nowadays.

[OddExoticCreature]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:53pm

at NYU Namo I'm sure there was more to it than that, I didn't really ask her to explain her entire academic background to me.

i think there's a movement of people who claim that bisexuality is not "real" and that they have no place in the gay community. maybe find some information about that.

I don't know if it's a "movement" but those people piss me off.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:56pm

"When I saw it in the theater, a woman in front of me threw up in revulsion when the two men kissed. It really was something back then."

Please submit her name and address to Steven Stanley for picketing. Thanking you in advance.

I hope the PhD thesis was called "Who Killed Hedwig? The Ally Sheedy Story."