Comments on: Can We Forgive the Gay Villain Stereotype If TV Shows Give Them Boyfriends?

By: Attmay

Attmay — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:24:57 +0000

Frankly, if the villain was gay I’d root for him or her.

By: Wry Bred

Wry Bred — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:03:44 +0000

Meh. Everybody knows vampires are casually bi veering toward gay.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:20:27 +0000

@Erik

I was just about to mention Prince Jack. Kings was such an underrated show. Such a shame it got cancelled :(

And not only does True Blood have Lafayette who is “good guy” and very openly gay and Desperate Housewives has 2 gay couples on the show and neither 1 of them have been portrayed as villains. This is a strange article.

By: dizzyspins

dizzyspins — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:45:58 +0000

I have to disagree with the lazy generalizations in this post. For every show cited, there is a far more monstrous hetero villain. Alby’s father, Roman, the patriarch of the compound–and husband to probably a dozen women–is Satan incarnate. The villain of Ugly Betty is Vanessa Williams–her gay assistant Marc is much more sympathetic. I havent watched Desperate Housewives in a season or two, but the gay son is hardly the villain of the series.

If anything, gays went from being the villians to being the overly-sympathetic, sexless martyrs or best friends, like Matt on Melrose Plac, Will on Will & Grace, or even Kevin on Brothers & Sisters. I think now we can enjoy nuanced gay characters with good and bad qualities–like the gays on Modern Family. Though its worth remembering TV usually boils people down into caricatures anyway.

As to the other generalizations, there’s clearly been an effort to avoid various stereotypes in recent years. When new Mission Impossible or Die Hard movies or other action blockbusters come out, they try to portray the villains as a multi-ethnic cabal, or vaguely British/German, or part of the American industrial-military complex. Maybe Queerty lifted this post from an issue of Premiere from 1986?

By: RJ

RJ — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:55:21 +0000

It’s better than being the idiot funny best friend.

By: Erick

Erick — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:01:08 +0000

What is wrong with the idea of a gay villain that one should forgive? Arent bad people, or more broadly, people who do questionable thing who happen to be gay?

As long as they portray them as that, villains who happen to be gay, its fine; and they portray them in a realistic and complicated manner and treat them just as they would anybody else, its fine.

Prince Jack on King was on of the most interesting and complicated gay characters ever written for TV, he wasnt a good guy, but he wasnt a bad guy either. He was “real” and that was fine.

This notion that gay in TV and movies should be saintly creatures is ridiculous, just keep them real.

By: Yuki

Yuki — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:03:09 +0000

Er, not all gays in TV are villains. Look at Ugly Betty, for instance. Stereotypical, sure, but not villains. And most villains are not gay; check out pretty much *any* show, the majority of villains are straight or their sexuality unknown.

Also, for the record, True Blood was based off of a series of novels. I’ve not read them, but I should think the gay villain was there, too.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:58:59 +0000

You are also forgetting that True Blood includes one gay character already Lafayette who, while no saint (read: he is a small time drug dealer and promiscuous), is a main character and well liked. True Blood appears to be pretty realistic when depicting gay characters and quite supportive. They even had one sub story dealing with some bigots getting stuck into Lafayette but being exposed for being spineless low lives.

By: Attmay

Attmay — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:55:25 +0000

@2 Jason:

“Some of us are extremely rotten people.”

I discovered that through almost every gay website on the internet.

By: edgyguy1426

edgyguy1426 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:48:45 +0000

Wait. I missed the ‘mo in 300. Who was it?

By: jason

jason — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:40:40 +0000

I think we should welcome a portrayal that attempts to be balanced. We’re not all Rebeccas of Sunnybrook Farm, you know. Some of us are extremely rotten people.

So long as TV attempts to balance gay portrayals, I don’t mind the bad with the good.

By: ksyxx

ksyxx — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:35:40 +0000

At least TV will feature a queen or two who isn’t wearing more make-up and nail-polish than the majority of females in his vicinity. And any simulated oral sex will be more than welcome ^^