While Western gays sit back and debate whether or not they liked the premiere of HBO’s Looking and all the seedy handjobs and threesomes that came with it, Russian officials are determining whether or not the Russian gays can even tune in.
Igor Lebedev, Vice-Speaker of the State Duma, has asked the Prosecutor General to review the new series and determine whether or not it “promotes non-traditional sexual relations among minors.” If it does, the distribution and viewing of Looking in Russia will be considered illegal under Article 6.21 of the Administrative Code, the controversial law that bans “gay propaganda.” Viewing teen anal porn is totally okay, though.
“I think this is a clear violation of Russian law and ask to respond and take action to ban this movie,” said Lebedev, as translated by Google translate.
No word yet on whether or not Lebedev will move to ban the series, but this is Russia, so we’ll give you one wild guess.
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vaguy
Looking is boring and trite. I predict it won’t last long. When are they going to stop protraying all gay men as young men with marginal jobs and recreational drugs that are in just about every scene. And just about every scene has something sexual going on. Why not a story about smart, well educated men with jobs as lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc., who have sex but who don’t go cruising every night in sleezy bars?
Caleb in SC
@vaguy: Because that reality is boring as hell and won’t get viewers. Trust me, I’m an attorney and my life *is* boring as hell.
B Damion
@vaguy …For the very same reason they portray African Americans
in television, music, and film as less than stellar. Black men are often portrayed as drug pushers, pimps, thugs, and dead beat dads, while black women are portrayed as poor, lazy, and promiscuous. This needs to stop! That is a given! Question is, how are these negative images going to be stopped? Several steps should be taken in order to prevent these negative images in the media. The origins of these images need to be examined, and modern racism and prejudice need to be exposed.
There may be some accuracy to the negative images of African Americans in the media, but that is no excuse. The media should focus more on uplifting people. African Americans have historically had a disadvantage when compared to their white counterparts. This should not be exploited for entertainment purposes. African Americans are often placed in roles that portray them as poorly educated. This dates all the way to minstrel shows! This is still a problem today! Americans are more comfortable laughing at stereotypes instead of truly trying to dismiss or disqualify these stereotypes.
Zodinsbrother
Surely any show with a same sex relationship is now illegal in Russia.
Surely even Dr Who, which is a kids show with a semi-regular lesbian couple in, is now illegal in Russia.
B Damion
I’m sorry. It’s really not about color. It’s about demanding that the media move away from all kinds of stereotypes be it gay,ethnic,str8 etc…
krystalkleer
great show!
Throbert McGee
@Zodinsbrother: “Surely even Dr Who, which is a kids show with a semi-regular lesbian couple in, is now illegal in Russia.”
Not necessarily — assuming that references to the couple’s lesbianism were only made occasionally and briefly, then it’d pretty easy to overdub “my girlfriend” (in English) with something like “my housemate” (in Russian). And a three-second kissing shot could be edited out entirely without viewers noticing the gap.
Obviously, that would be impossible with a series like “Looking” — from what I gather, you’d be left with about 30 seconds of footage if you tried to edit out all the homo-references from the action and dialogue.
ouragannyc
Russian official will outlaw “Looking” after viewing the very first scene (park).
SteveDenver
Russian gays only have to become government officials and then they can watch anything they want: just classify it as “research.”
For those who don’t like the show (already!), that’s fine, not every show reaches everyone. Not every show is “about you.” For those who want a show about gay men, but no sex, that show was already made, it’s called “The Golden Girls.”