The lack of gay kissing, or doing anything beyond hugging, on ABC’s Modern Family has the gays taking to Facebook to call on ABC, Lloyd-Levitan Productions, and 20th Century Fox to let the homos go further. We wanna see is a little snogging, is that so much to ask? Apparently so, at least for the time being, from the sound of the show’s creators.
It all started during May 5’s “Airport 2010” episode, where Claire and Phil got to kiss, but Cam and Mitchell didn’t. Unfair, they say! So co-creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan tried explaining it all away by saying Mitchell’s character has a problem with public displays of affection, and it’ll all be explained in an upcoming episode.
Fine? Not to the gays on Facebook! They’re still pushing for kissing! now! And producers aren’t caving.
Says Levitan: “We don’t quite get that controversy. We think the vast majority of the gay community finds the Cameron and Mitchell depiction to be very positive. Here we are the first show on television to show a committed gay couple adopting a baby, raising a baby. It seems to me that there are better targets out there than us. That said, everything we’re doing is based on character and that very issue will be addressed next season. But it was our plan all along to do so.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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He’s mostly right. We do love Cam and Mitchell’s storyline. It’s funny, comedically authentic, and consistently steals the show. But rather than retaliate against the campaign, Modern Family‘s producers would be wise to treat the campaign for exactly what it is: a showing of support from the gay community. It’s not that we’re unhappy with Cam and Mitchell’s plotline. It’s that we love it so much we want them to go ever further.
It can’t come fast enough. Nor can the top and bottom jokes, which are right around the corner, eh?
AB
Link us to “the gays on Facebook”?
fredo777
What campaign? Oy vey.
brandon
Anyone who supports this is a fucking idiot who has never actually watched the show and understood it. It was damn well established that Cam was a neurotic tight ass. There are much bigger things going on right now to be pissed off about, namely a giant fucking goddamn oil spill, or DADT!
Be fucking patient! They will kiss!
P.S Self Righteous pricks who would only be satisfied with a bareback double penetration scene !
Jaroslaw
This is a joke. How many dozens of Gay themed movies have I seen where the guys are kissing off in the distance? Worse yet, once in a while, the hets have a kiss in said Gay movie and it is much more close up.
Though I agree with Brandon – there are SO many more important things to worry about.
Cam
@brandon:
Brandon, in every single thread on this issue you’ve been weirdly angry, as if you have some stake in this.
The fact remains that there is ALWAYS an excuse for not having gays kiss. On Will and Grace they expected us to believe that Will was upset over his break up for what…like 7 seasons and that was why he never dated?
In this one, oh gee, we happened to write Mitchell as a tight ass who doesn’t like displays. Well that would work accept for the fact that Cam is always getting Mitchell to do things outside his comfort zone. A partner like that, who he has adopted a child with would absolutly give his partner a kiss, a pec on the cheeck whatever, even if the other guy was uncomfortable. This is just another example of the entertainment industries playing to their own homophobia.
fredo777
This is much ado about nothing.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
If Mitchel doesn’t feel comfortable with PDA’s, then why did he hug Cam in public? I know guys who don’t feel comfortable showing affection in public–I was one for a long time–and I never touched anyone, male or female, in any manner whether sexual, or just friendly. I think the producers are just trying to cover their asses on this obvious bit of homophobia. Hell, straight children have had more on screen kisses than the two gay adults.
And I love this quote:
We think the vast majority of the gay community finds the Cameron and Mitchell depiction to be very positive.
He “thinks” the vast majority of us like their potrayal? Has he spoken with the “vast majority” of gays? Or is he just assuming that we like seeing neutered, asexual gays on TV? These two men have a daughter, yet still refer to each other as “boyfriends”. You’d think that if they were willing to add a baby to their relationship, they’d have at the very least, a commitment ceremony
dellery
Doesn’t like PDA, huh? Too bad that we never at any point during the series see him in the privacy of his own home.
Oh, wait…
CultureBear
As the person who created the Facebook campaign “Let Cam & Mitchell Kiss on Modern Family” (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Let-Cam-Mitchell-kiss-on-Modern-Family/121653341193505) I would like to think Queerty for understanding EXACTLY where I’ve been coming from! The Facebook page was not meant as an “attack” or way of saying that I was unhappy with the way the couple was being portrayed. In fact, it’s because I am SO happy with the representation that I’d like to see them take that final step.
They say it’s PDA, and I have to believe them. I have some problems with that argument, but we may have to agree to disagree. In the meantime, we will still respectfully campaign for what it is we’d like to see. No harm in that.
And if Mr. Levitan truly doesn’t “get it,” he should contact me, because I’d be more than happy to explain it to him. 🙂
Lamar
Oh please seriously we gay are smarter than this, no way in hell is it a coincidence that the gay couple just happened to hate PDAs, how in the world anyone can believe this excuse is just beyond me let’s say it was an interracial couple instead of a gay couple, would the same excuse be accepted …I rest my case.
Jen
Even if Mitchell doesn’t like PDAs, there have been plenty of opportunities for a kiss when they are in their own home or having a private moment in other areas. Again, how many times have we seen the other couples kiss in their home?
EdWoody
@dellery: Ah, but the schtick of the show is that it’s all a documentary. So even when they’re in their own home they’re not alone – the cameras are always there.
Ealan
What a waste of breath to get huffy over this.
alan brickman
it’s a great show…don’t listen to the haters…..
SuperCat
I swear I’ve seen them kiss, I guess I was wrong… maybe it was just a peck on the cheek.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@EdWoody: That’s inconsistently applied in the show.
WalkderDC
So the never seen before screenames show up to defend the show. What a surprise.
Tartuffe
@dellery:
Isn’t the show in a mocked documentary style?
I may be wrong, but I think the characters know the camera crews are there, making it still public, even in their own homes..
Anyway, great show! I don’t think this is something to get offended over.
Cam
Again, Cam always pushes Mitchel to do new things. You cannot for one second tell me that somebody like that, somebody who has adopted a child with him, would not at least give him a peck on the cheek whether it embarrassed the other one or not. Oh, so you’ll push a baby carridge down the street with me, but you won’t let me kiss you on the cheek? Shut up because here comes the kiss!
But then again, funny how they’ve never mentioned his supposed problems with PDA until they had to release a heastily worded press release.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Tartuffe: Some parts are and some parts aren’t. The mockumentary theme seems almost like the first seasons of Sex and the City. Its a good show, but this is one of the weaker aspects of it.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Tartuffe: Practical example of inconsistent application: the older daughters boyfriend getting stuck in the house with the alarm still on or the family not noticing him implies scenes that are no strictly mockumentary like Best of Show.