LGBT TV: Television and Sexuality
Film Studies 212
Fall 2014
MW 9-10:50am
Instructor: Bridget Kies
Office: Curtin 483
Email: bkies@uwm.edu
Phone: 773-344-5140
Course Description
In the early 1970s, television viewers began to see characters who identified as gay. Twenty
years later, gay characters and gay-themed programming became popular on network
primetime. In the present moment, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has
recorded the highest number of LGBT characters (no longer just self-identified as gay) across
network and cable channels. This increase coincides with landmark legislation and court rulings
in favor of LGBT rights. This course will seek to understand how we arrived at this moment and
to interrogate how LGBT characters and stories are being represented. To do this, we will look
back at television history to understand changing social and industrial contexts. We will discuss
different theories of representation and look at responses to contemporary television inside and
outside the LGBT community. Some questions we might consider:
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What is the relationship between television and society? Is what we see on TV today
the result of changes in society, or are changes in society the result of what we’ve been
exposed to on TV?
In what ways does increased representation of the LGBT community coincide with or
conflict with representation for other minority groups?
What kind of stories and characters are being depicted? Are these representations
reflective of the real LGBT community?
For whom are depictions of LGBT life on television intended? What audiences are
being targeted through these stories?
Course Work
This course is divided into three units: early television history into the 1980s, the 1990s, and the
present (2000-now). During each unit students will read texts from a variety of disciplines and
watch episodes of clips of television relating to a particular time and theme.
Participation: 10%
Participation is crucial to your success in this class. If you miss six or more classes, you will fail
this course. Participation includes attendance, but also your engagement with the material,
participating in class discussions, listening well to others, and thoughtful reflection.
Response Papers: 20%
You will be asked to write a short response to each screening, due the next class session.
Response papers should be 1-2 pages, typed and double-spaced. Late response papers will
not be accepted.
Two Unit Exam Essays: 40%
Following units one and two, you will complete a take-home exam essay. You will be given a
list of several essay questions and will choose one to write on. Your essay should be 2-3
pages, typed and double-spaced, and will draw upon the readings and screenings. Each unit
exam essay is worth 20% of your semester grade.
Final Paper: 30%
At the end of the semester, you will submit a final paper that examines some aspect of
contemporary LGBT+ life on television. This final paper may require outside research and
screenings. It should be 5-7 pages, typed and double-spaced. We will discuss possible topics
and requirements in class later in the semester.
Schedule
Unit One: Television Then
Week One (Sept. 2) – Course Introduction
Week Two (Sept. 8) – Not Quite Out: Reading the Sexuality Subtext
Readings:
Hall, “The Work of Representation,” pp. 15-63
Doty, “There’s Something Queer Here”
Screenings: The Dick Van Dyke Show, “Sally Is a Girl”
All in the Family, “Judging Books by Covers”
The Odd Couple, “The Fear of Flying”
Week Three (Sept. 15) – Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen
Readings:
Joyrich, “Epistemology of the Console”
Miller, “Don’t Drop the Soap”
Screening: Soap, episodes 1.01, 1.02, and 1.04
Week Four (Sept. 22) – Pretending for Laughs
Reading:
*Levine, Wallowing in Sex, pp. 169-207
* OR Butler, Gender Trouble, pp.10-33 and Bodies That Matter,1-23
Screenings: selected episodes of Three’s Company and Bosom Buddies
Week Five (Sept. 29) – Some of My Best Friends…
Reading: Doty, “I Love Laverne and Shirley”
Screening: The Golden Girls, “Scared Straight” and “Sister of the Bride”
Unit Two: The Gay Nineties
Week Six (Oct. 6) – Not That There’s Anything Wrong With It
Unit one essay due
Reading: Becker, Gay TV and Straight America, pp. 80-107
Screening:
Friends, “The One With the Lesbian Wedding”
Roseanne, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Seinfeld, “The Outing”
Week Seven (Oct. 13) – “Gaycoms”
Reading: Becker, pp. 136-188
Screening:
Ellen, “The Puppy Episode”
Will and Grace, “Husbands and Trophy Wives”
Week Eight (Oct. 20) – Adolescent Sexuality
Reading:
Byers, “My So-Called Life,” pp. 174-181
Pascoe, Dude, You’re a Fag, pp.52-83
Screening:
My So-Called Life, “Guns and Gossip”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “New Moon Rising”
March16-22 – SPRING BREAK
Week Nine (Oct. 27) – Allegories in Space
Reading:
Kydd, “Star Trek Insiders and ‘Outcasts’”
Jenkins, “‘Out of the Closet and Into the Universe’: Queers and Star Trek”
Screening:
Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Outcast”
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Rejoined”
Week Ten (Nov. 3) – Maintaining Law and Order
Reading:
Binnie, “Queer Theory, Neoliberalism, and Urban Governance,” pp. 21-37
Tropiano, pp. 55-107
Screening:
L.A. Law, “He’s a Crowd”
Law and Order, “The Reaper’s Helper”
Unit Three: Television Now
Week Eleven (Nov. 10) – Representing HIV/AIDS
Unit two essay due
Reading:
Farrell, “HIV on TV: Conversations with Young Gay Men”
Tulloch, “Using TV in HIV/AIDS Education: Production and Audience Cultures”
Screening:
ER, “Thy Will Be Done”
South Park, “Tonsil Trouble”
Week Twelve (Nov. 17) – Racial and Ethnic Diversity
Reading: LeBesco, “‘Gots to Get Got’: Social Justice and Audience Response to Omar Little”
Screening: The Wire, “Old Cases”
Week Thirteen (Nov. 20) – Premium Cable
Reading:
Slagle and Yep, “Taming Brian: Sex, Love, and Romance in Queer as Folk”
Robinson, Queer Wars, pp. 150-162
Moore, “Having It All Ways: The Tourist, the Traveler, and the Local in The L
Word”
Screening: clips from Big Love, The L Word, and Queer as Folk
Week Fourteen (Nov. 24) – Reality TV
Reading:
Williams, “HGTV: Winning the War for Gay Marriage”
Goin, “Faux Gender and the New Popularity of Drag Culture”
Screening:
House Hunters International, “Ivan and Devin”
Queer Eye, “Straight Guy Pageant”
clips from RuPaul’s Drag Race
Week Fifteen (Dec. 1) – We’re Here, We’re “Normal”
Reading:
Kessler, “They Should Suffer Like the Rest of Us”
*Miller, “Performing Glee: Gay Resistance to Gay Representations and a New
Slumpy Class”
* OR Tropiano, “Gaycoms in a Progressive Age?”
Screening:
The New Normal, “The Goldie Rush”
Husbands, season two
Modern Family, “The Kiss”
Week Sixteen (Dec. 8) – Queer Baiting and the (No) Future
Reading:
Rose, “How Do We Solve a Problem Like ‘Queerbaiting’?”
Kooijman, “Cruising the Channels: The Queerness of Zapping”
Joyrich, “Queer Television Studies: Currents, Flows, and (Main)Streams”
Screening: clips from Supernatural, Teen Wolf, and Sherlock
Final Paper Due: December 15
*Screenings subject to change based on availability of episodes.