Friday, May 28, 2010

"Sex and the City"'s gay problem

I found myself nodding and agreeing with just about every word of Thomas Rogers' piece on Salon about the treatment of gay characters in the "Sex and the City" universe, from the condescending match-up of the only two gay male characters ("Hey, you're gay, and he's gay - you have so much in common!") to his opinion of the off-putting Anthony (in my opinion, one of the most unattractive characters in TV history - Rogers calls him "repellent").

Am I the only one who remembers when Charlotte tried to fix up Anthony, her wedding planner, with Carrie's friend Stanford? (It was in the episode where Margaret Cho made Carrie take part in the fashion show, and Carrie tripped on the runway and Heidi Klum just stepped right over her. Also the episode where Cho drops this gay-infantalizing gem. Seriously, the guy doesn't even get to talk!) Anthony and Stanford HATED each other. Stanford thought Anthony was a shallow, obnoxious blowhard, and Anthony dressed Charlotte down for trying to fix him up with someone he thought was less attractive than him. (here, starting at about 3:40.)

It was Anthony who told Charlotte (in so many words) that you can't just pair up your gay friends and expect them to hit it off (since they're human beings, and do not, in fact, exist solely for your amusement or to solve your relationship/fashion dilemmas). Which is why it was so galling when the SATC writers did exactly that - forcing two characters together when it made zero sense.

Of course, these are the same people who just dragged back a Carrie ex whenver they were starved for conflict, so they were kind of over extending themselves creatively at that point... but still.

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