Queer+Eye+for+the+Straight+Guy

Sarah Grage

=Queer Eye for the Straight Guy=

 **Background on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy** Emmy winning, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy premiered in the summer of 2003 on Bravo cable television network becoming a breakout hit and one of the most talked about shows of the year running for four years after that (Hart, 2004). The premise of this American reality show is that five gay men, each of whom is an expert in a specific field, makeover a straight man that needs some changes in their life. The five members of the show, the fab five, are Ted Allen, in charge of food and wine, Kyan Douglas, in charge of grooming, Thorn Filicia, an interior designer, Carson Kressley, in charge of fashion, and Jai Rodriguez, in charge of culture. Topics that were seen on the show included but were not limited to “manscaping,” nose hair, pleather and many other things (Grogan, 2007). **Target Audience** Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is targeting specific audiences through the content of their show. This show portrays gay men as trendsetters and that appeal to people who follow trends in the media. The makeovers that make straight men “better” and “more appealing” cause gay men to be seen those who can make over “helpless” individuals, targeting those who think they need makeovers (Atkin, 2004). Queen Eye also targets a metrosexual population and allows this to be seen as a far reaching life style. Metrosexual creates an open playing field for men and women to be interested in shampoo, grooming, fash ion etc. A metrosexual life style is normalized and glamorized through the makeover of straight men on the show. This show teaches straight men in need of “help” to care about fashion, culture, and other things that would categorize them as metrosexual. These trends that Queer Eye are setting on television is part of the phenomenon of targeting men who are interested in following the trends of the day, and that straight men have things to learn from gay men (Miller, 2005). To continue to appeal to the straight audience though it allows one to still retain the idea that the interaction between the homosexual and heterosexual men lasts only this one hour segment and is not applicable outside of it (Papacharissi, 2008). **Sexuality on Queer Eye** Sexuality is portrayed on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in ways that are unique from other TV shows. First of all it allows gay men to flaunt instead of concealing their lifestyle (Papacharissi, 2008). Also many shows that portray gay characters do so by following well known stereotypes and generalizations, but Queer Eye diverges from these norms in one very important way. Most actors who are portraying and individual that is homosexual are heterosexual in their real life. The five characters on this show are gay in real life as well as on the show. While these characters still portray certain stereotypical characteristics, these can be seen in a more positive way because of the fact that these individuals are playing themselves, not characters that are purely based on stereotypes. While this show has a more positive portrayal of homosexual men, it still can create misconceptions about the homosexual population that are seen on TV as well as what it means to have a “gay eye” for a certain topic (Atkin, 2004). These misconceptions can be fueled by the fact that even though the characters are actually gay they are still limited to stereotypical aesthetic roles that are often generalized to the gay population (Papacharissi, 2008). According to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation out of the 674 actors on primetime television only eleven are gay characters. In these eleven characters they do portray stereotypes. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy can cause the misconception that being gay is a trend, and appears more often in the media than it actually does. Shows such as these that also portray gay men as having a trained eye for things such as fashion cause the media to see these individuals as trend, sophisticated, and in other positive ways. Trends can be exploited over time leading to negative and mean treatment of these individuals (Atkin 2004). The makeovers that are performed on this show can be considered to makeover straight men into metrosexual men. The sexuality of a metrosexual man includes them still being straight in respect to being interested in women, but they care about things that are seen as feminine. These things may include the grooming the Kyan Douglas tries to impart or becoming more versed in interior design from Thorn Filicia (Miller, 2005). So while Queer Eye for the Straight Guy does portray a gay character as a more realistic representation at the same time the trends they are sending can cause misconceptions and lead to mean outcomes (Atkin 2004). **Portrayed Relationship between Homosexuals and Heterosexuals** In the environment of the show gay and straight men have conversations without homophobia and not restricted by differences in sexual orientation (Papacharissi, 2008). But, the basis of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is that gay men are making over a straight man that needs their “help.” This portrays the idea that the gay men know something the straight men do not and the straight men need them. This puts the gay men in a position of superiority over the straight men they are helping. In television history heterosexual men are portrayed as superior to homosexual men, and Queer Eye reverses those roles. The roles of the gay men on the show implicitly infer that they are superior, training straight men to be better at certain aspects of life. Also for the first time gay men are the majority on a reality of television show versus being the minority. The straight man being the minority on the show makes them at the mercy of the majority who are the homosexual men. The fab five dominate and control the decisions of the straight man through the episode (Hart, 2004). The domination of the gay men over the straight man within the show establishes a homonormitive discourse, empowering the gay characters. Homonormitivity is presenting homosexuality and behaviors and actions that go along with it as normal within society. This causes the homosexual behaviors seen in the show to be portrayed not only as normal but as something that can makes one’s life better and more fulfilling. As discussed before, Queer Eye allows people to believe that these interactions where the gay men are dominate in a situation only lasts within this hour long segment, and suggesting otherwise would imply friendship and closeness between gay and straight men (Papacharissi, 2008). **References** Atkin, H. (2004). What Does ‘Queer Eye’ Say About Gays on TV?. //Television Week,// 23 (1), 8. Emmy Awards – 2004. //Bartcop Entertainment,//. Retrieved from http://www.suprmchaos.com Grogan, L. (2007, October 2). What one “Queer Eye” guy has learned from the show. //The// //Seattle Times.// Retrieved from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com Hart, K. R. (2004). We’re Here, We’re Queer – and We’re Better Than You: The Representational Superiority of Gay Men to Heterosexuals on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. //The Journal of Men’s Studies,// 12 (3), 241-253. Miller, T. (2005). A Metrosexual Eye on Queer Guy. //GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian & Gay// //Studies,// 11 (1), 112-117. Papacharissi, Z., Fernback, J. (2008). The Aesthetic Power of the Fab 5: Discursive Themes of Homonormativity in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. //Journal of Communication Inquiry,// 32 (4), 348-367. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. //UCLA School of Theatre Film and Television,.// Retrieved from [|http://www.tft.ucla.edu] West, L. Pictures: Queer Eye for the Boston Red Sox Guy. //About.com,//. Retrieved from http://realitytv.about.com