Media, Hegemony, Values

It's interesting to think about the effect that media has on the way we look at life, and the somewhat unusual assumptions that we often make without realising it.

I've been thinking recently about some things that have been bothering me - not too seriously, but they are interesting to note. It began with Roswell and continued into Battlestar Galactica. See, in Roswell, there were no gay characters. Now, I'm not really a fan of using gay/"ethnic" or other types just for the sake of political correctness - but I do find it interesting that over the course of three seasons not a single identifiable gay character showed up.

Battlestar Galactica is supposed to be this gritty, realistic setting - and we have been treated to a lot of information about the "Reality" of the setting. Yet there are remarkably no gay characters. It seems that only heterosexuals are capable of being involved in resistance against invading machines, and flying military vehicles.

This is despite statistics showing this is not true.

Right now I'm seeing Juice TV playing over a flat screen television in the cyber cafe - it's interesting how most videos show heterosexual couples hooking up. One music video was about cyber-dating showing all manner of people typing on computers and then meeting in real life. Not a single lesbian or gay couple was in the video.

This is a classic case of self-fulfilling prophecy. By not showing homosexuality as a part of human nature and culture, we continue to vilify it simply by enforcing heterosexual images. Just because it isn't showing homosexuals being burned on crosses doesn't make it any less discriminating.

The reality is that homosexuality is a part of nature, regardless of being an anomaly or some deliberate process to keep population contained - it has been with humanity since the very beginning. Most other social species in nature have also shown to have homosexual members, and some biologists are arguing that there may actually be a purpose to a percentage of the population portraying such a trait.

Myself? I'm not sure if I totally buy into such theories - I do believe that it is an instinct of some sort that those who experience it must choose whether to follow or not. After all, Humans have the luxury of free will - the ability to choose to follow instinct or ignore it. (Although I may someday argue my theory that Free Will may potentially be viral.)

Regardless, it is not as if I'm arguing that everyone in the world becomes gay, or that we should be showing exclusively gay couples making out on every show and piece of media.

Rather, I'm interested in discussing how heterosexuals take it for granted how such imagery of just heterosexual couples is sending a negative message to those who are not. Just as much as shows that only show caucasian people can send negative messages to non-caucasians.

The difficulty is that it isn't just a case of adding two women or two guys into a video - it's about how nobody just did it.

This is how a hegemony works. The idea is so ingrained that nobody even questions or thinks about it. It just is, and that's the message we send.

When homosexual or lesbian couples do appear on media it is often as either comical queens, sex-crazed queers or exotic lesbians who are open to three-ways with straight men.

I remember a United Colors of Benetton ad I once saw that best represented what I'm looking for. It showed a number of people just smiling and wearing UCB clothing - but upon looking at the image you realised that the people were paired up. Two male/female couples, one female/female and one male/male. It wasn't in your face, it was quite subtle.

That particular campaign also had ads where the couples were kissing, hugging - and being natural about it.

Abercrombie and Fitch are another classic example - with their sexually ambiguous pictures of guys horsing around on beaches, with girlfriends and sometimes hinting at possibly boyfriends.

The point of this post today is that until such imagery is subtle but prevalent, we are simply enforcing a divide where there really should be none. We are all human, and we all share a number of good strong honest values - we would benefit from that.

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Burning Empires
Currently Playing: Exalted: Nexus of the Sun; Orpheus: Shades of Gray
Mood: Has media in his sights today!