DontFearTheCreeper
I read an article posing this question, and it made me wonder.
I'm a gay man. (I know I have a girl avatar, whatever.) And I wondered if he really was too gay.
How exactly would one be too gay? Do they like c**k just a little bit too much?
In all seriousness, I get what you're saying, but I find the phrase a bit... offensive? I mean, the implication is that enjoying traditionally feminine things, and therefore fitting the stereotype of the gay man, somehow affects the degree of one's sexuality. Which is, of course, false. As a gay man, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that.
Furthermore, when people use the phrase "too gay," they're generally using it in a negative way. This person is too gay, and that's bad. It's saying that being gay isn't bad, unless you're REALLY gay. Which is still saying it's bad to be gay...
Now, I'm not trying to say that YOU believe any of this stuff. It's just that the language you're using here (and I assume the language that the article was using as well) is... maybe not so positive?
Just a thought.
I do, however, understand what you're saying. Maybe a better way of phrasing it might be: Is Kurt too stereotypically gay?
(Which I'll answer at the end of this post)
DontFearTheCreeper
I mean, he fits almost every single stereotype. He's girly, dramatic, whatever. I would have liked to find out that he is actually really good at football, or he likes to fix cars in his dad's shop despite his girly demeanor.
I'm not sure if I'm missing what you're saying here. We DID find out that Kurt is really good at football and that he helps his dad in the shop a lot (whether he likes fixing cars or not, it's clear he's good at it).
So, yes. He fits the stereotype in many ways. However, there are also ways that he doesn't fit the stereotype, and I think those are important to consider as well.
DontFearTheCreeper
I'd like to mention that I am fully aware of the variety of characters who are gay. But Kurt is the one who gets the most spotlight, and I just wonder if kids will view him in a negative light.
I think some kids will view Kurt in a negative light, but I also don't think not having Kurt on the show is the solution.
Gay men like Kurt do exist. I know a few of them. They're wonderful guys. A lot of them also get a lot of flack from people for being who they are. Straight people tell them that they're too flamboyant and they need to tone it down, because they're acting a little too gay. Even other queer people ride them about it, saying, "You're giving other gay men a bad image. We're not women. We're men."
And that's a problem. No matter how flamboyant or feminine someone acts, if that person identifies as male, they are a man. Period. End of discussion. In the same way, no matter how masculine, if a person identifies as female, she is a woman. And that's something I really do appreciate Glee addressing at least to some small extent, both with Kurt and Bieste. (Kurt had lines that separated the ideas of femininity/masculinity and gender identity, whereas Bieste had lines that separated the ideas of femininity/masculinity and sexual orientation)
I think it's definitely important that people learn to view LGBTQ individuals outside of preconceived stereotypes, and the simple fact that there are other LGBTQ individuals on the show does just that. Dave, Blaine, Sebastian, Santana, Brittany, and Kurt are all very different people, and many of them really don't fit the stereotypes that go along with their sexual orientation. And that's awesome!
But the question still remains. Is having a character in the spotlight that does fit those stereotypes a bad thing? And I would say that it isn't. In fact, I'd go even further and say that it is a very good thing.
As I mentioned before, I have friends who are very stereotypically gay, and that's just who they are. It isn't something they could change, and it isn't something they want to change. (At least, not most of the time) It's also not something they should ever be made to feel bad about. Go back even a few years and look at gay men on television. You'll find that the vast majority of flamboyant gay men were simply used as jokes. Nobody took them seriously, because they didn't think those men should be taken seriously.
Enter Kurt. Kurt is not a joke on glee. He is a very real person with real troubles, real emotions, and every single facet of humanity that we see in the straight characters. Sometimes a lot more than we see in the straight characters. This is important. There may be some kids out there that view Kurt negatively, but there are also a TON of kids out there who view him in a positive light. There are a ton of kids that see someone they've never had the opportunity to see before, because a guy like Kurt has never been around before.
Flamboyant gay? Sure, we've seen that. But a flamboyant gay man who is taken seriously and who is granted the same respect as any of the other characters, no matter what their sexual orientation is, and no matter what their dreams and hobbies are. That's pretty incredible.
I guess I'll leave you with this quote from
an interview Chris Colfer did a while back.
Insider: But before we get to either of those things, we have this week's episode -- called Yes/No -- which features New Directions recreating Summer Nights from Grease. Which side does Kurt sing on?
Chris: [laughs] He was with the girls -- by my request. Originally he was with the boys but I called Ryan and said, "What do the boys have that Kurt wants?!?" There's no way he'd be hanging with them. He'd be gabbing with the girls over sandwiches and mac & cheese. He completely agreed and I was put with the girls, which is great because I get to be Rizzo!
Insider: Kurt may be with the girls, but Blaine is with the boys. What do you make of the fact the writers have made him "one of the boys?"
Chris: I think they both just gravitate towards people they identify with. Blaine is gay but he's more of a guy than Kurt, who is a little more grand than that. I say Kurt is more grandeur than guy [laughs]. But I'm glad our show really shows that it takes all kind of gays to make the world go 'round: good gays, bad gays, manly gays, less than manly gays. There are all kinds of gays.
And something I'd like to add on in the context of this thread's subject, is that there are all kinds of gays and no one kind is more important than any other.
100
150
100
