Gay Stereotypes in TV

There’s a new show on television called ‘The new normal’. You probably know more about it, than I do. I’m a bit slow when it comes to TV programmes. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s from the creators of Glee, so you can imagine how it’s like. I’ve only seen three quarters of the first (I think) episode in rerun. It’s about a gay couple finding a surrogate mother for their child and all the shenanigans followed by making that choice. There’s the lovely, annoyingly perfect, gay couple, the outspoken and loud African-American assistant, the traditional, very rich and homophobic grandmother of the surrogate mother and her daughter, a cute but a bit strange little girl. That little girl is like a clone taken from ‘Little Miss Sunshine’.

Before I even start, I have to say that I don’t like Glee. I never did. I’ve seen only a few episodes and those by accident. I found it predictable, not funny and the songs way too mushy, over the top and forced to be emotional. However, I know lots of people that swear by it. At least, they used to. I don’t know what’s happening now and how popular it is, after all these series. The gay characters in that show, from what I had seen, follow the general stereotypical image of gay people. The same recipe I think is followed in the ‘New Normal’.

One of the characters in the new series is extremely like a grown up ‘Kurt’ from Glee (I googled to find the character’s name). He’s a very camp, much into fashion and everything ‘pretty’, character. His boyfriend is like a character taken out of a gay romantic fiction book. He’s the exact opposite of his partner and a very down-to-Earth, intelligent, gynaecologist with a six pack (of course) with a sense for intellectuality. They also share a very nice house and a very cute dog. The surrogate mother is the forcibly likable victim of a bad relationship, starting fresh and saying all the rights things on the right time. She even wants the money from the surrogacy to study Law and create a better future for her daughter (can anyone pass me the tissues?)!

OK, maybe I’m being way too harsh. I haven’t seen much of the show to be honest and so judgmental and negative. Maybe the characters are not so two dimensional and the story evolves nicely in an interesting way. I’m not holding my breath for it though.  
 
However, I have to give much deserved credit to both shows, Glee and New Normal. They are making more gay characters likable in a mainstream TV show. They introduce more popular gay people to the everyday watching family. They’re not the first show to do that. But from what I’ve read, Glee has been so extremely popular to younger and not only generations that might be helping loads in fighting homophobia and bullying in schools (hopefully).  I might not completely agree with the way that some gay people are portrayed, but still, it is a positive thing to do.

It’s very nice that shows like ‘Modern Family’ (more to my taste to be honest) and ‘New Normal’ try to portrait and even promote gay parenthood.