Chapter 10. The economics of gay reality television
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Marjo Kolehmainen
Abstract
This article examines the possibilities and conditions of increasingly debated ‘gay visibility’ and the production of sexual difference across various sites in contemporary reality television. Three reality television programs (Gay, Straight or Taken, How to Look Good Naked and Queer Eye for a Straight Guy) are used as illustrative examples of theoretical observations. These programs both rely on and constitute sexual ‘truth’ in the sense that they differentiate between homosexuality and heterosexuality and constantly visualize this produced difference. This way, it is suggested that although the usage of gay characters destabilizes prevailing conceptions of gender and sexuality, it can also participate in fortifying normative understandings of sexuality and gender. Also, in the context of reality television shows, (sub)cultural capital associated with only certain kind of gay characters advances gay visibility in television. The political significance of gay visibility thus becomes ambivalent if it is analysed in relation to current social and economic processes.
Abstract
This article examines the possibilities and conditions of increasingly debated ‘gay visibility’ and the production of sexual difference across various sites in contemporary reality television. Three reality television programs (Gay, Straight or Taken, How to Look Good Naked and Queer Eye for a Straight Guy) are used as illustrative examples of theoretical observations. These programs both rely on and constitute sexual ‘truth’ in the sense that they differentiate between homosexuality and heterosexuality and constantly visualize this produced difference. This way, it is suggested that although the usage of gay characters destabilizes prevailing conceptions of gender and sexuality, it can also participate in fortifying normative understandings of sexuality and gender. Also, in the context of reality television shows, (sub)cultural capital associated with only certain kind of gay characters advances gay visibility in television. The political significance of gay visibility thus becomes ambivalent if it is analysed in relation to current social and economic processes.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Approaches to visual communication and the question of power
- Chapter 1. Images 11
- Chapter 2. The critical tradition in visual studies 39
- Chapter 3. The map, the mirror and the simulacrum 55
- Chapter 4. Disenchantment with politics and the salience of images 69
-
Part II. Case studies
- Chapter 5. Organising political consensus 91
- Chapter 6. Walls, doors and exciting encounters 113
- Chapter 7. The politics of visual representation 151
- Chapter 8. The politics of identity and visuality 181
- Chapter 9. Visual politics and celebrity humanitarianism 199
- Chapter 10. The economics of gay reality television 225
- Chapter 11. Mending endings 245
- Chapter 12. Representing the state of exception 269
- Index 291
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Approaches to visual communication and the question of power
- Chapter 1. Images 11
- Chapter 2. The critical tradition in visual studies 39
- Chapter 3. The map, the mirror and the simulacrum 55
- Chapter 4. Disenchantment with politics and the salience of images 69
-
Part II. Case studies
- Chapter 5. Organising political consensus 91
- Chapter 6. Walls, doors and exciting encounters 113
- Chapter 7. The politics of visual representation 151
- Chapter 8. The politics of identity and visuality 181
- Chapter 9. Visual politics and celebrity humanitarianism 199
- Chapter 10. The economics of gay reality television 225
- Chapter 11. Mending endings 245
- Chapter 12. Representing the state of exception 269
- Index 291
