Bravo^s G ay W eddings
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including a wedding cake and entertainment (such as music and dancing). In the
current study, I examine how Gay Weddings reflects these elements that have
become “naturalized” into the modem wedding. I use the term “hegemony” here
to refer to the continual, repetitive messages created by those (whether the
show’s producers or its participants) who adhere to a common worldview (based
on Dow’s 1990 interpretation).
Television Portrayals of Gays and Lesbians
Though gay characters have appeared on television in a wide array of
genres since the 1950s (Tropiano, 2002), portrayals of gays and lesbians have
historically marginalized this segment of the population, in that storylines have
typically treated homosexuality as abnormal, stereotyped, or a problem to be
fixed (Harrington, 2003; Dow, 2001; Gross, 1989). Gross (1989) observed that
gay characters were rarely shown as “just plain folks” in roles that did not center
on “their deviance as a threat to the moral order which must be countered
through ridicule or physical violence” (p. 137). Additionally, network television
followed specific “rules” when portraying gay characters: theirs was a one-time
appearance; storylines emphasized their effect on heterosexual characters; and
they were rarely shown in the community, their own homes, or in same-sex
relationships (Dow, 2001). Daytime soap operas through the 1990s continued to
follow these “mles” from prime time, notes Harrington (2003) in her study of a
lesbian storyline in All My Children. While the 1990s saw a new era of
television programming, with some 50 network series including lesbian, gay, or
bisexual characters whose homosexuality was incidental rather than “a
problem,” such characters more often than not appeared in comedies in which
their erotic desires were largely absent (Harrington, 2003).
Until 1991, the wedding story ‘Svas the one arena into which it was
assumed same-sex couples could never enter” (Capsuto, 2000, p. 352). Prime
time episodes of sitcoms such as The Golden Girls, Dear John, Roc, Roseanne,
and Friends focused on the planning of gay wedding ceremonies and theneffects on straight regulars. Programs tended to omit mentioning issues
surrounding the legal status of same-sex partners, but late 1990s episodes of
Spin City, Ellen, and The Practice did provide insights into the more practical
day-to-day benefits of marriage for gay characters (Capsuto, 2000). However,
gay weddings still followed the “rules” for portraying gays and lesbians as
observed by Dow (2001); same-sex marriages on television usually concerned
either characters portrayed by guest actors or regulars in peripheral roles,
contends Capsuto (2000). Additionally, Capsuto (2000) notes, gay weddings
served as catalysts for the examination of other issues or as controversy until
one episode of the CBS drama-comedy Northern Exposure treated same-sex
weddings as essentially uncontroversial. Capsuto (2000) asserts that media’s
images of homosexuals have become mainstream, with TV episodes involving
gay weddings becoming “almost cliche” (p. 352-353). Still, even in 2000, gay