While Kylo-Patrick's article talks about the representation of Gay men on television, this article by Gregg Kilday titled the Gay Pretenders looked at the representation of Gay men in movies. However Kilday does not talk directly about the stereotypical gay man but he looks at movies with straight men passing as gay.
In Kylo-Patrick's article, he talks about how Gay men were represented on popular shows like Melrose place, Beverly Hills 90210 and In Living Color. He uses the example of Jimmy on Beverly Hills 90210 to explain that not only these 'gay' characters get minor roles which evetually shrivel away but they are usually seen as the nice, caring guy whom everyone can sympathize with. In Kilday's article, he talks about these supposed 'gay' characters as these handsome characters who basically gets whatever it is they want by the end of the movie.
He uses examples from I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry, where the two lead characters (Chuck and Larry) who are firemen don gay apparels in attempt to gain domestic-partner benefits. He even makes several references to tv shows like Friends, where Chandler is suspected to have gay tendencies, and the Three's A Company (Kilday, 1999).
In conclusion Kilday states that gay-straight conundrum can be very confusing and he poses two important questions that will help us further understand the representation of gay men on television. They are "Is he a straight gay man or is he a gay straight man?". He defines the gay straight man as a new strain of heterosexual man spawned in Manhattan as a result of overexposure to fashion, exotic cuisine, musical theater, and antique furniture (Kilday, 1999).
Posted by Anjola Olubuyide
References
Kilday, G. (1999). The gay pretenders. Advocate, (796), 58. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Hart, K. (2000). Representing Gay Men on American Television. Journal of Men's Studies, 9(1), 59-79. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
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