Representation of sexuality...

In the media, the typical 'norm' we have grown to expect to see is heterosexual. However when homosexuals do appear in the media, they are often stereotypical.

 For one of our studies into this topic, we watched brokeback mountain - one of the most talked about films featuring homosexuals. The film started with two cowboys - fitting the usual cowboy constraints. They were doing very typically male jobs and this is what we expect to see. So when these ideas were challenged - some audiences reacted badly. The film was created to show that 'gay' doesn't always conform to a certain type of man.

Another film we looked at was Bruno. The opening piece of music was very typically camp and gave us the immediate impression that this is what he was going to be like. The relationship Bruno had with his partner was shown to be very open and explicit - so because the audience haven't been exposed to many gay relationships; they make the assumption that all are like this. Diesel (Bruno's boyfriend) was shown as very fickle and blunt. Bruno didn't know his staff's names - although they were always around - which makes him appear ignorant and ungrateful. The clothes Bruno wore were very flamboyant and daring and had to make a statement with everything he wore. Bruno was very open with his sexuality however when he was around straight South American men, he tried to be more masculine and cover up the fact he was gay. This, I felt, was a very controversial point because an audience could take meaning from this that all homosexuals should hide who they really are when around heterosexuals. An audience could also build up an image of what they think homosexuals are like - when in real fact this is only a representation of some of the homosexual population. But because there are so few media texts featuring gay people, the audience can only assume that the representations we are exposed to in the likes of Bruno are true (because they have not many other representations to compare it to!).

A quote I really liked we came across when researching representation of sexuality in the media was by Vito Russo (1987) : The Celluloid Closet. "There have never been lesbians or gay men in Hollywood films - only homosexuals" and this really said a lot to me. This quote alone says to me that the representations of homosexuals in Hollywood movies are nothing like real life.