The Dual Role of Mass Media
Ruiqi Ye
In the
episode White Wedding in season seven
of Grey’s Anatomy, the lesbian couple
Callie Torres and Arizona Robbin finally get married in Seattle after they have been through all the
ups and downs of relationship within two years. Although in the absence of a priest,
a church, or even Callie’s parents, Callie and Arizona hold their hands and make vows.
Their illegal yet romantic wedding is a reaction to the current political
issue, gay marriage. By focusing on Callie and Arizona in the episode White Wedding, I will examine the dual role that mass media plays
in shaping our attitudes towards homosexuality. On one hand, mass media
reinforces stereotypes of gay people and favors the privileged; on the other
hand, it also promotes tolerance towards such privileged group and benefits
them in the discourse of gay marriage.
The
stereotypes hidden in Grey’s Anatomy
become crystal clear when we scrutinize the backgrounds of Callie and Arizona. Callie and Arizona are both white, middle-class females who hold decent
jobs as surgeons at the fictional Settle
Grace Hospital.
According to Barbara Smith, people tend to perceive gay individuals as white,
middle class, and males (113). In the context of Grey’s Anatomy, although Callie and Arizona are females, they possess the major
features in the stereotype, which are white and middle-class. This link between
gay people to a specific race and class, as Smith further argues, “undermines
consciousness of how identities and issues overlap” and ignores the minority of
homosexuals who are “people of color and
working class and poor and disabled and old (113).” Another stereotype presented in Grey’s Anatomy lies in the space that
Callie and Arizona occupy—the big city Seattle. According to Mary
Gray, urban spaces are symbolized as “dynamic”, “forward-thinking”, and “brimming
with potential”, while rural is defined as “what urban is not”, “static,
traditional, and inadequate” (52). In Grey’s
Anatomy, Callie and Arizona
are able to work as attending surgeons and hold their romantic wedding in a
public garden because they are in an urban city, where citizens are
characterized as modern and open-minded. Together, Callie and Arizona reinforce
stereotypes about homosexuals regarding race, class, and space and contribute
to the construction of homonormativity; this politics not only favors a privileged
type of gay people (like Callie and Arizona) who can be incorporated into a
heterosexual society, but also ignores the existence of homosexual minorities.
Although Grey’s Anatomy rearticulates the overwhelming
stereotypes of gay people, it deliberately urges us to ponder over gay marriage
by presenting the conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals. Despite the
fact that they are the privileged in LGBTQ communities, Callie and Arizona encounter tremendous
difficulties in White Wedding. In
part 1, Callie’s mother Lucia, a religious Christian, leaves before Callie’s
wedding because she refuses to watch her daughter commit a sin. “Do you know
how devastating it is to raise a child, to love a child and know you won’t see
that child in heaven?” Lucia asks sadly. In addition, the priest arranged to
marry Callie and Arizona
is unable to show up due to his wife’s car accident. As a result, they have to
move their wedding from a church to a garden. In spite of all the odds, this
lesbian couple succeed in marrying each other and their marriage conveys the
positive message that things will work. As their colleague Dr. Bailey says, “you
do not need the law or a priest or your mother to make your wedding real” and “if
you are willing…to give yourself in that kind of partnership in better or worse
in sickness and in health, honey, that is a marriage(Part 2).” Ironically, another
heterosexual couple of doctors working at the same hospital are getting married
simultaneously, but in the marriage license office. This intentional contrast
between a homosexual wedding and a heterosexual one compels us to reevaluate
human rights and privileges. White
Wedding challenges the prevalent denials of gay marriage and gay people as
human beings who deserve a marriage license by rendering a homosexual couple
visible in mass media.
Through my
analysis of the lesbian couple Callie and Arizona from Grey’s Anatomy, we can see how mass media plays a dual role in the portrayal
of gay couples. Mass media restricts gay people to a particular type in terms
of race, class, and the space they occupy; however, it also promotes acceptance
of gay marriage and homosexuals, especially the privileged ones, via increasing
representations of them in TV programs. Overall, mass media expands the
visibility of the dominant group while neglects the minorities in LGBTQ
communites.
Works Cited
Smith, Barbara. “Homophobia: Why Bring it Up?” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. ed. Henry Ablelove. New York & London,
Routledge, 1993. Print
Gray, Mary. “From Websites to Wal-Mart: Youth, Identity Work, and the
Queering of Boundary Publics in Small
Town, USA.”
American Studies 48.2 (2007): 49-59.
Web.
“White Wedding.” Grey’s Anatomy. Abc.
5 May. 2011. Web.
I agree with you that the media reinforces many stereotypes of the LGBTQ community, especially about homosexual couples. According to John Barnshaw and Lynn Letukas, “Blacks and Latino gay men…may be less likely to feel welcome or valued, or have access to the same opportunities as Whites” even in areas with high racial diversity (481). Although society has come a long way in terms of acceptance, there is still a high amount of racism among the LGBTQ community. Further, this racism and other stereotypes are reinforced in the media. For instance, “Glee” depicts a mixed-race couple with Brittany and Santana, but they are the ones who are scrutinized for displaying their affection in public while Kurt and Blaine, both white males, are never confronted about their relationship. Also, like “Grey’s Anatomy,” other television shows such as “Modern Family” depict homosexual couples who are white, middle-class, and never receive any harassment for their sexual orientation. As a result, heterosexual viewers are led to believe that representations of white and privileged LGBTQ are “ideal” and may find accepting other types of couples more difficult. Even though the media is finally starting to promote marriage and other rights to non-heterosexuals, it is implying that these rights are only acceptably granted to the White and privileged.
ReplyDeleteBibliography
Barnshaw, John, and Lynn Letukas. “The Low Down On The Down Low: Origins, Risk Identification and Invervention.” Health Sociology Review 19.4 (2010): 478-490. Print.
I completely agree with this post and how Grey’s Anatomy does promote gay marriage, but only through a white middle-class group. Bradshaw and Letukas also argue that there is evidence to conclude that in urban, economically advantaged centers, Blacks and Latinos may experience racism, are less likely to feel welcomed or valued, and less likely to access the same opportunities as Whites (481). This episode may bring up arguments regarding this discrimination and purposeful exclusion of different races, classes, or people with other sorts of conditions. However, in context to promoting accepting gay marriage, the producers of Grey’s Anatomy may be on to something. Obviously there are more than just White, middle-class male homosexuals, and it is crucial that more people be aware of this fact, but in order to make gay marriage a more wide spread acceptance, it may be beneficial if media takes this one step at a time. More people might be more willing to accept something more similar to them, at least initially, than something very drastic or far from their beliefs. By presenting this wedding with a gay couple who hold the same values or characteristics as viewers, who would normally reject gay marriage, Grey’s Anatomy is taking a controversial issue and making it seem less outlandish and wrong. Although this may seem like the producers of Grey’s Anatomy are taking a step back in accepting the gay community as a whole by excluding so called “different” groups of people, they may possibly be taking a small step forward in accepting gay marriage because it may be the only way people can recognize that homosexuals are not all that different from heterosexuals.
ReplyDeleteBarnshaw, John, and Lynn Letukas. “The Low Down On The Down Low: Origins, Risk Identification and Intervention.” Health Sociology Review 19.4 (2010): 478-490. Print.