One subject we spend lots of time thinking about here at Plugged In is how media influences our culture. Each week we publish a feature called Culture Clips (check it out here if you’ve never done so before) where we often summarize stories that illustrate how some kind of entertainment is influencing and shaping attitudes among those who consume it.
Then, at the end of every year, we comb through 12 months worth of Culture Clips to identify which stories we consider to be the most consequential (a special feature we’ll be publishing next Monday.) This year, one theme stood out: the role movies, television and pop culture have played in shaping and changing our culture’s attitude toward homosexuality.
It wasn’t too long ago—1997, to be precise—that some cultural observers wondered if Ellen DeGeneres’ decision to come out as a lesbian would be career suicide. It wasn’t, of course, as DeGeneres has gone on to host one of America’s favorite daytime talk shows and to become the celebrity face of JCPenney.
Still, even as recently as the mid-’90s, Americans’ attitudes toward homosexuality were significantly different—and markedly more traditional and conservative—than they are today. And looking back on what’s influenced our society’s views on this controversial subject, it’s clear that entertainment media have played a huge role in reshaping and redefining what many consider normal. This year, more than a few celebrities and cultural commentators were making exactly that point.
It was voiced most succinctly by comedian and talk show host Bill Maher during a Tonight Show interview with Jay Leno back in February. “Americans have gotten a lot more comfortable with gay, because of TV, because of Glee and Will & Grace and Frasier, all these gay shows,” he said.
In its 17th annual “Where We Are on TV” report (published in October), the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation reported that the percentage of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender characters hit an all-time high of 4.4% on primetime network drama and comedy series in the 2012-13 season. GLAAD president Herndon Graddick noted the importance of these shows in shaping society’s mores with regard to homosexuality:
It is vital for networks to weave complex and diverse story lines of LGBT people in the different programs they air. More and more Americans have come to accept their LGBT family members, friends, co-workers and peers, and as audiences tune into their favorite programs, they expect to see the same diversity of people they encounter in their daily lives.
One of the most high-profile shows featuring homosexual stars is the ABC series Modern Family. During a panel discussion in March, series co-creator Steve Levitan and actors Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (who play a gay couple with an adopted daughter) talked about the show’s ongoing social impact. Levitan: “The greatest stories we hear are from gay teens that never talk to their parents but now are watching the show with them, and are finding acceptance because of it.” Stonestreet: “I think we’ve shown that you don’t need to be a man and a woman to give a baby a healthy, happy, loving home. There was also one teenage kid who wrote me, ‘I just want you to know that I finally had the courage to come out to my mom because of you guys. And Mom’s response was, ‘Well, are you Mitch or Cam?'” Ferguson added that he looks forward to the day “when this is not considered a revolutionary couple.”
Mark Harris, who writes for Entertainment Weekly, argued earlier this year that that day has already arrived. In his June 29 Entertainment Weekly cover story, “By the Way, We’re Gay,” Harris noted how 2012 has been a watershed year when it comes to the ways celebrities have come out … and how people have responded to those announcements compared to years past:
“In 1997, [Ellen DeGeneres’] long, self-revealing interviews [about being gay] drew some criticism, but it was the right way for her to own her identity—and, really, the only appropriate choice given the moment in history. It was just after the U.S. apex of the AIDS crisis; the country needed not just to be aware of gay people, but to understand that their backgrounds, their hopes, and their struggles were universal. Just saying ‘I’m gay’ wasn’t enough—you had to be willing to tell your story. The current vibe is, in contrast, almost defiantly mellow: This is part of who I am, I don’t consider it a big deal or a crisis, and if you do, that’s not my problem. It may sound like a shrug, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for indifference. By daring anyone not to overreact, the newest generation of gay public figures is making a clear statement that there is a ‘new normal’—and it consists of being plainspoken, clear, and truthful about who you are.”
Elsewhere in the article, Harris concentrated on the role popular culture has played in the process of influencing broader cultural values:
Pop culture is unmatched in its ability to lead a shift in the national mood. If you doubt it, consider that when Vice President Joe Biden revealed his support for same-sex marriage this spring, he noted that ‘Will & Grace probably did more to educate the American public than anything else.’ So although the drip-drip-drip steadiness of coming-out news can seem inconsequential, cumulatively, the stories serve as the very quiet herald of a major tectonic shift. What was impossible 60 years ago and dangerous 40 years ago and difficult 20 years ago is now becoming no big deal.
More evidence of the cultural shift Harris is talking about can be found in the music world. Writing in The Huffington Post’s “Gay Voices” section, DJ and podcaster Ben Harvey noted the surprising lack of controversy when it came to the homosexual twist at the end of the video for Carly Rae Jepsen’s song “Call Me Maybe,” one of the biggest songs of 2012:
In 3 minutes and 20 seconds, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” video accomplished more for the gay community than some gay-rights organizations have been able to do in years. … In the video Jepsen’s object of desire is a hunky, tattooed, ab-tastic, masculine jock who appears to be shooting her flirtatious looks. … At the 3-minute mark, it becomes clear that he’s actually interested in Jepsen’s guitar-playing, hipster, male bandmate. The video fades to black just as we see her reaction, which could be described as a combination of disappointment and amusement, if anything. Although the video is lighthearted, its message that being gay is OK has undoubtedly shaken up the right-wing, conservative segment of the population. Right? Wrong. “Call Me Maybe” inspired no One Million Moms protest. No boycotts. No marches. In fact, the video did quite the opposite. It spread a “what’s the big deal?” attitude across America and the world, and in the 10-second twist ending normalized the concept of “gay” to an entire generation of young people, who are the purveyors of pop culture in this digital age.
Given the speed at which cultural attitudes have shifted on this subject, then, it’s not surprising to hear openly gay actor Ian McKellen (Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit; Magneto in the X-Men films) say he believes those of us who hold to a traditional, biblical definition of marriage have already lost that fight in the popular culture:
I think the opponents of the acceptance of gay people within society must be feeling pretty confused and miserable as they realize that they’ve lost the argument and it’s over, really. It’s just a matter of time. It will all row forward and in a few years’ time, we will all be wondering what the fuss was about.
The entertainment industry isn’t consistently willing to take responsibility for the assertion that its products impact the culture that consumes them. That’s especially true when it comes to any suggestion of a link between violent media and violent tragedies in the real world.
When it comes to social changes that media creators embrace, however, they’re more than willing take responsibility for the ways their music, movies and television shows are shifting societal mores and morals.
So how should Christians who are concerned with these changing cultural mores respond? That’s a huge question, of course, and one with many potential responses. But I like what movie producer Ralph Winter (whose production credits include the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, as well as several Star Trek films) had to say about Christians’ relationship to popular culture in a February interview with Christianity Today:
“If we don’t engage with movies, television and social media storytelling, I think we as Christians fail to engage our culture and community. … We should be looking at the stories and movies that our culture honors, and dialogue about whether we can embrace them, learn from them, and what we find true or beautiful about them. It’s a way for us to reflect on our own journey and find out if and how it matches up with the stories, and then dialogue about why it does or doesn’t. … We should ask ourselves, ‘What are the key questions the story is raising? How do we respond to these questions? What theological reflections relate to these questions? How do our responses connect with the movie story’s responses?’ Asking good questions is a great way to get people into dialogue with the movies.”
Winter was talking at that point about the Oscars, not about films or TV shows that sought to portray homosexuality and gay marriage as the New Normal. Still, I think his philosophical and theological stance here is worth considering in that context. As the world continues to change around us—changes sometimes initiated or accelerated by the entertainment media—those of us who are concerned with the direction things are heading are going to have to get better at asking questions, at listening, at dialoguing with people whose beliefs may differ radically. Even as we seek to offer a winsome, influential response of our own.
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