ccording to Chastity Bono, Ellen is too gay. What does that mean? I never thought of being a lesbian in degrees. Hello, mom? I am a lesbian -- sort of. It sounds like an apology to me. Was that her intention?
Sadly, I think Ms. Bono was apologizing for Ellen, but she did it in a manner that hopefully would not offend gays and lesbians. She was not apologizing for Ellen being a lesbian, she was understanding that the masses would be uncomfortable with the show. She allowed that there were all those in jokes included in the scripts. The public could not be expected to find the show funny because they would not be able to follow the story lines.
Well, from my living room chair, the shows which dealt with life as a homosexual did a pretty good job of showing just why Ellen's life was funny though sometimes difficult and sometimes different. Let's take a look at some of those shows.
Social Climber.
To catch the interest of a woman, Ellen enrolls in a rock climbing class. -- Standard sitcom fare. Single people do strange things to try to attract someone who interests them. Ellen climbed rocks, which I felt was reaching a little, but I am terrified of heights.
Just Coffee.
Ellen tries to determine if an invitation to coffee is a date or just friends. -- Standard sitcom fare. Is it a date or are we just friends? The only difference I found here was that took so long to figure it out. But I thought that was what sitcoms are all about.
Public Display Of Affection.
Learning to get along with a girlfriend's children. -- Standard sitcom fare. First 10 minutes we see Ellen is afraid the daughter will not like her. Next 10 minutes the daughter is hostile towards Ellen. Last 10 minutes, Ellen and daughter work it all out and they decide to get along. Seems to have followed the standard formula to me. The only difference was the reason the kid didn't take to Ellen.
Break Up/Womyn Fest.
Couple becomes afraid of relationship, breaks-up and then gets back together -- Standard sitcom fare. Part one shows the happy couple is talking about living together. Part two, fear rears its ugly head and Ellen goes to an event to meet new prospects. Ellen discovers she wants the one she left behind. The two make up and continue relationship. The only difference I saw in these two episodes was where Ellen went to meet new prospects.
Other than the coming out episode, I would say there were six episodes which were directly related to Ellen's sexuality:
- Guys or Dolls - Ellen goes out with an old boyfriend and questions why she now finds herself attracted to him
- Roommates - Paige works out her feelings about Ellen's sexuality
- Gay Yellow Pages - Ellen feels obligated to support the gay community
- The Funeral - Ellen helps Laurie come to terms with her family's rejection and father's death
- It's A Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World - Spence dreams homosexuality is the norm
- Emma - Emma Thompson comes out as a lesbian
The balance of the shows could have been written about a lesbian or a straight woman.
Just under half of the episodes were about homosexuality. After polling a number of heterosexuals I know, I firmly believe that none of the shows held inside jokes that would qualify as outside of common knowledge.
I am left feeling that in spite of the fact that Ms. Bono is a spokesperson for GLAAD, she is demonstrating a strong dose of internalized homophobia and apologizing for her own sexuality. How sad that she is not more comfortable with herself after all of these years.
Until next time...
