March 28, 2024 The Newspaper Serving LGBT Los Angeles

A “Queer Eye” Coming of Age

In 2003, when a group of five gay men were first starting to make their way into strangers’ homes to primp, prime, and improve their sordid heterosexual lives, it was a concept that the reality TV audiences shouldn’t quite have been ready for. With the Bush presidency in full swing and 9/11 a not-so-distant memory, Americans stood naively at the ready to accept the idea that straight men needed gay help when it came to grooming, loving, and existing.  Thus, “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” was born into a receptive world. In televisual terms, it was a minor miracle.

By 2003, the success of shows like “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word”, still in early seasons, had paved the way for a kind of tolerance-based programming targeted as largely non-queer audiences. “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” a half-home improvement, half-self help reality show that promised the infiltration of “safe” queer stereotypes into the homes of traditionally homophobic-seeming straight men, was an unexpected sleeper hit, ushering in a new era of queer programming adored by the straight mainstream. After “Queer Eye” came “Drag Race,” “Orange is the New Black,” and “Transparent.” But as complicated as contemporary shows about gender and sexuality have become in the Internet age, has “wokeness” replaced the old, helpful stereotypes that helped the original “Queer Eye” preach universal tolerance with a treachly flourish?

The new “Queer Eye,” which premiered on Netflix on February 8, tries to answer this question. Not only the question of how we’ve changed since the Bush administration, but the question of whether or not that change has actually paved the way toward tolerance and empathy in Trump’s America. The long, “Queer Eye”-less stretch of the Obama administration doesn’t represent a 15-year moment of upward progress when it comes to gay rights. As we know too well, from 2003 to now we’ve seen a ton of progress, followed by many regressions to homophobic form, both on the part of the government and in the culture at large. In 2003, it wasn’t legal for LGBTQ+ people to get married in this country. Today, the threat of rolling back marriage rights and protections looms in the distance. In 2003, stuck in a war which many people still saw as justified, we were in a naïve, pre-Internet moment of feeling like all it took to erase homophobia was a few new laws, a liberal government, and a nationwide conversation.

The new “Queer Eye” shows just how naïve this thinking was no later than its third episode. In the first few minutes, the new, diverse Fab Five group, driving into a suburban Georgia town, are pulled over by a surly cop. With all five men scared of a Philando Castile repeat, the music goes silent, someone takes out their phone, and the driver, a black man, leaves the car trepidatiously.  When the pull over is revealed as a gag (“surprise! I called you out here to work your gay magic on my friend!”) the tension isn’t magically lifted. The moments before and the moments after the joke’s unfurling are a reminder of just how close Americans of a minority racial or sexual standing feel, at all times, to life-threatening violence. And this is supposed to be a makeover show.

The new show, as fun and light as it tries to be, vibrates with this kind of tension. Which isn’t strictly a bad thing. If the original “Queer Eye” was meant to be a distraction from the reality of the Bush administration, the new “Queer Eye” is through and through a product of Trump’s America, with its weekly spree shootings and the ever-lingering threat of the removal of basic protections for minority citizens of all kinds. While the men help quiet catastrophes of human beings (some straight, some not) get their lives together through grooming, fashion, culture, design, and food exploration, we get to hear stories of religious intolerance, police brutality, and lack of acceptance. And then the conversation turns right back around to throw pillows.

Which is kind of great, weird as that might seem. The new “Queer Eye,” in holding over the campy elements of the first show (picture a gay man entering your closet and screaming “gym shorts, gym shorts, gym shorts!” as he throws them exasperatedly into the air) works because it’s not an escape. It’s a reminder of how life, in the present day, can be brutal and terrible, but something worth living at the same time, with sparkle, with beauty, with tszuj. If “Queer Eye” is a show that helps hapless men not to fully give up on themselves, its philosophy might extend to this unique American moment: A moment in which many of us find ourselves wanting to give up on our failing country. But in 2018, there are other things to give up on, as “Queer Eye,” however roundaboutly, reminds us: Give up on the idea that equality and acceptance are easy, it says. But don’t give up on the noble pursuit of those things. And don’t give up on the place that, in this moment, shows every sign of having given up on you. Change your perspective, your wardrobe, and hope against hope that you can change someone’s mind. Otherwise, where the hell are we?

Related Posts

MJ Rodriguez, 1st Openly Transgender Actress to Win Golden Globe

January 18, 2022

January 18, 2022

Michaela Jae “MJ” Rodriguez has made history by becoming the first openly transgender person to win a Golden Globe.  The...

Animal Shelter Donations In Honor Of Betty White

January 18, 2022

January 18, 2022

Animal shelter donations have increased exponentially in honor of late actress gay icon and animal lover Betty White. Over the...

Netflix Launches LGBTQ Podcast ‘The Gay Agenda’

January 6, 2022

January 6, 2022

Netflix has launched “The Gay Agenda,” a new podcast that will look at the lives of LGBTQ+ creatives at the...

Hollywood Star and Gay Icon Betty White Dies Aged 99

January 6, 2022

January 6, 2022

Hollywood Star and gay icon Betty White died peacefully in her Brentwood home in West LA  on December 31st.  She...

Team Trans* Walk-Out At Netflix Office In Hollywood

October 18, 2021

October 18, 2021

Netflix’s trans employee resource group is planning a Team Trans* employee walk-out on October 20th at the Netflix office located...

Sex and the City Star Willie Garson Dead At 57

September 28, 2021

September 28, 2021

Acclaimed actor and Los Angeles resident Willie Garson passed away on September 21 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer,...

GLAAD Responds To Historic Emmy Noms

July 26, 2021

July 26, 2021

GLAAD has responded to the historic Emmy nominations after it was announced that out trans actress MJ Rodriguez and out...

MJ Rodriguez Makes History As First Out Trans Woman Emmy Nominee

July 26, 2021

July 26, 2021

Actress Michaela Jaé, formerly known as  MJ Rodriguez, became the first out trans woman performer to be nominated in a...

“Gayest Episode Ever” An LGBTQ+ Podcast

June 29, 2021

June 29, 2021

Gayest Episode Ever is an LGBTQ+ podcast hosted by journalist Drew Mackie and screenwriter Glen Lakin. The podcast looks at...

Buzzfeed’s Docuseries “The Andrea Mares Project”

June 11, 2021

June 11, 2021

BuzzFeed’s As/Is presents “The Andrea Mares Project,” a docuseries that shadows Andrea Mares, a trans-feminine Latinx, as she embarks on...

2021 Pride Announces “Thrive With Pride” Theme

May 15, 2021

May 15, 2021

LA Pride has announced its 2021 pride theme this year called “Thrive With Pride”.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in...

Ellen DeGeneres Ending 18 Year Talk Show

May 13, 2021

May 13, 2021

After more than 3,000 episodes and 19 seasons it is confirmed that Ellen DeGeneres is ending her talk show The...

Ellen DeGeneres Under Fire For Admitting To Driving Under The Influence

April 30, 2021

April 30, 2021

Ellen DeGeneres is under fire for admitting to driving wife Portia DeRossi to the hospital while under the influence.  While...

Tina Turner Documentary Breaks Records

April 4, 2021

April 4, 2021

Singer, song writer and gay icon Tina Turner released a documentary on HBO Max as a farewell to her fans...

First Gay Teen Captain America Revealed By Marvel

March 28, 2021

March 28, 2021

Marvel Comics has revealed the first look at a new Captain America who happens to be a gay teen.  The...