Subtle Acceptance

I am currently indulged in the late 90s drama 'Dawson's Creek'.  I started watching this show a little over a week ago and I am almost done with season three.  I should be immensely embarrassed. However, I am too busy loving every single minute of it to care... I am proving exactly what we discussed in our first few weeks of class as the 'typical consumer'.  Unfortunately, I do not find myself really relating with any of the characters like I usually do with every show that I watch. I simply find it entertaining and well scripted and very well acted out.

Nevertheless, I am not here to talk about my increasing obsession with Dawson and his friends surrounding the creek on the Cape.  I have found interest in a particular character in relation to our recent class discussions about gay characters in the media.  We addressed that they have to be accepted in terms that are understanding and normal to the typical white consumer.  Season two enters two siblings, Andi and Jack.  While they have several at problems at home with their family and in their own behaviors and attitudes there isn't too much to their dramatic life.

Anyway, in efforts to give a readers digest version of the plot Jack ends up being gay...  But not until after he kisses Joey (female lead played by Katie Holmes) who is dating Dawson at the time.  This causes an enormous breakup and issue among the group of friends.  Jack and Joey continue to date and they have, what seems to be, a very good relationship. Of course, there are ques that Jack may be off in some way or may have some sort of secret that lies beneath the surface.  However, it does not just blow up in a dramatic or funny way.  Joey simply asks him if he is gay and he admits to it.  Then instantly he is accepted. By all of the characters.

The twist.. Jack ends up being a football player and the fact that he is gay does not rule him as a character.  The fact that Jack is gay is just as evident as Dawson is straight.  Sure there are episodes that focus more on his struggles or encounters but it is no more than what goes on with the other characters and their relationships or feelings.

I find this, in a way, humbling.  That there is understanding and has been for quite some time.  That the idea of acceptance, in the most subtle forms is not entirely a new found concept.  I agree with what was said in class yesterday along the means that the gay lifestyle is usually only portrayed on television as meeting the expectations of a scale by consumers which can be very funny or very dramatic.  But, I think that it is possible to accept someone who is gay in the media in a subtle way that is just as subtle and understood as accepting someone who is straight.