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(More customer reviews)I was looking forward to reading this book and perhaps using it in my class on LGBT characters and themes in the media. Alas, I won't be doing that. The book is, unfortunately, a mile wide and about an inch deep. In the chapters on material that I have taught a number of times, including "Queer as Folk," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," and "Brokeback Mountain," there are obvious and baffling mistakes that seem to show that the author really doesn't know that material very well and certainly didn't have anyone check references or scenes for accuracy.
For instance, in the chapter on "Queer as Folk," in the second paragraph he claims that Brian discusses his first time having sex, quoting, "We're all scared the first time," and then proceeds to have sex with Justin. In fact, as anyone who has actually watched the episode would know, this speech and the sex scene happen about a half hour apart in two distinct scenes, with the entire hospital interlude where Brian sees his baby son for the first time coming between them. And that's just the second paragraph! There are numerous mistakes in detail and also in intent throughout the chapter, which makes me not trust the information in other chapters that I'm not so up on. And it's the same in the chapter on "Queer Eye" -- one of the key quotes in the very first episode, one that was featured in all the ads and also served to delineate Carson's character as the master of the cheeky one-liner, was the line, "You put an apartment where the crack den used to be!" The author puts it into the mouth of Butch, the laconic straight guy, where it makes no sense at all (it's HIS "crack den" after all and he liked it!). And so on. The author also mischaracterizes Ennis' reaction to being parted from Jack in the chapter on "Brokeback Mountain," claiming that Ennis is more concerned with his missing shirt than with leaving Jack. In fact, after Jack leaves, Ennis begins to sob and vomits in the alley, such is his upset at being parted from his lover. And so it goes with that.
I guess I expect better from Routledge, which I've always held to a very high standard of scholarship. I also wonder at the author, who is listed as a professor and dean at American University. Well, I may not be a full professor or dean, or have a contract to write on queer television and film characters, but I'd never make so many sweeping mistakes on the vital material. I've only read the book through once so far, but my red pen has gotten quite a workout. I'd send my students back to the source material for another, closer look.
Click Here to see more reviews about: From Perverts to Fab Five: The Media's Changing Depiction of Gay Men and Lesbians
From "Perverts" to "Fab Five" tracks the dramatic change in how the American media have depicted gay people over the last half-century. Each chapter illuminates a particular media product that served as a milestone on the media's journey from demonizing homosexuals some fifty years ago to celebrating gay people--or at least some categories of gay people--today. The media, Streitmatter argues, have not merely reflected the American public's shift to a more enlightened view of gay people, but they have been instrumental in propelling that change. The book spans the breadth of communication venues. Individual chapters focus on major news stories, entertainment television programs, and mainstream motion pictures that captured the public imagination while, at the same time, sending powerful messages about gay men and lesbians. Ideal for any reader interested in the changing depiction of gay men and lesbians in the media over time, or as required reading in media courses.
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