Untitled

Above you will see me, represented as a cartoon turtle dressed in a flannel, jeans and glasses. The theoretical concepts I chose to apply to myself that I have learned through my Queer Cultures course are; Stereotypes, Deviance/Normalcy, and Symbolism. Attempting at applying any term that I have learned throughout this course had been a much more difficult task than I had first expected. I concluded on these four terms because I feel that through learning about them I was able to learn more about myself.

Symbolism: Applies to my drawing as a whole. I represented myself as a turtle because I identify my personality traits and who I am as similar to that of a turtles. I am shy and I keep to myself when entered in a new environment, thus keeping within my “shell”. Once I become more comfortable in my environment and being myself I embrace my surroundings and allow myself to leave my “shell” and open up.

Deviance/ Normalcy: This applies to what I decided to dress my turtle self in. I drew my typical outfit; flannel shirt, blue jeans, and flat shoes. Identifying as a straight woman I tend to break the norm of typical attire society expects women to wear. I do not dress girly, I wear men shirts/ sweaters because they are comfortable and loose. The styles match what I like and I defy those social expectations that society and family may have for me. Just because I am a woman does not mean I need to dress extremely feminine. 

Stereotypes: Some stereotypes I have to deal with have to do with the way I dress and the way I look. The reason I chose deviance and normalcy is because of the stereotypes that have been placed on me. I am confidant in who I am and what I identify as. I am a single, straight woman despite the labels I get from family. Based on how I dress and because I have never brought a boyfriend home my dad’s side of the family, at times, has labeled me as a lesbian. I do not take offense to this since I am comfortable in my own skin and know who I am, I still have to deal with these assumptions. Just because I like some things that can be considered “masculine” does not mean I identify as anything other than what I am.

****SPOILER ALERT!!****

If you have not yet seen the Emerald City television series but plan on watching it soon I urge you not to read this yet!

In the new television series, Emerald City, one key character named Tip, embodies the idea of passing to the extreme. When we first meet Tip, they are not as they look in the picture above. Tip is introduced to us as a male character who is “sick” and is constantly given “medicine” to cure his illness. 

Tip decides to run away from her caretaker with her best friend Jack. During their travels Tips medicine wears off. Tip transforms from a male body to a female body. Throughout this first season we follow Tip through her identity struggles. 

As Tip struggles with her gender identity she encounters a Witch who helps Tip find out her past and who she truly is and who she is meant to be. However, the person the witch wants Tip to be is a strong witch queen. When Tip finds out she herself is a witch she tests out her powers. The first thing she does is changed herself back into the boy she has grown to identify herself as. 

With Tip being back in her boy body she realizes she is not getting the respect she should be getting from her fellow witches. Tip decides to change back to her female body and embrace the queen that her witch subjects expect and respect.

To talk about Homonormativity you must first understand what it is. There are many issues with this term and what it pertains to. The biggest example of this is the family dynamic that Neil Patrick Harris has. However, that is not the example I will be using. Today I will be breaking down Homonormativity in the cartoon television series American Dad, specifically the queer couple Greg and Terry.

The queer community has been included in media and pop culture more abundantly lately. Including the LGBTQ community in everyday things instead of the constant hiding them or just having subtle queer undertones. Though this is a big step forward we have the issue of Homonormativity in the media and pop cultures portrayal of the gay happy family. 

Christiaan Rapcewicz adresses this issue in his article, Homonormativity, Homonationalism and the Other ‘Other’. He explains how the issue is with the fact that though a queer couple can be happy together society still expects them to live a “hetero life style”, like 2 parents, 1 or 2 kids, white and successful. “By participating in “gay” marriage, by participating in the regulatory structure and institution of marriage, hetero (and, thus) homonormative desire is reproduced. Again, this is dangerous. An interrogation of and a resistance to a particular Western (U.S.-centric) liberal human rights discourse of gay marriage and equality must occur in an attempt to cease the reproduction of normative, heterosexual desire”. 

This week we will be tackling the subject of queer visibility in the Netflix original series Unbreakable. Specifically the character Titus and the stereotypes and archetypes that have have been applied to him. Queer visibility in its most basic form can be understood as queer culture being shown or portrayed publicly. This means that a queer person can be who they want to be rather than hiding their identity and hinting at who they are without saying it. Our media and pop culture has been more open to queer visibility. In fact most popular T.V. shows nowadays have at least one character that identifies as queer. 

Though our society has moved forward in this aspect, we run into some issues of stereotypes and archetypes applied towards the queer community though how their characters are portrayed. In Unbreakable, Titus Andromedon takes on the typical “Gay best friend” role to the main character Kimmy Schmidt. This is a stereotype that is commonly portrayed in pop culture. The difference between a stereotype and an archetype is that an archetype is more realistic. It is based on real people and real personalities, whereas a stereotype takes common assumptions of a certain group and applies them in a bold and outlandish way. Usually over the top portrayals.

Titus has broken this stereotypical “gay best friend” category. The gay best friend is always seen as a character that is there to add comic relief and to help their heterosexual friend with their needs issues. As a best friend Titus does fill some of these roles, however, Titus does not completely fill this stereotype. He has his own identity with or without Kimmy. Though he is still a little wild with his personality, it is more realistic rather than over doing it. This is what is lacking in other queer portrayals in t.v. shows and films. The other “gay best friends” basically are following around their heterosexual friend in their drama and adventures, not allowing the character to have an identity or a life of their own. Unbreakable is one example of a pop culture t.v. show that is breaking the stereotypical barriers of a member of the queer community.