I have just recently finished watching a show that aired on Starz called Spartacus Blood and Sand and after some research I found this article . The article talks about one of the characters that happen to be gay. (The show is based around gladiators during the Roman period when same-sex relationships were an every day occurrence.) The actor’s character, however, does not fit into the normal stereotype of a gay man portrayed on television and happens to be the complete opposite. Many would think that the other gladiators in the show would not accept him, but this is not the case. He is one of the top gladiators in the group and the question of his homosexuality never comes up. The show freely shows his sexuality through scenes in the show involving the character’s lover. Another thing I found interesting is that the show is directed to male viewers because of the amount of gore and sex presented in the show. One would think because of the homosexuality displayed on the show that it would ruin viewer rating, but that never happened because I believe the media and its viewers are ahead of the game and have accepted homosexuality as part of an every day society. So now it’s up to rest of society to accept this change and put the issue of homosexuality behind us.
To be fair, Starz is a bit more radical of a network as far as what they'll put on TV. Starz is also the channel which will be hosting Torchwood, the BBC series I blogged about earlier with a heavily gay/bi main cast, when it broadcasts simultaneously in the states next season. (Although to be fair, the dynamics of the cast may do some shifting, as 3/5 of the main characters were killed off in the last two seasons because Russell T. Davies is horrible and evil and likes to make me cry.)
ReplyDeleteThere's something wrong with Torchwood in my opinion. It doesn't have the same verve as the re-booted Doctor Who.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on to Jonathan's point, which is an interesting one and reflects what is known as multicasting (neologism for multiple broadcasting).
STarz wants to attract women and gay men to watch the show as well as straight men in order to maximize the size of their audience. So, they have the "gore and sex" for the straight guys and the "abs and pretty faces" for the gay guys and straight women. Everybody's happy. What's unusual about this series though is usually the more marginalzed identities (smaller audiences) usually only get their tastes cursorily (minimally) attended to, where here it looks like they are making a real effort to keep the gay audiences engaged.
I don't have Starz cable so I haven't seen the show but I've seen the pictures and my, my the guys do look pretty, and mostly unclothed.