The L Word

So do you know The L Word? Do you love it? If you aren’t hip to The L Word I would suggest taking the time to Netflix it. I just love the show. It has grown so much over the years. I am about the finish the last 2 episodes of the series and am totally pumped for it (DIE JENNY!!!). But one of my favorite parts of getting The L Word in the mail is the bonus features. Mostly special features consist of 1-3 documentaries about the making of the show/movie chock full of clips from the show/movie. The L Word bonus features for the past few seasons have included some really nice featurettes that are not just masturbatory about how great the show is.

I am watching the featurette called “Generations”. It is a series of interviews with lesbians from the various generations telling their stories. The youngest being a Point Foundation award recipient who knew at age 8 that she was gay and was able to use that knowledge to help children with coming to terms with who they are. There was an older lesbian couple who has been together 31 years in a small town in Oregon and had never encountered prejudice until they started standing up for their rights. There is a woman who was arrested dozens of times in the 40s for “masculating” meaning she dressed like a man. She was actually arrested over and over again until she found a good attorney. All of which talked about how positive it has been to be able to turn on the TV and be able to see themselves represented. Not in a comical or stereotypical way. Instead they are represented as people. Main characters with plots and sub plots, story arcs and pitfalls. As one of the ladies represented said “For an hour when you turn on the show, you aren’t the outsider looking in.”

I can not imagine what it is like to grow up gay in this day in age. I definitely can’t imagine what it was like to grow up gay in days past. The bigotry, the hatred, the absolutism that they face. The blatant disregard for their rights. I... I just don’t get it. I can’t imagine having to struggle that much just to be who I am.

My hope is that shows like The L Word and Queer As Folk may help in some small way. Not only for the GLBT children and adults out there struggling to define what it is that they are. Not only for the GLBT children and adults who know exactly who they are. But for the small minded middle America types. The housewives who go to church and nod along as the preacher tells them how to vote on Tuesday who heard about the L Word and may rent it just to see what it is about. My hope is they get involved in the story line and come to break some “ideas” about whom and what GLBT are. Maybe get just a little hip to the truth. And I bet their husbands will watch as well. At first for the girl-girl sex scenes which are oh so rampant but then eventually sinking into the story and seeing that Lesbians are not just porn.

At least that is my hope. It may be a bit naive but I think the media influences our culture much more than we realize. And wouldn’t it be lovely if, for once, the influence was positive?