Monday,
October 21 saw the premiere
of David E. Kelley's new series girls club (Monday nights
on
Fox) about the kill-or-be-killed environment of three young female
associates trying to make it at the Firm. The young women are
friends and roommates fresh out of law school: Jeannie (Kathleen
Robertson from 90210), Lynn (Gretchen Mol from The
Thirteenth Floor and Donnie Brasco), and Sarah (Chyler
Leigh, from That 80's Show and Not Another Teen Movie).
The
series premiere paints a portrait of the three women against the
world - with "the world" being everyone else in the
Firm, and specifically, the sexist, patriarchal culture of the
Partners. As the women summed it up, the Firm is full of "power
dicks," plus one Praying Mantis (the nickname for the lone
female partner).
And
one dyke. Well, not exactly. The storyline goes like
this: Sarah was "sabotaged" by a colleague, Rhanda (Christina
Chang), who was vying for Sarah's case. Earnest Sarah made repeated
attempts to talk to Rhanda about her behavior, and each time was
shut down with patronizing statements from Rhanda and the Praying
Mantis, who was the Partner overseeing the case.
Finally,
when The Praying Mantis gave the case to Rhanda despite Sarah's
protests, Sarah blew up at Rhanda, in a long harangue that ended
by Sarah calling Rhanda a "total dyke" in front of several
members of the Firm. Sarah froze, horrified at
what she had just said, and then blurted out
something like "oh, my God! I can't believe I just said that.
I am SO sorry." Rhanda doesn't say a word, just smiles and
then walks away, knowing that Sarah has done far worse damage
to her own reputation than Rhanda ever could.
Flash
forward to Sarah being called into the Principal's office...er,
the Senior Partner's office, and being asked to "give me
one good reason why I shouldn't fire you?" Sarah's response
is 1) I'm not a homophobe, I have lots of gay friends; 2) I don't
even think Rhanda is "one" and 3) it was an emotional
outburst that will never happen again. When the Senior Partner
asks her where the "dyke" comment came from, Sarah answers
truthfully "I don't know."
The
Senior Partner (played by Giancarlo Espisito) spares her job,
but orders Sarah to officially apologize (again) to Rhanda, and
then attend ten weekends of sensitivity training. So Sarah apologizes
to Rhanda (and in the process says something stupid like "I
don't even think you are...one"), and Rhanda replies by coolly
informing Sarah that Sarah has been removed from working on this
case with Rhanda, which pushes Sarah to tell Rhanda she's going
to "get" her, so Rhanda "better watch her back."
Later,
when the three women are unwinding at their apartment, Sarah ticks
off the events of her horrendous week ("I lost my only client,
I almost got fired" etc.) and tops it off with "and
I might be a closet homophobe!"
The
second episode appears to solve the mystery of where
the "dyke" comment came from. In scenes for "next
week's episode of girls club, Jeannie and Lynne are shown
discussing whether Sarah's boyfriend is gay, saying something
along the lines of "is Sarah the only one who hasn't figured
it out?" So it appears that Sarah's homophobic remark is
a result of her unconscious fears that her boyfriend might be
gay.
There
is certainly nothing unusual about the use of anti-gay slurs,
but where this show departs from the norm is in showing how upset
Sarah is with her own behavior and the possibility that she might
be homophobic. Also, Sarah is separately accused by a colleague
as being "a Christian," which it appears she might be
- if so, it is refreshing that television is portraying being
Christian as being incompatible with homophobia (since Sarah believes
being homophobic is wrong), as the stereotype that "Christian
= homophobic" is also one that needs debunking.
The
fact that Sarah is so upset about the possibility that
she might be homophobic says a lot about how much progress we've
made in educating (certain segments of) our society, since in
Sarah's mind, being homophobic is clearly something to be ashamed
of - not just professionally (i.e. how it impacts her career),
but personally. It clearly tarnishes her vision of herself as
a Good Person.
But
the repeated use of "homosexual" and "one"
in Sarah's statements and the difficulty with which the words
role off her tongue contradicts her supposed comfort with homosexuality.
Most people who have "lots of gay friends" don't display
that level of discomfort with the language used to describe homosexuality
- and they usually use the word "gay" instead of "homosexual"
to describe someone. Of course, Sarah was under considerable duress
when being questioned by the Senior Partner and apologizing to
Rhanda, so perhaps the more formal language is a product of this
and her environment (the law firm).
But
I don't think so. I think Sarah is the kind of person for whom
having "lots of gay friends" really means that she knew
a few gay people in college/law school that she used to study/eat
lunch with once in awhile. The kind of person who wants
to be comfortable with gay people, but isn't yet.
The
use of "dyke" as a slur in the show and the
subsequent "fear that boyfriend is gay" explanation
is also instructive. First, it highlights the fact that for many
people, "dyke" has been used as an insult for so long
that it no longer means "lesbian" as much as a stronger
version of "bitch." Second, it illustrates what gay
people have known for a long time: that overt homophobia is often
a mask for something else, usually fear (that the person is gay
themselves, or, in this case, that someone they love is).
And
third, it shows that taunts and slurs learned as a child have
a way of sticking with you, even when you no longer want them
to.
We
don't yet know if Rhanda is actually a lesbian, but by
not confirming or denying this, girls club is making
the point that it really doesn't matter - Sarah's use of the "dyke"
slur wasn't about that in the first place. (Also, it isn't yet
clear how much of a role Rhanda will play in future episodes -
whether she will be an ongoing nemesis or just pop into the occasional
storyline.)
Of
course, the more cynical view would be that girls club
is just leaving Rhanda's sexuality obscured so they can exploit
the issue during Sweeps week when they want to pull in big ratings.
Certainly the show has shown a penchant for incorporating all
the other hot-button issues it can think of (sexual harassment,
masturbation, the glass ceiling, and the gay boyfriend in the
first few episodes alone).
Reviews
of the show have been fairly negative, however, and the
ratings for the season premiere were dismal (40% lower than the
season premiere of Ally McBeal
last year - and you know what happened to that show). So it's
quite possible we may never find out whether Rhanda is gay or
not, or whether Sarah really resolves her homophobia.
But
at least the show is raising these issues, which is more than
most television shows do. Then again, we shouldn't have expected
any less from the man who created one of the first regular out
black male television characters (on Chicago Hope) and
showed the first lesbian teen kiss on primetime television (on
Picket Fences).
Now
if only he made one of the three stars of girls club
gay (the story is set in San
Francisco, after all), he might be able to redeem himself
for that blatant ratings-ploy kiss on Ally McBeal.
Update:
girls club was canceled by Fox after this episode
