Archive

The AfterEllen.com 2004 Visibility Awards

AfterEllen.com has analyzed the ups and downs of lesbian and bisexual women in entertainment and the media for almost three years, and this year we have decided to formally recognize the women (and men) who’ve most positively or negatively impacted lesbian and bi visibility in American entertainment in 2004. So read on to find our pick of this year’s best and worst celebrities, TV shows, movies and more.

BEST SCRIPTED TV SERIES

The L Word In a year of dwindling images of lesbians on television, The L Word easily stood out as the best thing to happen to lesbians on TV in years. There has rarely been a series with more than a single lesbian character in it, let alone a show revolving around several, but Ilene Chaiken convinced Showtime to create the series, then she convinced women like Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche to write and direct it, and then she convinced actors like Jennifer Beals and Leisha Hailey to star in it-and lesbian and bisexual women across America suddenly had something to alternately praise, criticize, love, and hate. It’s not perfect, but it’s ours.

WORST SCRIPTED TV SERIES

North Shore The three-episode September storyline on the new FOX drama North Shore, in which surfer-boy Gabe dated bisexual Charlie and her girlfriend Erika at the same time, was straight out of the promiscuous-bisexual-character manual, and the pilot episode in June featuring a closeted lesbian pretending to date a guy allowed the show to prominently exploit lesbian sexuality for ratings while communicating the idea that lesbianism is a harmful secret. It didn’t help the ratings enough: FOX recently canceled the series.

BEST REALITY TV SERIES

Survivor: Vanuatu Survivor: Vanuatu viewers may have differing opinions of Ami and Scout, and Mark Burnett clearly applied a different standard to allowing lesbian affection to be shown on camera. But these openly gay contestants on one of America’s most-watched reality shows challenged stereotypes of lesbians and gave a face to lesbianism in an otherwise lesbian-less year on network television.

WORST REALITY TV SERIES Drawn Together Comedy Central’s Drawn Together prominently features a relationship between two female characters: Foxxy Love the “promiscuous, melodious, and even possibly infectious” and Princess Clara, who “sings like an angel but spews racist bile like a Southern Congressman.” We like a good satire as much as the next person, but since there are actually very few lesbian or bisexual women among the glut of heterosexual women on reality shows, this satire seems a little premature. And by prominently featuring a kiss between the two characters in their promotion of the show, Princess Clara and Foxxy just reminded us again that lesbian kisses are okay on TV as long as they’re not real.

BEST TV NETWORK(S)

Here! and Q Television While these fledgling networks are still in their infancy-Q Television is available in a handful of cities, while Here! is now available nationwide via satellite-their launch in 2004 marks the beginning of a new era in which we may not have to settle for lesbian storylines like the ones on North Shore.

WORST TV NETWORK

FOX FOX has long employed a double standard around lesbian representation, and 2004 was no exception. The network continued its policy of promoting random, ratings-grabbing lesbian kisses between guest characters or straight women-North Shore, Quintuplets, and last week, The O.C.-but forbidding them between actual lesbian couples on shows like Wonderfalls. That policy may be relaxed in January with the upcoming lesbian relationship on The O.C., but that remains to be seen. FOX also canceled the only series with a new recurring lesbian character on TV in 2004 (Wonderfalls).

BEST THEATRICAL RELEASE

KINSEY Lynn Redgrave’s excellent two-minute scene as an older lesbian in the biopic Kinsey makes this film the winner for 2004, but it wasn’t exactly a crowded field: lesbian and bisexual characters were almost non-existent at your local theater this year. And good lesbian and bisexual characters? Forget about it. Have we mentioned Lynn Redgrave’s scene in Kinsey? Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

WORST THEATRICAL RELEASE(S)

She Hate Me and Dodgeball The entire plot of Spike Lee’s She Hate Me reinforced the heterosexual fantasy of lesbians who sleep with men, while Dodgeball reinforced the stereotype of bisexual women as promiscuous and non-monogamous with a cheap scene at the end of the film. Although lesbian stereotypes were much more prominently paraded in She Hate Me, the film was seen by far fewer people than the monster box office hit Dodgeball.

BEST HIGH-PROFILE LESBIAN(S)

Ellen DeGeneres While Ellen DeGeneres maintained a low profile this year (at least until last week), the continued success of her daytime talk show and her ability to appeal to millions of Americans make Ellen a positive force for lesbian visibility even if she never mentions her sexuality on-camera.

Amelie Mauresmo, Rosie Jones & Michele Van Gorp Although there are many lesbians in professional sports, few have been able to come out without risking their livelihoods, but this year French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo, golfer Rosie Jones, and basketball player Michele Van Gorp challenged that assumption. Mauresmo has been openly gay for a few years and has taken her fair share of criticism from other players about not being feminine enough, but she got the last laugh in 2004 by becoming the highest-ranked female tennis player in the world. Jones and Gorp, meanwhile, came out publicly this year despite the LPGA and WNBA’s general preference that lesbian athletes stay closeted, and neither appear to have experienced negative career consequences because of it. All three women are an inspiration to female athletes, gay and straight.

WORST HIGH-PROFILE LESBIAN

Mary Cheney Although politics doesn’t often qualify as entertainment, the lines were blurred this year when Mary Cheney’s sexual orientation became the subject of the televised vice-presidential debate, followed by countless newspaper and magazine articles, TV news coverage, and even a Saturday Night Live skit. None of this was initially Mary’s doing, but that was part of the problem: missing from all the debate over Mary’s sexuality was Mary herself, who refused to comment publicly on this or any other issue. Rumors that she was behind the Republican’s “how dare you” defense at the mention of her alternative sexuality didn’t help matters, nor did the fact that she actively supported the campaign of an anti-gay president. Clearly Mary didn’t seek to become the poster child for the gay marriage and sexuality debate, but by her silence she helped the Republicans reinforce the idea that calling a lesbian a lesbian is offensive.

BEST MUSICAL GROUP OR PERFORMER

Melissa Etheridge From her low-key openness about her relationship with wife Tammy Lynn Michaels to her decision to go public with the news of her breast cancer diagnosis, Melissa Etheridge continues to garner respect-and new fans-among both gay and straight Americans.

WORST MUSICAL GROUP OR PERFORMER

t.A.T.u. The Russian pop duo finally fessed up to faking a lesbian relationship for profit, disappointing many lesbian/bi teens and making a joke out lesbianism (and themselves).

BEST ALLIES Bryan Fuller & Todd Holland Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland, the gay co-creators of the short-lived Wonderfalls, gave us the only new lesbian character on network TV in 2004-and a closeted Republican one, at that. Although the series, which debuted in March, only lasted four episodes before being canceled, the character of Sharon is a reminder of what can be achieved when writers rise above stereotypes to create three-dimensional lesbian characters.

WORST ALLY Spike Lee Spike Lee’s heterosexual-male-fantasy version of lesbianism She Hate Me falls squarely in the “thanks, but no thanks” category of lesbian visibility. It reinforced all the old stereotypes about lesbians secretly yearning for men, and then it was peddled as a liberated view of lesbianism. Sorry Spike, we’re not buying it. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

That’s it for this year! Check out our new 2004 timeline for more details on how events unfolded.

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button