So Big Brother has limped to a close after another year. I can't say I'm not glad because this year was pretty dull. Too many people I didn't like, and too few that really shone out from the pack. My flatmate has been a big fan of the show this year, so it's frequently on at our house in the evenings asnd I kind of feel like I've absorbed much of the show through osmosis.
Having said that, things got a lot more interesting with the introduction of a rather sweet, very girly, corset making (and sometimes wearing), proud young gay intruder half way through the series. Zach put some interest into the show for me, and certainly livened up a dull house. It's a tough call to enter a show like that half way through, and survive. But he strode in in a suit, corset and fedora and said "This is me folks." His combination of sense of fun, sweetness, genuineness and pride in himself quickly won over the majority of the housemates.
Lots of gay guys are turned off by really camp guys, but lets not forget that freedom of expression to that degree can make you an easy target. While the rest of us 'pass' and slide by under the radar. After all it was the nelly queens, the drags, and the trannies that stood up to the abusive cops at The Stonewall all those decades ago, and are credited with starting the modern Gay Lib movement.
Ok, I'm not trying to say Zach invented modern medicine or cold fusion, but to make it through the show means that he had a lot of support from the viewing public. Mums, dads, teens, kids, and probably lots of gay people all picked up the phone and voted for someone both flamboyant and very open about his sexuality. So when it was so close last night that they had to keep stalling to check the results, and then Aleisha won with 51% of the vote to Zach's 49% it still felt like a win of sorts. The furthest any intruder has made it through, and certainly the first camp gay guy to make it this far. (Although other gay and lesbian housemates have sometimes done fairly well, but never final two.)
Chalk one up for changing attitudes. A small step maybe, but a very public one.
8 comments:
Gay guys who have problems with nelly queens might want to look at their own issues before they are so quick to judge. Beneath the disdain and distaste are deeper fears that need to be dealt with if one is to lead a healthy and balanced existence. The spectrum of human sexuality and gender is a broad one indeed.
Acceptance and compassion are the keys...
yay for the girlyboy!
Anyone who has the (insert pseudonym for testicles here) to be truly who they are is all right in my book (as long as that isn't John Winston Howard or Bronwyn Bishop of course).
What was great about Zac (caught the end of the show while waiting for Torchwood to start), was that he was very happy, up and extremely loveable - it's hard to dislike someone with that much bounce.
Agreed! Good points, both of you.
Gotta luv a guy in a corset!
I have become a great believer in things like this making a difference. I remember talking to a friend who told me that her mother rethought the racist ideologies she had been brought up with because of Oprah.
It's all a part of the zeitgeist. The great collective consciousness. Both a symptom and a contributing factor.
BB Australia was off to a good start way back with its very first season, and has managed to produced some proactive social commentary on a range of issues. The public and media may slam the show as trash TV as much as they like, but most of the nation watched, amazed, as young, macho, country-raised, blinkered ocker, Blair (eventually of Neighbours's fame), cried openly when gay Johnny was evicted. He then spent the next few day wearing Johnny's Tshirt.
The last few days of BB 07 had lots of not-so-unpredictable surprises.
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