Conclusion

Although homosexuality is still sort of a taboo subject, it seems that in this day and age more people are coming out of the closet mostly because of all of the celebrities that have come to terms with their sexuality. Since homosexuality was always a lifestyle that was shunned upon, celebrities have had to show extreme courage to announce their true selves to the media, making them open for negative criticism (which always happens). The homophobia that comes with coming out (YouTube comments, fan mail, etc.) is clouded by the support from fans, some that may have questions about their own identity. It is easier to come out now than it was before the homosexual invasion on television because there simply were not that many homosexual role models to look up to. Models that have made great contributions to art, music, sports, etc such as Michelangelo (Edwards-Stout 2012). That is why people like Ellen DeGeneres and Jason Collins are looked up to as heroes (Weicksel 2013). But it doesn’t stop there. In order to slowly eliminate stereotypical brainwashing and “normalize gayness”, gay men should be shown more muscular and the women should be shown more feminine (Sender 2006).  And Michael Green stresses that “more representation and more diversity lead to increased acceptance and normalization of marginalized groups” (2013).  

Quick Movie Reviews

One film that I’ve quite enjoyed that has to do with homosexuality is I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which is a sort of satirical take on all of the stereotypes that are affiliated with homosexuals. It entails two heterosexual friends who act as a gay couple so that one of them can have his children be beneficiaries in his health policy after his death. On one hand, every single stereotype about the gays is attached to almost every gay character in the film and the audience is reminded of what gays are “supposed” to be like. On the other hand, these two heterosexual characters courageously go through the same obstacles as the kind of people they are pretending to be and become positive role models for the LGBT community in the movie, thus proving that the overall objective of this movie was to promote equality for homosexuality. I understand that this is a comedy and there has to be jokes to laugh at, but the fact that every gay character in the film is aggressively sexual does not help matters. Even with the pro-gay message that this movie is trying to provide, homosexuality is still the punch line of every joke in this movie. The movie that to me really does justice for the LGBT community according to Michael Green is Brokeback Mountain.  As Green mentioned, screenwriters need to “make such characters recognizably queer, without centralizing queerness as a problem or resorting to stereotypes” (2013). Although it was graphically sexual, the audience also got to see how these two complex characters come to terms with their homosexuality and keep living on. The fact that these two non-stereotypically gay men try to live their lives the “right” way with their wives in the American West is a good story as it is. The great reviews and the Oscar nominations proved that this movie has impacted people’s views on homophobia. These two movies are examples of how complex narratives can furthermore increase one’s acceptance of the LGBT community.

Data Charts

Partial Correlations Between Media Use by

 

Genre and AATH (Controlling for Sex, Race,

 

Religiosity, SES, and Wave)

	AATH
TV Genres
Prime-time situation comedies	.02
Prime-time dramas	.00
Music videos	.01
Daytime talk shows	.01
Soap operas	.00
PAST Prime-time comedies & dramas	.08***
PAST Music videos	.06*
PAST Soap operas	.02
Magazine Genres
Teen	.06*
Women’s	.02
Men’s	.03
Health	.03
Popular culture	.08**

 

Note.  * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

This graph shows the acceptance percentage from the 1,761 students who were surveyed about accepting homosexuality. As shown here, the past prime -time comedies and dramas looks like the type of medium that gets the highest acceptance rate for homosexuality.

 

Table 3

 

Significant Partial Correlations Between Women’s Media Use and AATH (Controlling for Religiosity, Parental Education, and Year)

	All	White	Asian	Black
	Women	Women	Women	Women
	(n D 1096)	(n D 759)	(n D 172)	(n D 79)
	General Media Exposure
Total TV viewing
Total movie viewing
Total magazine reading
	TV Viewing by Genres
Prime-time situation comedies				.22*
Prime-time dramas
Music videos	.07*
Daytime talk shows
Soap operas
PAST Prime-time sitcoms	.07*	.11**
& dramas
PAST Music videos
PAST Soap operas
	Magazine Genres
Teen	.09**	.11**
Women’s
Men’s
Health
Popular culture	.08*

 

Note.  *p   .05; **p    .01; ***p    .005.

This graph describes the acceptance rate from women and black women are the most accepting of homosexuality through prime-time situation comedies.

Table 4

 

Significant Partial Correlations Between Men’s Media Use and AATH (Controlling for Religiosity, Parental Education, and Year)

		White	Asian	Black
	All Men	Men	Men	Men
	(n D 647)	(n D 450)	(n D 105)	(n D 27)
	General Media Exposure
Total TV viewing
Total movie viewing	.08*		.20*
Total magazine reading
	TV Viewing by Genres
Prime-time situation			.28**
comedies
Prime-time dramas				.48**
Music videos
Daytime talk shows	.09*
Soap operas	.10*
PAST Prime-time	.09*		.25*
sitcoms & dramas
PAST Music videos
PAST Soap operas			.20*
	Magazine Genres
Teen
Women’s
Men’s
Health
Popular culture	.10*	.12*

 

Note. *p    .05; **p    .01; ***p    .005.

 This is the graph for men. Black men are the most accepting of homosexuality through prime-time dramas.