Can Somebody, (Maybe Scooter) Explain This To Me?

[Lord Jim]

For those who may not know, there's a cable channel called LOGO which caters primarily to a gay audience....

I came across it one day channel surfing....in our Comcast package it's near BBC America and National Geo...

Most of the faire I see listed are things I would expect; documentaries about gay life issues, movies like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Milk" (which is an excellent film) , transgender fashion shows, etc.....

But a lot of the time when I'm cruising by (no pun intended) I'll see a "mini marathon" (four or five episodes in a row) scheduled for "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"....

Now, I'll admit that I was never a fan of the show, (I've seen bits and pieces; maybe 20 minutes tops of the whole series; and maybe about a half an hour of the movie) but I have a working understanding of the campy horror movie send-up premise... (teenage girl hunts down an assortment of beasties)

But what I'm curious to know is why this particular show would be so popular with gay people, that a station geared towards a gay audience would be running maybe 20 episodes a week of it...

[Gob]

Out lesbian for a main character Jim...

[Timster]

Well. Looking at the facts.
And reading the site. One can only discern that Jim... is a Lesbian.

[The Hen]

Really? I thought it was because Anthony Head was a gay icon?

[Lord Jim]

Out lesbian for a main character Jim...

Okay, so the actress who played in the series, Sarah Michelle Gellar, (I just Googled her) is openly gay, and that's the appeal....

[The Hen]

I still reckon it's cause Anthony Head is a hotty.

[Joe Guy]

"Anthony Head"?

Sounds gay to me....

[Timster]

So. Jim., You deny being a Lesbian. Don't make me post a pic...

Nothing wrong with that...

[Lord Jim]

Really? I thought it was because Anthony Head was a gay icon?

That's more in line with what a gay friend of mine told me when I asked him about this...

He never watched the show much either, but he suggested that it might be because there were "hot guys" on the show...

My response to that was that there are "hot guys" on a lot of shows, but this channel isn't running 20 hours a week of "Bay Watch"....

For some reason this show must have a particular appeal...

[Lord Jim]

So. Jim., You deny being a Lesbian. Don't make me post a pic...

Tim, I categorically and emphatically deny that I am a lesbian....





(Unless of course you do have a photo, in which case I categorically and emphatically insist that my lesbianism was consensual....I'm going with the DSK defense....)

[BoSoxGal]

Pardon? Please fill me in, LJ. Where did you find information that SMG is openly gay?

Sarah Michelle Gellar Prinze is not a lesbian so far as I am aware, but a happily married heterosexual who has a child with her husband, Freddy Prinze.

I did have a lesbian friend who adored the show and bought every season on DVD . . . but I have several hetero friends who adore the show, too.

I'm curious now. SMG was in Cruel Intentions and had a famous on-screen lesbian kiss with Selma Blair - but Buffy is also a super feminist character and I think that might be partly why it's such a popular show with a progressive mindset.

[Timster]

No Prob my friend. I understand, that it was just that one time in College...

Ps: And I actually do have a pic.

[The Hen]

I still reckon its because Anthony Head is a Sweet Transvestite!

[Lord Jim]

Pardon? Please fill me in, LJ. Where did you find information that SMG is openly gay?

To be clear, BSG I did not find that out....

I only found out what her name was, (I didn't know what the actresses' name was till I googled the show a few minutes ago.)

My surmise about her being gay was based on Strop's response. I haven't researched the issue.

[Timster]

WTF? Anyone that can Kill Vampires with such Skill obviously has to be a Lesbian.

Just goes without saying. Just saying.

[BoSoxGal]

Here's what I found by Googling:

http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2007/4/buf ... pireslayer

excerpt:

Buffy Summers, the blond, vamp-kicking fighter who managed to rise from the dead twice on the beloved 1997–2003 TV series is back slaying again. Sort of. A new comic book series from Dark Horse titled Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 — with an initial story arc by Buffy creator Joss Whedon — offers the show's devoted cult following a rare opportunity to see what might have been if the show had continued to air. The publication of the new comic book series coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the show's premiere, a milestone that, for Buffy's many gay fanboys, invites reflection on the show's place in the canon of gay-themed TV — and anticipation of where its core characters (gay and straight, living and undead) are headed.

For gay men — always drawn to empowered women with a sense of style (see Xena) — Buffy, as immortalized by Sarah Michelle Gellar, was more than an icon; she was the teenage girl they wish they could have been in high school. Fearlessly navigating the living hell of Sunnydale High, she pulverized demonic bullies with her fists and cliques of mean girls with catty one-liners that packed just as much of a wallop.

"I would say the high school setting accounts in part for the show's appeal to a gay audience — the scene of the trauma, so to speak," said Will McCormack, a writing instructor at New York University. "The show was good at externalizing internal states; when I was in high school, I think I was rather shut down emotionally and was generally perceived as bookish and geeky. The show found a way to ennoble a similar set of characters."

Self-described Buffy addict Steven Lawrence elaborated: "The show made the outsiders the most attractive and appealing characters. The popular students were just snack food for ghouls. They lacked interest or distinction. The outsiders had the power."

Intensifying her sense of herself as an outsider, Buffy's status as a vampire slayer — a secret she had to keep from almost everyone in her life, including her mother for several years — forced her to grapple with an isolating loneliness that could easily be a metaphor for the traumas of the closet, particularly for gay youth. This subtext pretty much became the show's text in the Season 2 finale when Buffy comes out about her secret to her mother.

Her mother's naïve responses, including, " It's because you didn't have a strong father figure, isn't it?" and "Have you ever tried not being a vampire slayer?" are met by a heartbreakingly emotional Buffy.

"No, it doesn't stop," she says. "It never stops. Do you think I chose to be like this? Do you have any idea how lonely it is? "

As Buffy fan Lawrence observed: " The interesting thing about Buffy was she came from an experience of being very popular but then found out something about herself that she felt couldn't be known by others. She came to this new high school carrying that knowledge but managed to build a circle of trusted friends she could confide in. That directly tied into my own experience coming out, and that of many other gay and lesbian people I know."

The Show Comes Out

Like Buffy herself, the show seemed to come out after those high school seasons, more explicitly dealing with gay characters and ushering in a more overt queer sensibility.

Once the gang started college, Buffy's best friend, Willow (Alyson Hannigan), who had previously locked lips with boy crushes Oz (Seth Green) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon), fell in love with Tara (Amber Benson). This was no mere "very special sweeps month" stunt, but a serious, long-term, very loving relationship.

A 2003 AfterEllen.com article observed: "Willow's relationship with Tara was (and still is) the longest-running lesbian relationship on network television (2.5 seasons), and the pair developed a dedicated following among lesbian and bisexual fans who felt overjoyed to finally see aspects of their lives and their relationships reflected back."

Gay boys were no less overjoyed. Lawrence remembered: "What was important about that relationship was seeing a same-gender relationship being represented with such tenderness and passion. As a gay man, I take positive representations where I can get them. Any time a same-gender relationship is portrayed in a positive but very real light benefits us all."

Tara and Willow's relationship was at its most heart-swooningly romantic in the Season 6 episode "Once More With Feeling." Not only did Tara serenade Willow with a beautiful, Shawn Colvin-esque ballad, "I'm Under Your Spell," Willow apparently pleasured Tara in bed so skillfully that Tara literally floated above the bed in ecstasy.

Beyond the hot and heavy (for network TV anyway) same-sex action, that episode might be considered Buffy at its gayest for another reason: It was a singing, dancing, very knowing and very loving treatment of the musical format, with nods to everything from Sondheim to Les Misérables. As Lawrence said, "I'm a gay man … I love a good musical. … Buffy as a musical … it doesn't get better than that."

Just hearing that Buffy was doing a musical was enough to make Norman Cherubino, an avid Broadway theatergoer, watch the show, even though he'd never seen it before. "I loved it," he said. "It showed a true understanding of musicals and was a great way to showcase a lot of different types of music. … Now I listen to the CD all the time and know all the lyrics."

[The Hen]

Hell, I find Anthony Head attractive and I'm not even gay!

[Crackpot]

Freddy Prinze is Dead... For quite a while actually. So long in fact that I think it would be illegal for them to marry even in Alabama.

....though that would explain her moving on to his son afterward

[BoSoxGal]

Freddy Prinze Jr.

So sue me.

[Gob]

Okay, so the actress who played in the series, Sarah Michelle Gellar, (I just Googled her) is openly gay, and that's the appeal....

Jim, Jim, Jim..

You're pop culture knowledge is sadly lacking...

This lesbian...

The Buffy series became extremely popular and earned a devoted fanbase; Willow's intelligence, shy nature, and vulnerability often resounded strongly with viewers in early seasons. Of the core characters, Willow changes the most, becoming a complex portrayal of a woman whose powers force her to seek balance between what is best for the people she loves and what she is capable of doing. Her character stood out as a positive portrayal of a Jewish woman and at the height of her popularity, she fell in love with another woman, a witch named Tara Maclay. They became the first lesbian couple on U.S. television and one of the most positive relationships of the series. Willow appears in every Buffy episode, is featured in three episodes of the spinoff Angel,



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Rosenberg

The funny thing is I've always carried a candle for Alyson Hannigan, but she's totally the opposite of the type I normally go for...