Lesbian: Encyclopedia II - Lesbian - Media depictions

Lesbian - Media depictions

Lesbians often attract media attention, particularly in relation to feminism, love and sexual relationships, marriage and parenting.

Lesbian - Mainstream broadcast media

In television, the number of lesbian couples portrayed is generally less than the number of gay male couples. Notable lesbian couples on television include:

• Tara Maclay and Willow Rosenberg in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Lindsay Peterson and Melanie Marcus in Queer as Folk
• Maia Jefferies and Jay Copeland in Shortland Street
• Lana Crawford and Georgina Harris in Neighbours
• Dr. Kerry Weaver and Sandy Lopez in ER
• Helen Stewart and Nikki Wade in Bad Girls

In addition, some characters are claimed to be lesbians (often jokingly), though whether they actually are is unknown. In some cases, the show's producers most likely did not intend any implications of sexuality; in others, it is often implied but not stated outright.

• Xena and Gabrielle in Xena: Warrior Princess. These characters were not officially "outed" in the storyline, but their relationship was implied through comically ambiguous dialogue and actions laced with double-meaning, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions, and perhaps to avoid criticism while showing tolerance to lesbians.

The 1980s television series L.A. Law included a lesbian couple, which caused much more controversy than lesbian TV characters would a decade later. The 1989 BBC mini series Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit was based on lesbian writer Jeanette Winterson's novel of the same title. Russian pop-duo t.A.T.u was popular in Europe during the early 2000's, gaining attention and TV airplay for their pop videos because they were marketed as lesbians, even though they weren't (it remains unknown whether this idea came from the duo themselves or their promoters). Some saw this as a mockery of the "gay liberation cause".

Actress and comedian Ellen DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in 1997, and her character on the sitcom Ellen did the same soon after. Ellen, then in its fourth season, became the first American sitcom with a lesbian lead character. The coming-out episode won an Emmy, but the series was cancelled after one more season.

In 2000, the character of Bianca Montogomery (Eden Riegel) was revealed to be gay in the ABC Daytime Drama Series All My Children. From 2000 - 2005, Bianca was the focus of many storylines involving her sexuality but she is perhaps best known for a storyline in which her character was raped and then the resulting child from the rape was stolen from her. While many have praised the fact that a lesbian character was given such a prominent storyline, others have criticised the way in which the show seemingly would not allow Bianca to have a successful long-running relationship with another woman, instead preferring to keep Bianca in a constant state of trauma.

In 2004, The L Word was primarily focused on the lives of a group of lesbian friends, and Ellen DeGeneres had a popular daytime talk show. In a 2005 episode of The Simpsons titled "There's Something About Marrying", Marge's sister Patty came out as a lesbian.

Lesbian - Cinema

The first lesbian-themed feature film was the exceptional Mädchen in Uniform (1931), based on a novel by Christa Winsloe and directed by Leontine Sagan, tracing the story of a schoolgirl called Manuela von Meinhardis and her passionate love for a teacher, Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden. It was written and mostly directed by women. The impact of the film in Germany's lesbian clubs was overshadowed, however, by the cult following for The Blue Angel (1930).

Until 1985's breakthrough Desert Hearts, any notion of lesbian love in a film almost always required audiences to infer the relationships. The lesbian aesthetic of Queen Christina (1933) with Greta Garbo has been widely noted, even though the film is not about lesbians. Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, referred more or less overtly to lesbianism, but the two characters involved were not presented positively: Mrs. Danvers was portrayed as obsessed, neurotic and murderous, while the never-seen Rebecca was described as having been selfish, spiteful and doomed to die. All About Eve (1950) was originally written with the title character as a lesbian but this was very subtle in the final version, with the hint and message apparent to alert viewers. In The Children's Hour (1961) Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine play schoolteachers falsely accused by a disgruntled student of having a lesbian relationship; indeed, it turns out that MacLaine's character is a lesbian and is in love with Hepburn's character.

Explicitly lesbian films and others with sympathetic portrayals of lesbian characters and lesbian leads began to appear during the 1990s, and by the year 2000, there were films in which characters explored issues beyond their sexual orientation, reflecting an attitude that lesbianism involves more than sexual desire. Notable mainstream theatrical releases included Bound (1996), Chasing Amy (1997), and Kissing Jessica Stein (2001). There have also been many foreign-language lesbian films such as Fucking Åmål (Sweden, 1998), Saving Face (2004), and Blue Gate Crossing (Taiwan, 2004).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Media depictions", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki