Mainstream Gaze: A Panel Discussion

Lesbian and gay characters have been appearing on television at an exponentially increasing rate, post-Ellen.Ý A gay side character has almost become de rigeur in many Hollywood films, post-My Best Friend's Wedding.Ý Television news covers gay issues in more consistent, less inflammatory ways, and at times, sexual minorities seem to be the mainstay of the talk-show set, from Jerry to Ricki to Cristina.Ý Yet, while Will and Grace achieves top ten ratings among all television programs nationally, the gay characters are barely allowed love lives, let alone real sexuality.Ý And, it's a rare day that a mainstream movie places a lesbian or gay character at center stage (not true for independent films, where gay filmmakers tend to make their mark). Television, for all its change, still only tends to report on problems (AIDS) and anti-gay campaigns (gays in the military), and who really wants to be a sideshow attraction in the daytime TV circus?Ý At today's panel a group of film and television critics, actors, writers and academics will take a look at what this all means, is it good for the gay and lesbian community and where is the mainstream media heading.Ý Panelists include moderator B. Ruby Rich, long-time film critic and commentator for The Advocate and National Public Radio; actor Alexis Arquette from Last Exit to Brooklyn, Pulp Fiction, and this year’s Audit; Steve Capsuto, author of the book Alternate Channels, which traces the history of lesbian and gay images in broadcasting; actor Guillermo Diaz from Stonewall and Just One Time; Martha Gever, professor of media and cultural studies at Florida Atlantic University and co-editor of Queer Looks: Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Film and Video; and Dennis Turner, screenwriter for the classic TV show Dynasty and the television film The Rock Hudson Story.

This panel is co-sponsored by the Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, South Florida's moving image archive.

NoonÝ Panel free and open to the public