"I've got a good mind to throw it all away" - Frou Frou, Maddening Shroud (Details)
In America, battles for acceptance are generally fought on two fronts. First there's the political - the quest to demand equal protection under our constitution, to recognize that your liberties are my liberties despite our sociocultural differences. Those fights are enormous but they are but a blip on the radar when compared to the second battle - The battle of cultural opinion.
As someone who works in and writes about our popular culture, I think it's important and necessary to look at the images that are out there not only because it's a good gauge of how people are really feeling about certain things but it's also a good gauge of what people are willing to consider in the future. For all of our efforts towards integration, the vast majority of the people in this country live in communities of people that look like them, think like them, act like them. So, how do we know how "The Others" live? Through our shared pop culture.
It was true when All in the Family and The Cosby Show challenged perceptions on Race. It was true when The Real World San Francisco and Ellen forced us to look at what it meant to be Gay in America in the Nineties (for some, of course, always, for some) and it continues to be true today.
It continues to be important to be critical of what is out there. It continues to be important to challenge our entertainers and those who distribute them to take risks. It's important. It's important this summer that NBC is supporting Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I think it's even more important that CBS is unwavering in it's commitment to calling Chip & Reichen, the gay couple on The Amazing Race, as they want to be identified - as married.
These smaller events, in concert with the larger political events, are what help shape our shared cultural outlook. They encourage the dialogue that happened in my parent's family room last week. They push the water cooler discussions beyond what happened on Friends or Survivor into "What do you think about..." whatever the hot button topic may be.
Whether it be music, movies, books, tv, film or comedy (or, dare I say it, blogs?), the images, emotion, and ideas demand that we form opinions if only so that we're not left out of the conversation.
Because it's in those conversations where the success of our political victories can really be determined.