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Gay Male Domesticity on the Small Screen: Queer Representations of Gay Homemaking in Six Feet Under and Brothers & Sisters

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 10; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15405702.2012.682936

1540-5710

Frederik Dhaenens,

Cinema and Media Studies

Abstract This article acknowledges that contemporary representations of gay domesticity in popular television fiction are often shaped by the discourse of heteronormativity. However, drawing on the potential of popular culture to resist heteronormativity, this article argues that representations of gay domesticity can also be interpreted in terms of queer resistance. To this end, a textual thematic analysis of Brothers & Sisters and Six Feet Under was conducted to illustrate how these instances of resistance are articulated. This analysis has shown that the series rely on strategies of queer deconstructions to expose how heteronormativity governs and restrains gay domestic arrangements. They also rely on strategies of queer reconstructions to renegotiate gay domesticities in which the boundaries defined by the discourse of heteronormativity are defied, transgressed, and queered. Notes 1Dialogue from Brothers & Sisters, season 3, episode 21. 2Within the context of this article, the concept of gay will be used as an umbrella-term for gay, lesbian, and bisexual desires and identities. 3This study draws a distinction between representational strategies that rely on deconstructive practices and strategies that rely on reconstructive practices. Whereas the first set is mostly occupied with dismantling and questioning heteronormativity, the latter set departs from these deconstructions of heteronormativity to explore viable alternatives. 4This article takes into account that Six Feet Under is broadcast on a pay-cable channel and Brothers & Sisters on a commercial network channel. This means that the former is able to, for instance, represent sexuality more explicitly. However, it does not imply that heteronormativity will be more likely challenged by the former. Drawing on CitationChambers (2009), both series are able to equally subvert heteronormativity, even though they may have to rely on different representational strategies. 5At the time of this analysis, the fourth season of Brothers & Sisters was not yet finished, and is thus excluded from this study. 6I acknowledge that the notion of home also has a spatial dimension, which refers to the physical location of the material home (e.g., its implantation in a neighborhood, its nearness to friends or relatives). However, because of the absence of significant scenes that represent the spatiality of the home, I limit the discussion to the temporal and material dimensions of home. 7Quote from Brothers & Sisters, season 2, episode 15. 8Quote from Brothers & Sisters, season 2, episode 14. 9Quote from Brothers & Sisters, season 2, episode 14. 10In the second season, Keith and David are taking care of Keith's niece, Taylor, and are hoping to become legal guardians of the child. 11Since Brothers & Sisters is broadcast on network television, depictions of sex in general are often limited to scenes of foreplay, cutting out during an ongoing passionate kiss, or scenes of after-sex intimacy. Six Feet Under is broadcast on pay-cable television, and is thus able to include actual queer sex acts.