Luckily, the course has helped me de-code what I had found all quarter and helped me to analyze these artifacts I was finding. Through the readings as well, I was having a clearer picture of how important media was in our perceptions of the world in which we live in. Today we live in such a media rich environment, it is almost impossible not to be a part of it. Through work, school, friendships, relationships, television, movies, books, games, plays, music, news, internet, and so much more, we are engulfed in this culture of infotainment without any sort of escape.

This blogging experience has really helped me to define infotainment and considering I really had no clear definition of what that was at the begging of the quarter I would say that this assignment was a wonderful one. Hard at times I will admit, it was still a great learning experience. It was very hard to try and separate my own self from the culture I know and live each and every day. Trying to analyze these media rich artifacts with a fish out of water approach is not easy but I am glad I have new tools to help me whenever I have to read the news, watch it, or any kind of entertainment really.

I found that most of the media artifacts I looked into had a one sided approach to the topic of homosexuality, and that a lot of times, homosexuality was included into the media to up ratings or to raise numbers of viewers. I also found that a lot of times the characterization of gays was done to social standards and that they are gay characters who are relatable and if they were not and were considered, “too gay” then they were criticized in news stories and other forms of media. I found that most media artifacts were trying to make the gay community only a good gay, it wasn’t acceptable for them to be anything else but that. It was only ok for gays to be gay if they were more masculine gay not feminine gay and the same went for lesbians as well; it was only ok if they are more feminine lesbians not masculine lesbians.

I also noticed that most of the artifacts were trying to show diversity and represent a certain community(the gay community) but really all they are doing is portraying gays in a way for entertainment purposes, and not showing the underlying issues or factors. We can read and hear these stories about people who are gay, but we are un-phased by the stories we read and the images we see which gives Americans a certain stereotype of what gay people should be and we end up taking gays and the gay community for granted. Homosexuals are presented in a way that is only ok for entertainment purposes, and if it is not for entertainment purposes like a news show or interview, we are still shown the clips from a one sided view making sure that the American viewer will still tune in and not be offended. Sugar coating the truth which is exactly why I named my blog that.

We are told that homosexuality in America is becoming more acceptable and we do see it more and more on television and read about it in the news, however, we are only shown what we think we can handle like not being too gay or only dropping in gay characters to up television and movie ratings. We are thought more to think that gay and coming out of the closet are just a phase or with reality television portraying what it really is like to be gay when in fact it isn’t and it is only amounting to the entertainment factor of the real underlying issues that may never get talked about or even thought about. But, with media, there seems to be no need to really talk about the issues, you can just learn about them through media. It is a complicated thing infotainment and to try to understand what is ok and what isn’t really is up to interpretation I suppose. Although media may play a key role in educating society and it may not be the correct way it is not always a bad thing either. I would like to think that it is just important to understand what it means and to try and look at issues through the media with an open mind which will always be hard for our American culture, but that is a part of our culture even if homosexuality in America is a sugar coated truth.

This media artifact is an announcement on TVGuide made by the Vice President for CBS. It talks about how the network got a bad rating from GLAAD because the network apparently didn’t feature enough gay characters or story lines in their shows. The network CBS announced that it would be adding more gay and lesbian characters into shows that are already running and programs that are in the works. We can see here that television is trying to up it’s ratings by adding more homosexual relationships into the network to help bring in the gay community and hopefully up its ratings. CBS doesn’t want to look like the network that is singling out gay people and not bringing the community into their network. To them it is all about ratings so if it will make the gay community more happy and view CBS shows more often, then why not add a few more gay characters into the mix.

Floyd from the hit show Entourage!

This is a Youtube clip from the show Entourage. It is the character called Lloyd who is a personal assistant for a high profile man in Hollywood who is extremely angry and masculine and a womanizer. Lloyd is a gay assistant for the high profile man. We can see in this clip that Lloyd is soft spoken, dresses extremely nice, what we would call metrosesxual and also acts very dainty. This image we get of a feminine man so we can decipher that he is gay. The show has given Floyd this sort of characterization so we as the audience can relate to his “gay” character. The opening clip even starts off with the high profile man making a joke about Floyd’s sexual preference by mocking him about coming out of the closet to his father. Something we as straight people hear about when someone has come out that they are gay. The show pokes jokes at Floyd so that we can relate with him through jokes which stereotype the gay community.

This is a news story (Also has a video clip attached to the link) on WKRN.com that takes place in Nashville, TN on December 3, 2010. It is basically about a Coach named Lisa Howe who recently came out with her team and the people she works under and told them that she and her same sex partner were going to be having a baby. The university in which Howe worked for for over six years said that it was a mutual decision to let her go. Not that she was fired because of her sexual orientation but that it was a “mutual” agreement that it would be for the best interest of the team if she were to “conclude” her employment with the team. Her teammates however, said differently and said that Howe was devastated and had told them that she had “lost” her job. So why the fancy words? Why would the University say that it was a mutual decision and not because of her sexual orientation? To cover up the scrutiny and controversy that would arise with those decisions being made public. It is just another story of someone who was let go from their jobs because of their sexual orientation……as a homosexual.

This is a Youtube clip about a priest in the Vatican that was caught on a hidden camera having a homosexual relationship with another man. What we don’t get to see is the voice and view from the priest himself or his opinion and thoughts on the matter, only what the news is reporting to us. We hear things like “not allowed to be gay” and that the news story claims that the priest said he wasn’t gay and was just pretending. Our views just by this news story have been shaped for us and even though we may not know anything about the Vatican, it gets summed up for us in this 2min video clip claiming that it is against their religious beliefs to be gay or even associate with anyone who associates themselves as a homosexual. How the media titles “Gay Vatican Priest Caught” because it is wrong to be gay if you are a priest.

An article on Entertainment Weekly came out today about Johnny Depp playing the character Jack Sparrow in the movies Pirates of the Caribbean and Depp sarcastically admitted that all his characters he has played for Disney are “gay” Depp says, “All my characters are gay” he was only kidding but Depp was exaggerating the fact that his characters are gay because of how flamboyant they are. Since our culture recognizes flamboyancy as gay, Depp has categorized his characters in that way. The article goes on to talk about other characters Depp has played and why those characters could have been conceived as gay also. Edward Scissor Hands, because of the excentric eye makeup (which we associate to be only worn by women) or his other flamboyant, emotional character as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. Because we as a society are set up on this kind of discourse, we connect these characters Depp is playing with gay people. We stereotype the characters in which he plays so that we as the viewer can make a connection to those characters, even if they do appear to us as gay.

This is a news story from the Seattle Times written by Christine Willmsen on June 27, 2010. It is an article about the Gay Pride Parade celebrated here in Seattle every year. This was the 37th year for the celebration which just seems to get bigger and bigger each year it is held. Some of the homosexuals interviewed for the paper said that this was one of the best days for them because it is a day where the whole community can come together and celebrate being homosexual and it being ok and accepted. Another person added that they thought it was important for the parade to happen so that people in the community could support these people. It was interesting to me that the people of Seattle needed a specific day or even to raise awareness for gay and lesbians and that people of the gay and lesbian community need an event like the Pride Parade to feel accepted in their community. What do they do all the other days of the year to feel accepted by their communities?

I found this media artifact through a Google Search of “transgender pregnancy” the story came up which just happens to be from another wordpress! Interesting.

This is a story about a transgender now man (was female and still has female genitalia) but now has become a full blown male and married to a woman. Beatie and his wife wanted to get pregnant so that is exactly what they did however, their story caused a commotion when people started thinking that it was a “man” who was pregnant with a child and since Beatie is now a man but still technically a woman, it caused a lot of concern in the media. They decided to go on Oprah to tell their story. Society today has it in their heads that it is only ok to be pregnant if you look like a woman. We have a certain stereotype in our heads of what a pregnant person should look like and when someone doesn’t fit that stereotype we are used to seeing, we began to question them and what they are doing like in Beatie’s case. I would like to include a quote Beatie said, “I feel it’s not a male or female desire to have a child. It’s a human need. I’m a person and I have the right to have a biological child.” Too bad society doesn’t feel the same way as Beatie.

All That Drag at the Drag Queen Capital of the World, is the title of this media artifact I have found. It is an introduction to a cabaret performance by the hostess and other drag waitresses at a restaurant which also includes participation from the audience calling it “audience gone wild” They also describe the show as Pee Wee’s Playhouse for Adults. Pee Wee’s Playhouse is a child show which the host of the show has been described as a gay man because of the way he sounds and acts. (very feminine) These shows tend to use drag as a sort of comedic show to hide the real truth about cross-dressing. Using jokes as a way to make drag queens look “ok” and that it is only acceptable for drag queens to be seen for a show but perhaps not in public. Our culture has linked drag queens as a joke or mockery for some time, yet the culture of the persons who are involved in drag seem to be ok with that. I am not sure if it is the same for all cross dressing people. One line they have in the description of the show is, “and never forget, the more you drink, the prettier they look” this sentence just seems like they are making fun of these people and associating that to be able to tolerate the looks of a drag queen in our society you must be drunk.

Banjo-Tooie Jolly Rogers Lagoon video game for Nintendo 64.

This is a YouTube clip of a video game involving gay characters by using subliminal messages throughout the game. The video starts out with the male character named, “jolly” which in s society of masculinity, jolly for a name is not masculine at all. The character Jolly walks into a bar and reads the daily specials which one of them is “Seamans Brew” in reference to seamen I assume here. The bartender video game character asks some odd derogatory questions as well like, “remember, it’s grab a sailor night in here every Wednesday” sailor referring to males and the character is also male so refereeing to a gay comment. It is obvious that the game is making reference to gay jokes by subliminally incorporating them into the video game. If a child would pick up on this is hard to say but the fact that it is incorporated into the game is a reassurance that they will for sure see it.