Post by lolaruns on Apr 11, 2008 0:51:08 GMT -5
www.afterelton.com/bgwe/4-11-8?page=0%2C2
AE put up a poll where they ask their members how they fell about them covering overseas media too. I have to admit, my feelings about this are mixed.
On one hand, I love that they are doing it. If it weren't for them mentioning AWZ in an article on Nuke a few months ago I would never have found it.
I also think that seeing how other countries do it can be interesting information. How they deal with public criticism, whether they have trouble getting ratings and the like. After all it's not like Germany didn't have moral outrage. They just had it with Lindenstrasse or with Tom and Ulli in 2000.
On the other hand I can see why one might see the potential as limited. If the explanation is "Well, Germany shows this kind of thing because their society is more secular" then it's questionable whether and how any lessons learned from German shows will ever have any application in the US because it's not like you can just snap your fingers and make US society more secular.
(plus, I always wonder whether Germany isn't a particular case even within Europe because of its Nazi past, which might mean that even if even if there are certain attitudes within people, it's much harder for them to organize in a major organised way because say anything too radical and people will call you on having Nazi sentiments; And I also got the impression that the various civil rights watch groups that exist go back to the 70s where they were 50% covering the movements in the US and 50% dealing with the Aufarbeitung)
That said, I thought it was incredibly interesting to see how the US rates in comparison to other countries. For example, I had no idea about this no shirtless guys rule in Britain and I'm getting the impression that the French shows don't necessarily show that much of physical affection between the characters either even if they are casual about having gay characters. Which brings up interesting questions about how backward the US really is and what the various intermediary steps are.
Of course there's the factor that the guys are plain hot and cute when they are kissing. So even if there isn't as much interest in following their storylines, maybe they can still end up as the "Kiss de lundi" on the French sites. If you can have a hot guy in underwear of the week feature, why not a international mainstream media kiss of the week?
In the end it's up to their readers to decide. I sometimes get the impression that some of those are getting annoyed with how much importance is placed on Nuke/soap storylines (maybe with the argument that there are more important things out there?). I do understand AE too though. On one hand US soaps are mainstream media and these shows are watched by audience segments that maybe wouldn't necessarily tune into Brothers&Sisters. And it works sort of as a smoking gun kind of thing. We suspect that there is institutionalized anti-gay sentiment and the way Nuke is treated proves it even to non-gay people. And it is an interesting case about organizations potentially giving in to pressure groups when they shouldn't. So I do think their heart is in the right place (because it is an important message to say that bigger organizations like CBS need to not give in to religious pressures and instead do what is fair and right) even though I can see how many people are getting bored and frustrated with Nuke since that seems to be a feeling shared by quite a lot of people over here.
____
Personally, I think they should pay gaytime to do some sort of gays in international media cloumn, but that's just me because I love his snark
AE put up a poll where they ask their members how they fell about them covering overseas media too. I have to admit, my feelings about this are mixed.
On one hand, I love that they are doing it. If it weren't for them mentioning AWZ in an article on Nuke a few months ago I would never have found it.
I also think that seeing how other countries do it can be interesting information. How they deal with public criticism, whether they have trouble getting ratings and the like. After all it's not like Germany didn't have moral outrage. They just had it with Lindenstrasse or with Tom and Ulli in 2000.
On the other hand I can see why one might see the potential as limited. If the explanation is "Well, Germany shows this kind of thing because their society is more secular" then it's questionable whether and how any lessons learned from German shows will ever have any application in the US because it's not like you can just snap your fingers and make US society more secular.
(plus, I always wonder whether Germany isn't a particular case even within Europe because of its Nazi past, which might mean that even if even if there are certain attitudes within people, it's much harder for them to organize in a major organised way because say anything too radical and people will call you on having Nazi sentiments; And I also got the impression that the various civil rights watch groups that exist go back to the 70s where they were 50% covering the movements in the US and 50% dealing with the Aufarbeitung)
That said, I thought it was incredibly interesting to see how the US rates in comparison to other countries. For example, I had no idea about this no shirtless guys rule in Britain and I'm getting the impression that the French shows don't necessarily show that much of physical affection between the characters either even if they are casual about having gay characters. Which brings up interesting questions about how backward the US really is and what the various intermediary steps are.
Of course there's the factor that the guys are plain hot and cute when they are kissing. So even if there isn't as much interest in following their storylines, maybe they can still end up as the "Kiss de lundi" on the French sites. If you can have a hot guy in underwear of the week feature, why not a international mainstream media kiss of the week?
In the end it's up to their readers to decide. I sometimes get the impression that some of those are getting annoyed with how much importance is placed on Nuke/soap storylines (maybe with the argument that there are more important things out there?). I do understand AE too though. On one hand US soaps are mainstream media and these shows are watched by audience segments that maybe wouldn't necessarily tune into Brothers&Sisters. And it works sort of as a smoking gun kind of thing. We suspect that there is institutionalized anti-gay sentiment and the way Nuke is treated proves it even to non-gay people. And it is an interesting case about organizations potentially giving in to pressure groups when they shouldn't. So I do think their heart is in the right place (because it is an important message to say that bigger organizations like CBS need to not give in to religious pressures and instead do what is fair and right) even though I can see how many people are getting bored and frustrated with Nuke since that seems to be a feeling shared by quite a lot of people over here.
____
Personally, I think they should pay gaytime to do some sort of gays in international media cloumn, but that's just me because I love his snark
