Screenwriting : Let's get into it: the limits of palatable queerness in network tv. by Romel Simmons

i’ve been thinking about will & grace and how it was both revolutionary and limited at the same time. it cracked open the door for queer characters on tv, but only the kind of queer that felt “safe” to straight audiences. funny, stylish, nonthreatening, adjacent to the real mess.

and jack..

the flamer (flamboyant character). jack was iconic don’t get me wrong, but he was also written as the “gay you didn’t wanna be.” the easy target. the punchline. the one whose queerness was loud enough to be funny but never allowed to be taken seriously. and i say that as someone who grew up being that kind of gay: the one people felt comfortable picking at, imitating, mocking. it hits me in a real way now, because i know how much that stereotype shaped the way people treated guys like me.

and now i’m writing serve, which is the opposite of safe. it’s unapologetically queer, black, southern, chaotic, and not trying to soften itself for anybody. sometimes i catch myself wondering if it’s “too much,” but then i remember: the reason will & grace couldn’t shift society as fast as it shifted tv is because it wasn’t allowed to be this honest. maybe the point now is to stop asking for permission. it’s interesting to look back now and realize how much representation can shift the vibe without shifting the system. will & grace changed tv long before it changed people. and honestly, that gap says a lot about the era it came out of. funny how tv can be bold while society stays cautious.

curious what you guys think? or if anyone else felt that disconnect watching it back then or revisiting it now?