Findcate

Televised gay kisses may have come a long way since Beth Jordache on Brookside but mainstream programming still lacks fair representation (for the supposed 10% of us) with only the occasional out and proud offering, mainly The L Word and Queer as Folk.

In the US there are now a few gay oriented TV channels like here! and Logo while Prowler TV in the UK seems to provide nothing more than men in pants. Luckily, the geography spanning power of the internet means their spoils are available on our virtual shores.

‘Loving life, hating girls, they’re the happiest gay couple in all the world!’ concludes the theme song for Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World. This stop–motion cartoon is a bizarre cross between Bob the Builder visuals and Team America: World Police crassness that aired a first series on Logo in 2007 and is now available online and on DVD.

The show, which was created by Q Allan Brocka, the writer of gay rom-com Eating Out, and which features the voices of our own mischievous king of camp, Alan Cumming, and seasoned gay actor Wilson Cruz, manages to cram in almost every gay stereotype and play them for laughs. In spite of this, it’s hard not to chuckle at the outright silliness of the Playmobil–like characters’ misadventures.

At the opposite end of the production values spectrum lies the low budget, enthusiasm and sticky-tape Aussie charms of Buck House. Touting itself as the world’s first gay and lesbian sitcom it features a cast of amateur actors whose characters are presided over by a pair of talking paintings depicting two deceased elderly lesbians, while they comically struggle with coming out, making babies and all the usual gay conundrums. A prime example of the democratic principle of the internet and DIY programming, episodes are only available online.

Low production costs mean that smaller audiences can be catered to, like the LGB&T ones. But what guides the artistic content when all that is known about the intended audience is whom they wish to sleep with.

Successful mainstream shows like Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy have prevailed by camping it up to meet traditional expectations about what makes gay men fun to watch, which leads to accusations of internalised homophobia. However, news of China’s first gay talk show Tongxing Xinglian, with an interactive online forum, points to the positive uses for a global online community.

Tags: alan cumming, amateur actors, artistic co, artistic content, beth jordache, bob the builder, cate, conundrums, democratic principle, elderly lesbians, gay actor, gay kisses, gay stereotype, happiest gay couple, l word, loving life, low budget, sticky tape, team america world police, virtual shores, wilson cruz

Related posts

• Transcript of President Putin’s Annual Big Press Conference
• The Upton factor
• The Upton factor
• Everett’s headmistress queen of the bad girls
• Cuba: Transitions without End
• Cate Blanchett’s green theatre
• Anger At Henson’s School Patrols
• Zola turns down chance to join Grant’s regime
• Zeus worship site millennium older than thought
• Yum! Brands reports 30 Percent profit jump in China last year

AS CATE BLANCHETT appeared for the second time on British cinema
screens as Queen Elizabeth I in last year’s Elizabeth: The
Golden Age, another queen was waiting in the wings.
The British actor Rupert Everett appears in full royal regalia
as the virgin queen in his latest film, St Trinian’s, a
modern-day interpretation of Ronald Searle’s 1950s drawings of
naughty schoolgirls.
Everett plays the role made famous by Alistair Sim, who appeared
in the 1950s films of the same name, playing both shady art dealer
Carnaby Fritton and his sister, Camilla Fritton, the school’s
unorthodox headmistress.
It is as Miss Fritton that Everett appears as Queen Elizabeth,
descending the staircase to greet co-star Colin Firth, playing the
strait-laced education minister Geoffrey Thwaites with the line:
“Don’t you think I make a remarkable queen?”
“We knew Elizabeth would come out at the same time, so it
was our little joke,” says Everett, who chronicled his adventures
as an openly gay actor in London and Hollywood in his 2007
best-selling memoir Red Carpets And Other Banana Skins. “It
was very difficult to keep a straight face.”
The film made an estimated $US3.7 million ($4 million) in
Britain in its first weekend, although it was panned by critics in
the United States.
This week the comedy opens in Australia and Everett, who was
co-executive producer, is hoping it will appeal to teen girls -
thanks to its schoolgirl stereotypes such as “emos” and “nerds” and
cast members such as the model Lily Cole and a former star of
The OC, Mischa Barton - as well as their parents, who should
enjoy its British humour and adult references.
Everett provides the lion’s share of the adult humour, from Miss
Fritton’s flirtatious pursuit of Firth’s character to scenes
showing her smoking a joint.
“It is balancing act about how far you can go %26#133; I have
these cackling queen friends I wanted to make laugh, while the
other producers and directors had kids they wanted to make laugh,”
he says.
Everett, who turns 49 in May, relished the dual roles of the
Frittons, with Camilla dressed in stiff tweed and accompanied by
her dog, Mr Darcy.
“It is actually a very difficult acting role. Everyone goes on
about how difficult it is to be Daniel Day Lewis in There Will
Be Blood but it is pretty bloody difficult being Miss Fritton
as well. The most difficult thing was getting the shape of the
body, the lovely droopy bottom.”
The film was a chance for Everett to work with his friends and
directors Barnaby Thompson and Oliver Parker, who directed him in
An Ideal Husband and who, with Everett and Firth, will start
work on a sequel in August.
“In one sense it was a friend thing. One of the nice things
about getting older in the business is to be able to get together
with friends. It took us four years to get the script right.”
The film also pays homage to Everett’s friendship with
Firth.
“We have very good on-screen chemistry. You can’t buy that and
it doesn’t matter how good an actor you are,” Everett says of his
co-star. “He was very involved and very kindly took part in it in a
way %26#133; We needed to be able to make fun of him slightly. In the
film he is so serious but he is not like that at all. He is really
a funny person.”
St Trinian’s opens tomorrow. See Sandra Hall’s review in
Spectrum in the weekend Herald.

Tags: 1950s, cate, cate blanchett, gay actor, hollywood, pets, red carpet, screen chemistry

Related posts

• Wash and brush up
• Indiana Jones survives most perilous quest at Cannes
• Who does Bob think he is?
• Tinseltown in tears over cancelled Globes
• Stars parade into AFI awards
• Sopranos sweeps TV drama prizes
• Sopranos sweeps TV drama prizes
• Sopranos sweeps TV drama prizes
• Soggy reception awaits Oscars stars
• Roll red carpet like it’s going out of fashion