Take five gay men, one hopelessly fashion-inept straight man, the hottest stores and salons in the New York metropolitan area, and you get one of the hottest new shows on television, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.
Queer Eye follows the weekly transformations of one straight man by the “Fab Five” from slob to fashion-forward. The Fab Five are five gay men who are each professionals in one area of life: Kyan Douglas, grooming; Ted Allen, food and wine; Jai Rodriguez, culture; Thom Filicia, design; and the blonde bombshell Carson Kressley, fashion.
The Bravo cable TV show is a big hit at Fairfield, praised both on its general content and on how it approaches sexuality.
“From the first time I saw it, I knew it was going to be a hit,” said Chris Indiveri, ’06, a member of Fairfield’s Gay/Straight Alliance. “I absolutely love the idea of actually having a show on TV that features not one, but five gay men.”
Part of the appeal of the show is watching the transformation of the straight man, all in a matter of three short days, which even the average Fairfield student can enjoy.
“It’s funny because it portrays the straight guys as completely helpless,” said Pat McHugh, ’06. “They are playing on homosexual stereotypes, but yet they are helping the straight guys improve themselves.”
At the surface Queer Eye may seem as an expansion on the redecorating ideas of TLC’s Trading Spaces while hopping on the bandwagon of NBC’s Will ‘ Grace.
It is in fact much more. The Fab Five not only make over the straight man’s home, but they get him a new and fashionable wardrobe, clean him up at a salon, and culture him on the art of food preparation and wine selection to prepare him for an important event.
The exploitation of homosexuality is an issue that has arisen with the success of the show. The question as to how much the men are being true to their personalities and when are they playing up their behavior for the cameras has yet to be answered.
“The visibility this show offers to homosexuals in America is invaluable,” said Ian Bonner, ’04. “I think it is unfortunate that the examples of gays given to the public are so stereotypical.”
Bravo, the station which shows Queer Eye, is seeking “to show gay men as materialistic vamps, style clowns” according to Terry Sawyer, PopMatters Music and TV critic.
The actual men on the show do not view their roles as overly stereotypical. In an interview with Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jai Rodriguez stated that “we’re all different. There’s a little bit of every kind of gay guy represented on the show.”
Even if the Fab Five are playing up gay stereotypes, this does not take away from the effect they are having on the viewing public.
“I think that is a huge step for homosexuals because now we are on national TV. Years ago this idea wouldn’t even cross the minds of anyone,” said Indiveri. “This just shows that we as a community have come a long way.”
Not only is this show helping homosexuals to become even more visible to the public, but it is helping to dispel common myths about homosexuals, including the myth “that gay men are predators that seek to seduce, or even worse, recruit straight men,” said Bonner.
Not everyone views Queer Eye as a show with a focus on homosexuality versus heterosexuality. According to Fairfield politics professor Jocelyn Boryczka, the show can be viewed as being “buysexual.” This idea, taken from an article by Simon Dumenco of NYmetro.com, describes how the show is bonding straight and gay consumers through the products used by the Fab Five.
Whether it’s Ted buying groceries at Iavarone Bros. on Long Island or Carson dragging one of the straight men into Marc Jacobs for a new wardrobe, both straight and gay people are drawn in by the appeal of the products. Dumenco says that the show also appeals to the newly coined group of “metrosexuals” who he describes as “narcissistic straight men who aren’t afraid to get pedicures and shop at Barney’s.”
With all the success of the Fab Five, including appearances on The Tonight Show and the MTV Music Video Awards, not everyone has accepted Queer Eye favorably. When NBC (the parent company to Bravo) decided to air a half-hour episode of the show on July 24 at 9:30 p.m., two NBC affiliates decided not to run the show at this time slot.
On Aug.7 a statement was released by The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation asking people to call the NBC affiliates and urge them to run Queer Eye the next time it is scheduled to be on prime time television. The statement boldly urges people to “Take Action Now.”
Queer Eye hasn’t escaped without its own bout with internal controversy. According to a story by Michael Starr of the New York Post, Blair Boone, one of the original Fab Five, was dumped as the show’s culture guy after only two episodes. Boone is now suing Queer Eye LLC for $105,000 in damages, which he alleges he should have received by being paid $3,000 per episode for the full year of 35 episodes.
Queer Eye LLC had no comment, and Bravo’s official Queer Eye website only states that Jai Rodriguez has taken over full responsibilities of the culture component.
Despite some bad reviews and court drama, Queer Eye continues to be wildly popular after only 11 shows. To those who may not approve of the show’s content in one way or another, Queer Eye’s Jai Rodriguez has some advice, “you know, it’s up to you whether to decide to turn on that television set and tune in at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night to watch the show,” he told McFarland. “We all try to have a good time.”
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