Gangsterlicous pt. 2

For my blog, I want to look at spaces in which homosexuality has been branded to the coming-of-age black youth. By the term "branded", I am referring to what bodies is homosexuality displayed through as appropriate or non-appropriate. How are images of the black gay youth or those that appeal to the youth crafted? Studies of homophobia occurring within the black community are primarily focused on displaying it in terms of the general adult population. Although mainstream media has opened doors for white tweens and teens who are struggling with their sexuality, little is discussed on the limited space for our young black men and women.  I want to look at the ways in which homosexuality among young adults prompts dialogue on intersections between gender and class. With this I will be using a variety of facets, print media and the ways in which TV shows with a predominately white or black youth audience , display young gay characters.
 I was watching the show the notoriously popular cartoon show, the boondocks the other day. It is a comic strip that follows the lives of two young African-American brothers Riley and Huey, who must relocate from their home in the inner-city of Chicago , to live with their grandfather in suburbia. The show has started up a storm of controversy from its premiere due to it's inclusion of explicit and derogatory language. I was never quite the biggest fan of this show , although many of my peers and both my brothers, one 19 and the other 13, have both urged continuously to watch this show. My brother has told me " it's black version of South Park or Family Guy" to most teenage viewers. However my brother is wrong in several ways for comparing these two gravely opposite channels together. Because of the two audiences here, family guy viewers who are mostly white , and the Boondocks viewers as mostly black, these course material of these two channels have different appeals. Most of the references and themes discussed in the Boondocks are culturally and racially specific to blacks. Despite the vulgar language being used in the show, tweens and teens make up the majority of the audience.
Riley is an eight-year old boy who gets most of his socio-political information from BET networks and the world of rap. He is consumed in a world were hetero-sexuality is considered to be the norm. Not only is hetero-sexuality seen as normality, but gayness is automatically synonymous with deviance in queer males. The two words that are most used in Riley's vocabulary are gay and nigger, and despite the fact he is only 8, no one around him seems to challenge his use of the slurs. Any kind of physical attention he receives from any male are deemed to be gay, and when shedding some affection of his own he says "no homo". Sadly these aren't words my ears have not heard before. I watched the episode called  The story of Gangstalicious 2 . The goal of the episode was to provide some sort of commentary on homophobia within the hip-hop community amongst rappers. It in fact counteracted it's intent and did frankly everything to belittle every gay individual watching it. Riley starts to purchase Gangastalicious gear which prompts his Uncle Ruckus and Grandfather to question his sexual orientation.  Uncle Ruckus says to Riley , "Wake up and smell the gay coffee.  All the evidence you could possibly need is right in front of your face.  It will only be a matter of time before that boys is a grown man, bent over a table with his pants around his ankles, being entered repeatedly by another man. Choo choo first train to faggotsville leaving in five minutes, through the chocolate tunnel hole." Robert, Riley's grandpa, contemplates moving him out to the garage, as if homosexuality is a form of leperesy. Now what would this affect be on the young child watching the show who is questioning his/her sexuality? Of course the show tries to cover the blatant homophobia with some humor as Robert claim's that he is not homophobic but that they give him the "heebeejeebees" .The explicit language is being disguised in a coat of humor. Was this a way of easing his blatant disgust with gays to its viewers? Another scene in the show that stood out to me was the conversation between closeted rapper gangsterlicous and Riley. Their discussion on the phone shows the nativiety and denial of the existance of homosexuality in hop hop. Gangsterlicious uses Riley as his confidante, showing that cultural taboos should be transmitted down and respected even at the tender age of adolescence. Even after being confronted on licous' sexuality , Riley refutes the rumor , knowing that even the association with a gay person could be deadly. The creator of the show, Aaron McGruder wasnt qualified from the beginning to be giving social commentary on the homophobia within rap, when all of his other epidsodes seemingly perpetuate the same thing he has tried to critique.  
The show 's homophobic antics go unoticed because it does seemingly well to perpetuate the stereotype that homophobia is something inherent to blackness as seen with the derogatory comments of three different generations of black males. The Grandfather Robert, Uncle Ruckus, and the eight year old Riley. Age does not give Riley a form of agency to think freely and think for himself without the fear if being marginilized by his own family. The granfather's homophobia could have been attributed to his own generation, but the show let's viewers feed into the idea that his devotion to his race trumps his age. Had McGruder wanted to implement social commentary, I found it strange that the character of 10 year-old Huey, who typically provides the voice of reason and social guidance amongst the characters, has a visible disconnect with homosexuality itself by calling it "a lifestyle choice". Despite his comprehension in every other social realm the show covers, being gay is not one of them. If we could have commented on the repetative slurs being used by Riley in the show, like "no homo" then it would have produced some method of social commentary. The episode ultimately shows that despite the little knowledge both Riley and Huey contain on homosexuality , it is culturally okay for young black men to adopt the common perception. Riley represents the loss of innocense for his generation of youth, because his idea of human intergrity is dishevled by homophobia. 
It was clear that homophobia has to be displayed in order to show it's existance, but the lack of commentary led for their to just be a promotion of the issue. Had Peter Griffin from Family Guy or Eric from South park repeated the same dialouge in this episode, there would have clearly been more outrage. 

Raven Symone's Subtle Tweet

For the purpose of this blog I want to focus on the condemnation of homosexuality within the black community.I do not intend in deliberately forcing my blog in one direction or another , but rather hope it will naturally take upon a path itself. 
 I along many others my age grew up watching the Disney Channel hit show, "That's So Raven". Being one of the only shows that had a black character, let alone FEMALE, be the lead role was something that I naturally gravitated towards. I became a Raven Symone fanatic-- possessing everything from her TV shows to her movies and albums (as you know disney would ultimately try and make you an entertainer in every field). Raven was essentially a part of my childhood. Slowly after the season finale of her show, she began to disintegrate from the spotlight. The only news ever heard about her was her drastic weight loss. Only till several days ago, did I find that Raven had recently come out via twitter. Initially without checking upon twitter itself, I thought the notion of former Disney star being gay was a fabricated story. It was not that I opposed her decision, but I had a hard time separating "Raven Baxter" , within the TV show, who's episodes were primarily based on her winning the affection of some man, often going to extreme depths to do so, without realizing that she did possess a true character off screen. I was too pressed on believing that I had evidence from a " false reality"(her TV show) to assume her heterosexuality, unless I was told otherwise. Then I began to wonder why I hadn't heard about her coming out sooner. It would have been assumed that a child-star , as revered & clean of screw ups most child stars succumb too---would have gotten a more publicized story. However her tweet itself reads, "I can finally get married!Yay government! So proud of you." Although the nature in which she confessed her orientation was subtle and a method in which she possessed full control, I was curious to see if the silent reaction was due to respectability of her choice or in attempt to avoid publicly confronting shame of a non-heterosexual celebrity from the black community. I for one, undoubtedly respected her decision to be so honest despite the fact that she as a celebrity , and the fact she walks on the thin line of pleasing public consent. Her life has been crafted in a way so that spectators( the rest of the world) feel entitled to have access to her personal matters.  It is good seeing that there is color represented in the majorly white presentation of LGBT Hollywood. So is the issue that she may not be as relevant to black entertainment right now? Is the quietness around her choice about communal status and hoping that she would have kept her mouth shut? Or is it that her fans that have been with her for over two decades are exceedingly distraught at the news? Could it have received more press coverage if she was a white male/woman. We would all like to believe that the silence around her statement was in respect to her , but ultimately at the end of the day, homophobia still remains clearly present within the black community.  
 Being a black female entertainer is already enough of a challenge to find roles in of itself, compared with the white counterparts that are in their same field. Adding another form of adversity such as homosexuality would only add to a list of problems, many see. Although Raven's open testament could be described as fearless, it draws many parallels to other actresses who have "come out" after already attributing a solid fan base and prestige in Hollywood. It took Jodie Foster just until this year to come out at an acceptance speech , 20 years after beginning her relationship with her partner in '93. Similarly, Raven who is now 27 years old after beginning her career at age 4 , has the autonomy to do so, without necessarily risking her career. So although her act may seem as courageous , it may not necessarily be applicable to every black lesbian actress. I am still curious as to why Raven Symone hasn't explicitly confirmed or refuted her sexual preference, which ultimately leads towards speculation. Why was the twitter the medium she felt that she could express herself best? Maybe because then she could say it without having immediate backlash that would have been attributed by doing an interview or press conference instead. There is room for much ambiguity due to her actions. However, as long as racial issues still continue to be at the forefront of the black community, sexual identity will always take the backseat .