Bravo's new show, pros and cons

by mymicz Monday, Jul. 28, 2003 at 12:19 PM

Hail the Prada-Worshipping Queer or God Bless The Gay?

Hail the Prada-Worshipping Queer

By Terry Sawyer, PopMatters

July 24, 2003

I suppose that minstrelsy is the sincerest form of insult. If television can be reliably held to reflect the evolution of a minority's status in culture, then gay people appear to be at the "What's Happenin'?" stage.



Cashing in on the success of shows like "Changing Rooms" and other reality shows, Bravo has created "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy," in which tyrannical gay fashionistas remodel some poor straight man in their coke-mirrored image. Echoing the vacuous brain decay of Jack from "Will & Grace," Bravo seeks to show gay men as materialistic vamps, style clowns with cock-centered worldviews who see conversation as an opportunity for Three's Company-level double entendres. When these men open their mouths, distant stars collapse. Whereas Jack can be relished as at least part parody, his real-life Bravo counterparts murder any possible redeeming irony.

Original: Bravo's new show, pros and cons