The New Gay » World War G

World War G

21 October 2008, 1:00 pm 18 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZuK_wYrqp8&hl=en&fs=1]

This post was submitted by TNG reader “Christopher.”

A friend sent me this YouTube video the other night as I was writing a paper, and because generally YouTube videos are more entertaining than writing essays (yes, even on the eleventh hour before they are due) I of course clicked and watched.

At first I was startled at the lack of sensitivity to us gays, and the display of the all too prevalent adolescent homophobia, i.e. a straight guy hitting a queer in the head with a shovel. I was appalled. This video was symptomatic of a culture of intolerance and heteronormative gender expectations and blah blah blah. “This would never be made about black people! Or Jewish people!” But then it occurred to me that I may have missed the satire of it. Being a gay man hailing originally from the midwest, where being open is still an issue in many areas, I feel like I might be over-sensitive to what could possibly be a good-natured lampoon. The other, more cautious part of me wonders, in a world where, despite our visibility and accomplishments, we still don’t have equal rights as a community, can we be over-sensitive? Perhaps I’m being too fair to those who are unfair to us. What exactly were these filmmakers thinking?

The video comes from the collaborative sketch comedy duo Aaron Fronk and Vinny DeGaetano at FNDfilms.com. These were my (correct or incorrect) snap judgments of these guys:

1. Immature and genuinely homophobic hetero dudes
2. Enlightened friends or allies making a good-natured jab
3. Intelligent gents willing to make a statement

The core of The New Gay ideology seems to me to be about a kind of alternative post-gay cultural sensibility. Rock on. Knowing that there are groups like us out there now, how are we supposed to take this kind of cultural nugget?

The thing to me seems to be the intention of the film-makers. If this were two straight guys making fun of gays using trite and easy stereotypes, I would be offended, and also bored. Shame on you, you ought to know better, 21st Century straighties. We’ve all seen this kind of attitude before. But what if this video is intended to make a comment about mainstream gay culture, to critique?

The metaphor is in this case direct. The zombie (stereotypical queer) takes over, while the orientationally unidentified human looks on in horror. Depths of personality evaporate as The Gay Lifestyle sucks away your humanity. The original criticism the zombie has provided to modern culture, now applied to the current state of materialistic, shallow and sex-crazed gay culture. And, to be fair, to two main characters never make a statement about their own sexuality. Could these (possibly straight) guys be trying to help us get over ourselves?

My questions still remain. With the world the shape it is in today, can this video be anything but offensive? Can this video be anything but funny or witty? Does the intention or identity of the film maker matter? Can the video still offer a critique, even if it was indeed made by some slightly homophobic straight guys? The state of gay culture informs how we take these things; perhaps only once we move past the stereotypes can we make fun of them. Or perhaps we move past by stereotypes by making fun.

I guess I am confused because I still don’t know for sure: where are we and how far have we really come?

What do you think?

18 Comments »

BlueSeqPerl said:

I would say it was option 2. Allies making good-natured jab. Generation Y straight guys usually don’t care about us homos unless they crazy social conservatives. We live in a world where shows like Family Guy, South Park, and Drawn Together make fun of everyone. I guess to find out their true cause is to see if they made any other videos on other subjects in same light or not. If you cannot, I personally would say that the video was just being silly.

21 October 2008 at 2:30 pm

Anonymous said:

I thought it was just dumb and humorless. I mean, for that much effort you would think they could be a little more creative than dredging up the same setreotypical jokes everyones heard on the simpsons or family guy or even snl. My position, whether it’s intentionally mean spirited or not, is to not give it the power to effect you anymore than it would effect a straight person watching something like that.

21 October 2008 at 3:21 pm

Hans N. said:

Correct or not, I didn’t see it as referring to all gay men, just the ones who blindly follow every mainstream gay trend.

21 October 2008 at 3:30 pm

Andrew Pendleton said:

This doesn’t look like it’ll be a good movie, but that said, I don’t think any harm is meant by it. I think a lot of our generation’s humor is a deliberate reaction to the obsession with political correctness that characterized the ’90s, and lots of comedians try and push the boundaries of taste to that end. Consider Dave Chappelle and Sarah Silverman, or movies like Harold and Kumar. Despite your protestations to the contrary, I could definitely see a race version of this appearing on Chappelle, with white people being turned into black people or vice versa.

21 October 2008 at 4:21 pm

adam isn't here said: