(no subject)

[kingandy]

Sluggy Freelance is doing "Straight Eye for the Queer Guy".

I think I'm amused.

Comments

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

I am amused. It's a funny reversal of "Queer Eye", it makes stubble jokes, there's a guy called "Sparkles" in it. I feel no guilt. This might make me a bad person, but I coubt it.

[kingandy]

That's my general leaning - it's making fun of Queer Eye and gay stereotypes, rather than directly playing into those stereotypes and mocking "gay culture" or whatever. It feels like a very fine line, however...

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

Bored, bored, bored - and thus:

If I were an EngLit student, I might draw attention to the fact that the primary "gay" character doesn't want his parents to know, and contrast this with the apparently "out and proud" attitude of the "Queer Eye" program. I wouldn't be surprised to discover in this enlightened day-and-age that there are still folk around who worry about their parents finding out that they're probably not going to get a daughter-in-law any time soon.

Likewise, Sparkles is (breifly) presented as being completely unaware of the fact that he's a shocking stereotype who's unaware that shavingone's neck is the same as wearing a sign around it reading "I am differently straight" or some such. And the "stereotypicalness" of their apartment (to me) seems to be that it's nice, tidy and has a big television in it, as opposed to being covered in sweaty socks, empty fast-food containers and porn mags. Maybe the strip is saying more about popular stereotypes of "young batchelor" - that they live in filth and horror without their Mothers to tidy up after them?

I suspect that if this strip were made into a television show there would be Outrage (you see what I did there?) For me, this does indeed look like someone taking the piss out of the program and it's apparently right-on approach to stereotyping. So it's okay to laugh.

What a sad world it is where this sort of deconstruction needs to take place before you can be sure it's okay to be amused by something?

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

More evidence of positive use of stereotypes in a humorous way: "Men are Nuts" God I have so much to do and no motivation to do any of it. Thank-you Andy for providing me with a comic to read instead. Albeit in reverse order.

[kingandy]

To clarify - I was pretty sure that was Abrams' intent. However, as with all parody, he's going to have to be careful to make it clear that it is parody...

there are still folk around who worry about their parents finding out

I haven't told my mum nothing. I'm pretty sure she'd be fine, it's just that I don't consider it a subject for the kitchen table. After all, I doubt you've ever rung your mum up to tell her how much you like vagina.

[kingandy]

It's been going for seven years now, it will probably distract you for some time...

[samharber.livejournal.com]

After all, I doubt you've ever rung your mum up to tell her how much you like vagina.
This is Andy Raff we're talking about... Anything is possible.

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

Funny story, actually. It was a long time ago, and it was a previous girlfriend (an evil one). I was due to visit home with her for the first time - and it was the first time I'd ever brought a girl home. There had been some tip-toing around the subject. So I got drunk, phoned my Mum and spent twenty-minutes basically saying "Look. We're fucking. You know we're fucking, I know we're fucking. You might as well face it and stick us in the same bedroom, where we will probably fuck, and get it over with. There's no point with all these stupid sleeping arrangements, because regardless of what you do we're going to fuck."

The visit was a bit tense. The walls were made of paper.

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

By "worry about their parents finding out" I meant to make some sort of mild attack against the "If you're gay, make a big noise about it so we can look at you" attitude of certain media-types since "Will and Grace" made it big.

[ed-fortune.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I've always felt that what I do with my cock is none of my parents business.

Sluggy likes to go close to the knuckle, and frankly anything like 'Queer Eye' that, conciously or not, tries to avoid being parodied by being 'knowing and self-mocking' needs to be laughed at as much as possible.

I have a rant about Graham 'fecking' Norton somewhere here, but I've warmed to him since hearing his desert island discs.

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

mmm. Yes.

I've been following Sluggy for ages and this is the first time it's made me raise an eyebrow but I'm tending toward "funny" so far.

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

as opposed to being covered in sweaty socks, empty fast-food containers and porn mags.

*Looks round nervously*

I am obviously badly out of step with popular gay culture.

[kingandy]

Yeah ... I have the big screen TV but that's about it.