Friday, December 02, 2011

Know Your LGBT History - Shameless

One of the problems with having to deal with negative gay images on television and in the movies is that it taints efforts to push three-dimensional images.

No one is completely good nor evil, and the images we see should reflect that. However when a group is faced with having to see nothing but negative images, it makes them hypersensitive to the point that they rail against any image deemed negative while totally forgetting that a good two-shoes image of the gay community is as debilitating as a negative image.

With that in mind, I bring you Shameless, a Showtime television drama which is based on a British drama of the same name.

It tells the story of a dysfunctional family led by an alcoholic father. All of the characters are interesting, to say the least.

However for the purpose of this blog, I want to focus on one of the children, Ian.

Ian (Cameron Monaghan) is a 15-year-old gay young man working at a grocery store. He is having an affair with his employer, the Muslim owner. He is also messing around with the local thug, Mickey.

He is a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier. Ian is a very complex character.  One could say that he is the anti-Glee character. No doubt, he would give both folks on the left and the right in this so-called culture war extreme palpitations.

I personally like the characterization. He is merely a young man dealing with life has thrown his way, whether it be a dsysfunctional family life, or a gay orientation.

The following clips shows several scenes in Ian's life, particularly his relationship with Mickey. The thing I really like about this relationship is how it's not sugarcoated. Pay special attention to 2:30 to 4:10. Some folks may find it a bit intense:



Past Know Your LGBT Posts:


Know Your LGBT History - Car Wash

Know Your LGBT History - The 37th anniversary of 'Flowers of Evil'

Know Your LGBT History - The Best Way To Walk

Know Your LGBT History - The Jackal

Know Your LGBT History - A Cage Without A Key

Know Your LGBT History - In & Out

Know Your LGBT History - 'The Fabulous Gays' of Steambath

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Know Your LGBT History - Gay characters from children's television show and movies

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Know Your LGBT History - The Hotel New Hampshire

Know Your LGBT History - The Crying Game

Know Your LGBT History - Set It Off

Know Your LGBT History - The Wedding Banquet

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 Know Your LGBT History - Torch Song Trilogy

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The Jeffersons and the transgender community  


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2 comments:

  1. I'm a complete fan of the British series, which is going on season 8 now. It's brilliant.
    Its evolved, obviously, its maybe become too formulaic, nd it may have jumped the shark even. But I keep watching. And oddly enough I keep watching because of the character of Micky. And its rather obvious why the series creators have given Micky such a wonderful evolution and story arc. He is wonderful to watch. And talk about a challenging role. Don't get me wrong Ian is wonderful in his own way as well. But the character of Micky is hard to look away from. Hes someone you love to watch from afar but would never want to know up close. Not to mention the actor that plays Micky in the British version is breathlessly talented.
    Thanks for posting this about Shameless. I've been nervous about watching the Americanized version. But it looks like they've kept the edge to it. Its not pretty yet its completely captivating.

    BTW, love your blog. Its in my top 5 daily must visits.

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