VIDEO: Fascinating Discussion of Representations of Black Gay Men

Thanks to Duke University's Mark Anthony Neal for the heads up. Heidi Lewis, Riley Scholar-in-Residence, Feminist and Gender Studies at The Colorado College, delivers a fascinating and engaging micro-lecture on the representations of Black gay men on television from the 1980's to present.

Lewis concentrates her analysis on two characters: The first is "Omar Little", the Black gay homothug and stickup artist on HBO's gritty drama The Wire. The second character is Julien Low, the closeted police detective on The Shield. President Obama once said that Omar Little was the "most fascinating" character on television.

"One thing that interested me were depictions of Black gay men in the new millenium," says Lewis. "Prior to that you have representations of Black gay men as effete, feminine or sissified, if you will. Around 2000 you began to see a shift in those representations. Omar and other characters began to challenge that. Omar is hyper-masculine ... his occupation was robbing drug dealers. That's a problematic occupation but one that is a stark contrast to stereotypical representations."

Lewis' lecture and video is very engaging. It's only about six minutes long. Watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...

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Michael K. Williams and Being Gay on "The Wire"
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Comments

[Trumpeterdaily.blogspot.com]

Interesting

[Diva1961]

I like her reasoning for her research, ie. to promote discussion in the straight community. Our community have been discussing this topic for years, so it's not new to us. She, however, overlooked Keith in HBO'S Six Feet Under. That character started making the black gay man role evolve from pure queen, to more masculine.

So the evolution started earlier, albeit, not always accepted by mainstream audiences. Hopefully with more people like Paris Clay and Lee Daniels in positions of power in media (tv, film), maybe more of our stories and actual images (because we are a rainbow of views, thoughts, and characters)will be brought forth into mainstream media.

[kevjack]

This discussion is great and needed. I think that representations of black gay men open a range of discussions about gender, masculinity, race, class and sexuality. One issue that is not discussed is how these representations of black gay men influence representations of black men, period. In my view, the range of expressions allowed for black men is shrinking over time, not expanding.

One refreshing aspect of the "queen" reresentations is that it opened up a wider range of black male expression in mainstream society. We now had some legitimate (although stereotypical) variety in what and who a black man could be. Do we really gain that much when our black gay men look just like the straight ones (thugs, uneducated, dangerous, etc.)? Marry those representations (which prominently featured the closet) with the "DL" fraud and you have a perfect storm that feeds into a new villan in American Society-- the black gay man as disease carrier and cad.

I'm not saying that these representations are good or bad, but I think that when they are looked at in a different context they are not as liberating as they may appear. If the stereotype is that black men are hypermasculine, it is not very expansive to make black gay men hypermasculine. That simply feeds into the white gay "Mandingo" fantasy that is very old in the gay community. It's hard to say which way to go, but certainly more diversity is needed.

[Donny D.]

I never thought Omar was anything like hyper-masculine -- though those who rob drug dealers are one of the most dangerous types of people I know of.

[Louis]

I wish to agree with kevjack. True, that for years, Black same gender loving men were portrayed by the media as limp wrested, effeminate, "queeny" men. Now Black SGL men are being portrayed as "homo-thugs". I really don't see this new "representation" of us in the media as a positive step forward.

[Chitown Kev]

Interesting discussion here that I missed out on...

Frankly, I'm divided about this. On one hand, at least the representations of BGM are no longer one dimensional.

I don't even think that I have a real problem with a "homo-thug" representation provided that the character himself has some depth and weight