In its heyday Will & Grace made a huge leap forward for the LGBTQ community in that they made it possible and even acceptable for the gay community to be represented on TV. The show brought forth some very needed innovation in television that had been woefully misrepresented and lacking in the media. However, back then the show was a hit largely because it had decided to openly present gay men in a way that no one had ever done before. Nowadays TV shows and movies are jumping on that bandwagon to make certain that the LGBTQ community is given their rightful place on screen. The issue now is that Will & Grace, which was created largely for a heterosexual audience, would no longer represent the very community they were lauded for bringing to the fore.
So for what other reasons would Will & Grace be offensive to the current LGBTQ community?
Unless they change their format around they will be focusing too much on the surface of the LGBTQ community and won’t achieve the needed depth.
Jack and Will were caricatures of gay men to be quite honest. They were neat, tidy, flamboyant, and in many ways control freaks. Their entire personas were built upon being what many people believed gay men to be like, and offered little real depth except for the occasional flash of something real within certain episodes. It is important to note that the series was more about comedy than it was about drama, but there was enough of both that the idea to take their characters further along a rich and detailed story arc should have been considered.
Most of the issues within the show that are dealt with are primarily heterosexual issues or are ambiguous enough to not be considered strictly LGBTQ issues.
What this means is that the LGBTQ community and whatever unique experiences they have among the general population are essentially hidden behind the more dominant heterosexual concerns. While some might argue that people are people and will experience issues no matter how they identify themselves it is important that a show created to depict gay individuals and their lives should run across some fairly distinct issues that must be addressed. One good example is the likelihood that Jack’s son, who would now be grown, would possibly be ridiculed for having a gay father. Such issues that not everyone deals with need to be addressed if the show is to appease its target audience.
The sex scenes were always heterosexual.
There was never any occurrence of sexual activity between men on this show. It was always Grace and another man. Granted, when the show was still running it might not have been deemed acceptable, but with the programming the way it is now there is no reason why such scenes could not be included. Once again in a show that is dominated by an LGBTQ theme it should be deemed necessary to cater to their needs and desires.
If Will & Grace changes the format just enough to appease the viewers it could be a great show once again. But if it doesn’t then it might take a great deal of flak for its lack of attention to the current decade.
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