Don't get me wrong. I love me some Boston Legal. I think it's witty and hilarious, and legally totally absurd. But as the clip below indicates, at the end of the day with the show it often addresses very real societal concerns, often to an intelligent and ... ahem... liberal resolution.
But there is one story line that is deeply troubling me. It is that of a character who initially came on as "Clarise." "Clarise" was a large black man who felt more comfortable expressing himself as a female. I think that many of my fellow LGBT activists would feel comfortable classifying this character as Transgendered. The storyline began innocently enough, highlighting the difficulties of such a life path in today's world. However, then it took a significantly less educated and progressive turn.
Another character in the show forced "Clarise" to gender-comply and become "Clarence." I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for it to become clear that such forced gender-compliance can only have negative repercussions on someone' s personality. However, the show's producers seem intent on making it clear that by forcing "Clarence" to forgo his wig, dress, and fairly outlandish female persona, the character has accepted a better life. A life where "he" now has a girlfriend, a phenomenally good career, indeed is even trying murder cases (where before he couldn't date and wasn't able to find a job, and then only as a law clerk).
While the clip below makes a phenomenal case about the absurdity of the whole "ex-gay" movement, it concerns me that out of the other side of the proverbial mouth comes the idea that while gays can't be changed, transgendered people can. It makes me so angry that I end up yelling at the television each and every time I see that story line. I hope that the producers fix this dreadful storyline to make it more in tune with what we know about gender compliance. Cause more scenes like this would be amazing:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment