***non-important Fringe spoilers***
Normally, I'm kind of pissed when a show that isn't Buffy brings in the chaste girl-on-girl action for titillation and show-stimulation. Buffy has an excuse - it started the lesbian kiss on the television screen. It was revolutionary.
But I was pissed when Grey's Anatomy did it, even though I liked the actresses. And Sara Ramirez is a lesbian favorite on AfterEllen.com, so the show has a significant lesbian following. But it still felt less like a lesbian shout out and more like something to attract more male viewers (or keep them interested).
I was pissed when they did it on Bones , even though I can see why it fits Angela's character, and I still love the show (and Bones's philosophy on relationships ... I hope they don't change it ... there have been suggestions).
It just seemed like the shows were trying to make themselves edgy by implementing a socially acceptable form of gayness (not very many men kissing in mainstream television). The men will be interested. The lesbian and female bisexual fans will be appeased, although most of the female viewership is going to roll its eyes and think "boys will be boys." But the viewership of Grey's Anatomy is probably primarily female. Bones probably has pretty equal viewership between men and women. But it still always seems to be the whole "girl-on-girl-for-guy" kind of vibe. It doesn't help that every lesbian kiss on mainstream shows now seems to be the same exact tender kiss. And the kiss isn't intended for my eyes. It's weird how you always know. I can tell in most girl-on-girl porn intended for men. I always feel like the third wheel, not the audience.
It was different for Buffy . Willow and Tara's first kiss in Season Five was the first lesbian kiss on television (and there's was the first open lesbian relationship on television, too, if I'm not mistaken). It began as a kiss of comfort when Buffy's mom died rather than one of romance, which made it very different from the lesbian kisses on the above two shows. It always seemed more real and less choreographed when Willow and Tara were kissing (less so when Kennedy came along... that's another rant).
So why - when Fringe has a viewership that is probably majority male and provides a pseudolesbian scene (rather than an actual lesbian scene) with Olivia as a mental proxy for the male subject - am I not pissed?
I can't say. Part of it is that it didn't seem to be made a big deal of - no romantic music, no typical "lesbian" tenderness. No tongue, just lips and cautious sexuality. It seemed to be organic to the plot in that the same man-proxy-Olivia who accidentally murdered also accidentally stimulated another. But part of me knows that the scene, because it wasn't even a woman kissing a woman in the plot, was mostly titillation for the audience.
I know why I'm aroused. But why am I not pissed?
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My comment has some spoilers too but I don't think they'll ruin anything..?
I saw that episode, too. It was understood that Olivia was experiencing all the stuff in her head that the guy was doing (like when she thought she'd killed those people when he did) and the kiss wasn't her kissing a girl, it was her-as-him kissing a girl. It wasn't meant to be "ooh, look at the sexy lesbians!", it was an important plot point that his and Olivia's brains were connected (from the drug testing in Jacksonville).
The kiss itself wasn't an important plot point to show their brains were connected. The entire episode up until that point had already demonstrated that. Toss out the kiss, and the episode wouldn't have lacked a single thing. Why did the third murder victim have to be an exotic dancer? It didn't. Why did we have to see the kiss? We didn't. They could have shown the murderer picking up any woman (at a bar, for instance) and going back to his place. We'd have all understood very well what they were doing there.
I wasn't pissed, but I was mildly annoyed. I even said to my friend who I was watching it with at the time, "Oh, of COURSE they use the opportunity to make the dude-who-is-represented-by-Olivia kiss another woman. That surprises me not at all."
With the exception of the gratuitous Olivia-doing-work-on-her-computer-in-her-underwear-late-at-night-cause-she-is-just-that-kind-of-overachiever in the premiere Fringe has done a pretty damn job of displaying gender, I did not feel that the Scene was meant to be titillating. Even if it was, I lean on the side that says the show has been on balance good at portraying their characters without exploiting people.
I don't see what there is to get pissed about with Angela's relationship in Bones. It was chaste, but the show is never sexually explicit so it would be wrong to make it so just for that. Also, we know from practically the beginning of the series that Angela is bisexual, and the relationship is treated as something that is simply a part of the show and not a big deal, just like Sweets' girlfriends. If there was any chance of the relationship being done just to increase viewership it wouldn't have been very effective.
Agreed about Bones. Angela's relationship just.. was. It wasn't like "13" in House where they made a big deal about it and showed her making out with tons of women. Side note: Bones had a sort-of-transgender person on last week's show actually, and handled it sort of ok. They were curious about the person's gender but after the found out they still liked him just as much.
Tangent:
Did you find that episode on Bones odd at all? Like, if we were supposed to believe that character/actor was genderqueer then maybe they could've used less makeup on her?
It was odd to me because she was just so obviously female, even though on the show the character turned out to be male.
I don't have a problem with Angela's character being bisexual or experiencing a relationship with a girl. On that level, go Angela, really.
I think I was more annoyed with how the kiss she shared with the girl (can't remember the name of the character for the life of me) was the same kind of kiss as "expected" from girls kissing. It was the same kind of kiss that made me feel like the third wheel and not the audience. I can't explain it. It's not rational at all.
Ground-breaking as it was, Buffy didn't feature the first lesbian kiss on tv. LA Law had one years before, more in the done-to-titillate-guys fashion (which Whedon actually went out of the way to avoid by making it clear that Willow and Tara were a couple well before they kissed, and slotting the kiss into the middle of everyone crying over the death of Buffy's mom). Buffy had the first real portrayal of a lesbian relationship on tv, and the first lesbian sex scene on tv.
*takes massive geek hat off*
See, I couldn't remember whether that was the first lesbian kiss or the first lesbian relationship (and the first lesbian sex scene... that's awesome). Thanks for clarifying that.
I LOVE Fringe! However, the latest episode is waiting for me on the DVR, so I can't comment on its content.
Olivia is ten kinds of awesome. I don't remember her ever having been rescued this whole show. Most of the time she's in a dangerous situation, she rescues herself, then waits for the boys to catch up and drive her to the next place.
So, it's possible you're not annoyed because Olivia isn't your standard female in a drama series. She's not set up to be titillating. She's beautiful and kind and great with kids, but her character is never offered as "sex," even though that's the first scene we see her in on the first episode. She's a kick-ass character in her own right.
I also watch BBC America quite a bit and there is a show called Mistresses. I have to confess not watching it, but from what I can gather from the commercials, the actor who plays Olivia also plays in this series as a lesbian that one of the main female characters lusts after. So this actor has some experience with playing a lesbian and would know how to portray it from a different angle as described in the OP.
But that's just conjecture. I'm only about 80% sure it's even the same actress.
I should go watch this episode now. Sounds really interesting.
Oh man, I have an entire other post about how Olivia Dunham is like nothing we've seen on television before. She really is kick-ass.
And yes, Anna Torv is from Mistresses, which I've never seen. That's interesting that she plays a lesbian in that show.
I really don't like the idea that any sex scene that can be avoided should be avoided. Loosen up.
I also hate that somehow, every lesbian kiss on TV is now considered "gratuitous." How often does TV show heterosexual couples in bed together? Nip/Tuck has been doing gratuitous heterosexual sex scenes since the beginning, and so have a lot of other shows. Ever notice how Tahmoh Penikett is almost always shirtless?
Just because lesbianism is a little more titillating to some people, it can't be shown on TV without feminist outcry. (Or it can be shown, but only if the women don't ever kiss like the straight couples do.) I'm sorry, but that's dumb.
You're right, it is dumb. And it's not what I'm saying.
I like a lesbian kiss on television when I feel like it's a lesbian kiss and not a play up to the male audience or an attempt to be edgy while still playing it safe. Let's just say that I wish they were as free with the male-on-male action in mainstream television as they are with girl-on-girl.
I like a lesbian kiss when they're not all how people EXPECT girls to kiss. I've watched way too much girl-on-girl porn catered toward the male gaze not to recognize it. I like a little variety in my kissing - and I get a little annoyed with it among heterosexual scenes, as though there's only one way for a kiss to progress. I wish they DID show girls kissing like straight couples kiss, honestly.
I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I don't mind, and in fact enjoy, sex on screen.
I don't think any outcry is over just any lesbians or lesbian kisses on TV.
It's really obvious when a lesbian character or kiss is included for the male gaze, as opposed to being an authentic plot decision. I thought that the Fringe scene was SO obviously male-gaze inspired. Lesbians should be included because a writer said, "This is the story we're telling," not because they said, "Wouldn't this be so HOT? We need to increase our male viewership, let's make Olivia kiss a stripper."
I think Willow on Buffy and Angela on Bones fall in the former category, although I'm disagreeing with the OP on Angela. In the context of breaking up with Hodgins and her evolution of figuring out what she wants from relationships, her renewed relationship with Roxy seemed authentic. I have mixed feelings about Callie on Grey's, simply because Grey's is far more soapy and outrageous, it's hard to tell what motivates the writers.