Before I ever knew what gay was, I huddled in front of the t.v. set to watch the adventures of the mysterious Charlie and his angels. And while I loved watching the dasterdly deeds of Jr. on the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, there was something distinctively gay-friendly about ABC's Dynasty.
Hey, it was the 80's and the relative tolerance/acceptance of gays in society that is enjoyed today was barely in existence back then. Who'd think that the story of mega-wealthy father dealing poorly with a gay son and his lover would be groundbreaking stuff on network television but it was! For those of us in our teens grabbling with our sexual identity, there was something amazingly liberating seeing people like us depicted on television, especially if you had no peer in your own life to talk to.
Yeah, it may seem stupid in retrospect but at the time, Dynasty was such an escape for me from a reality that consisted of physical and mental harassment from neighborhood kids who knew I was different and enjoyed making me feel like a worthless nothing every chance they got.
Dynasty and the fabulous bitch that was Joan Collins a.k.a Alexis Carrington was the contemporary gay icon that Betty Davis was for generations before us. She empowered our inner bitch which allowed us to deal with the indignities and tragedies in our own lives with a sense of style and defiant sass. John Forsythe a.k.a. Blake Carrington was that flawed but loving parental figure who we all hoped would eventually accept us for who we were.
I know, I know, it was a prime-time soap opera for Christ sake! Yes, it was. Nevertheless, when you are living a life that feels so weighted with inevitable tragedy and the possible abandonment of everyone in your life you love if they discover who you really are, is it any wonder we would look to the magical world of televised make-believe for any strand of hope that we could survive the nightmare of the day-to-day? For me, I am grateful for Dynasty, John Forsythe and his fictional dysfunctional family for helping me get through the worst time of my young life.
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1 comments:
I know when we get all high-and-mighty and better-than-thou, we give television and soap especially a right bollocking. I've done it myself, while still watching enough of it to make my righteous comments and, let me be honest, to feed my need for 'something' that I wasn't getting from my friends, family and society at large.
It helped. No doubt about that. And while my needs have mostly changed, this is a wonderful opportunity to recognize and salute with you the important role that television has played in our lives.
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