MovieChat Forums > The New Normal (2012) Discussion > Any other gay men/women think this is to...

Any other gay men/women think this is too PSA and preachy?

posted 12 years ago by ragingbullfrog
12 replies | jump to latest

Not a fan of Ryan Murphy, I don't normally like his shows. I thought The New Normal was a harmless TV show, and it's quite enjoyable. Although it all seems like a preachy public service announcement for equality. I'm gay, but I don't know if it irritates anybody else how many times I hear the words "bigot" and "ignorance". Like, okay, we get it.

I prefer my gay characters like all other ordinary characters, as characters. However Ryan Murphy has a knack for making gay characters for the purpose of them being political statements. As a show for harmless enjoyment, it's good, but there is obviously a huge reason why tumblr-social-justice-sheep are more likely to be obsessed and in love with this show.

And to be honest, that Romney VS Obama episode was a total cringe-fest. As someone who thought both candidates were inadequate, I thought Ryan Murphy was pushing it too far there.

Anybody else feel the same way?

[–] shadowsfan18 12 years ago

lol I know what you mean. Yes, the show does overdo it sometimes with the PSA feel, and it is quite cringeworthy at moments. Not to mention--I think it's "preaching to the choir", in a way.

That being said-it makes up for that with the "story" and general feel of the show, imo. Something about it feels very 'solid' to me. I love the writing and style. I also think the actors/characters have great chemistry. I see a lot of potential.

I'm just going on and on now, but basically--yes, it does go a bit far with it's we just want to be equal spill, but not enough to make the show lose my attention.

[–] Mellotron-Scratch 12 years ago

Yeah it's the same reason I started to despise Glee so much. RM has no idea how to write anything remotely genuine.

Sat and forever am at work here.

[–] Wako-2 12 years ago

I'm a gay man and I think this show is doing a disservice to our cause in general.
Ryan Murphy in general is doing major disservice to our cause.
He's one of the worst TV show creators in recent history.

[–] bdbj_7 12 years ago

As a gay man I must agree. It has good parts but has no clear point in the stories they are trying to tell. Too many small and unnecessary stories are going on.

[–] rinahammon88 12 years ago

Ryan should study Norman Lear a bit more and learn how to be a better show writter

[–] OutlawPygmy 12 years ago

As I bisexual woman, Yes! I roll my eyes so often in this.

[–] manTOman 12 years ago

I just don´t like it, It try so hard in evrey way to be.....something. But funny...its not. Only good thing in whole show is Ellen Barkin.
And I mean this gay couple...even I could not stand them. I could not stand thier company if they would be my friends.

[–] rudeskin2000 12 years ago

Yes, I do at times. Its what killed The Ellen Show after she came out---after it finally got good!

Rudayo Drive

[–] caroline-crane 12 years ago

I agree totally. As a bisexual woman, who will happily watch the most ridiculous things, I find the characters, not offensive but very sterotypical. There the queen, the sassy black woman, bigoted southern-esque woman, super intelligent worldly kid, and the wide eye ingenue. I amm like a previous poster-I like my gay.bi characters to be just that, a character, a person like all the other characters. Not as a political sounding board, or something to make fun of or laugh at. My sexuality, anyones sexuality is not, and should not be, their defining characteristic or the most important/interesting thing about them. who they are as a person is- brave, honourable, compassionate etc.
theres using a show to display other walks of life, other opinions, and then there is just walloping the viewer over the head over and over. it becomes actually insulting. The way its being done right now isnt going to change anyone who doesn't agree with a gay 'llifestyle' mind. The sort of people who hate on gay people aren't going to watch the show in the first place, so the people viewing are the ones who already don't care so whats the point of the super hard sell

[–] ChristmasTiger 12 years ago

I completely understand everyone's reasoning for disliking this show, I think it would be great to have characters where their sexual orientation was just a facet to their multidimensional character. Clearly we're already enlightened about these topics because many of us have experienced them, or know people who have, and/or we're all younger, open-minded and accepting people.

But unfortunately (and in a weird sense of irony) this show was not made for us.

It was made for the Baby Boomers, the Midwesterners and Southerners, people who live in small towns where there's still prejudice, people who don't often experience diversity or people who just don't know about these things.

Imagine for a second watching this TV show as a 50-something-year-old stay at home mom who lives in a rural farm town in the red state Midwest, bored and flipping through tv channels, you see this show. Even though you're Catholic and still think marriage is a sacred union between man and woman and gays go to hell blah blah, but the show has got some pretty funny jokes so it holds your interest; then after watching an episode or two, you find yourself empathizing with the love between these two men, you get invested in their story and soon you find yourself wanting them to get married and have a happy family (something normally you'd never agree with).
Ideally you'll realize that gay marriage should be legalized, and vote accordingly in the future.

Now this is just one small example, but the point is that Ryan Murphy is trying to slowly change people's minds and make them think; but with the average viewer age for NBC being 49.5 he's sometimes got to be a little bit more obvious to really get the message into stubborn heads.

The title "The New Normal" is in itself a statement that this show is challenging the age-old notions of the traditional "Normal American Family" of the 50's, and ALL of America needs to recognize that.

You can argue and still hate the show and Ryan Murphy, but the fact is it's groundbreaking that there's a primetime network show exposing American television audiences to the problems that gay people face in society and encourages acceptance. If there's even just a few people whose minds were changed from watching this show, it succeeded its purpose.

It might not be the most subtle to us, but in many years time people will look back and say that this show helped pave the way for other directors of film and television to feature more gay/trans/bi characters in their work and hopefully someday we can GET to a point of not having to make it a big deal that a character is of a different orientation.

I wish we could just skip to that point, but the messages in this show are absolutely necessary for more Americans to accept, and if the show is a huge success and people learn things, it's getting America that much closer to equality and acceptance.

[–] alejandromolinac 12 years ago

I actually watched the "Gaydar" Episode and i thought i was watching a Public Service Announcement on gender stereotypes used to label someone's sexuality. I am a gay male been out since i was a teen, now i am in my 30's. If you are gay and you want to know someone's sexuality, you just have to observe the person and see where his "eyes" go. That's a fool proof method. I find it funny that "eye contact" was never even brought up, that's how most people know!

[–] steven_allen626 12 years ago

I've never actually seen an episode of this show, but as a gay man, the very premise and title are mildly insulting.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate people are at least TRYING to represent gay people in the media, that's a good thing, but...here it's being treated as a gimmick, especially with that friggin horrible title. "The New Normal! Geddit? Cos it never used to be normal, but now it is!! Being gay is now normal, and we're going to make a show with the intent of emphasizing just how ordinary and inconspicuous being gay is! Did we mention being gay is NORMAL??"

If you want to show homosexuality as being truly normal, then don't make a big song-and-dance about it, just...show it as it is; any other relationship. By drawing attention to it, I just feel like it's still being treated like some circus attraction. "Behold! A gay couple!!"

Now, maybe the show's great, I've never seen it...but the very fact it's being sold on the premise of it being centred around a gay couple, with a title that ironically discredits itself just by being there, I have to say, I'm not pleased. It's 2013, haven't producers grown the hell up about the subject yet?