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Feb 29, 2012

Outland is too “teh Gay”

Jim Schembri writing over at that cultural monolith the Age doesn’t like Outland.  I know, strange isn’t he.  But then he’s entitled. We don’t all have to like the same thing otherwise we’d all end up watching shows like Rafters and Cop show rip-offs like City Homicide.

You should read it here

His objections boil down to

  • Too much of the gay
  • Too many penis references and not enough Jar Jar Binks
  • The dick jokes are  too blatant/low brow

Now before hoist your fleshlights in the air and march on Melbourne let’s unpack what he’s saying.

Too much of the gay

Schembri  argues that with all the characters being gay there’s no contrast and no conflict between gay and straight.  That it lacks a straight-man in the comedic sense

To put it bluntly, Outland is a show badly in need of a straight man - both figuratively and literally.

I’d argue that Max is the straight man and Fab the comic foil.  Max is the “everygay” that I as a heterosexual male most closely relate to.

And as for too much of the gay.  I think by having an entirely gay cast Outland does something very important. It normalises1 homosexuality to an audience  that is largely conservative and does so without being preachy.

Outland then is not really about gays, it’s about science fiction fandom and being the other, which in turn folds back nicely into a comment of the position of homosexuals in our culture. It gets around the token gay character that’s used in a show to send a message or to pay lip service to equality. 

The characters sexuality doesn’t really have an impact on me what it says about belonging does.

Too many penis references and not enough Jar Jar Binks

This is the point at which I think I understand why Schembri is not getting it.  No self respecting fan would raise the spectre of he of the floppy ears that should not be named.  Or maybe he just wanted more Star Wars jokes?

There’s crass fisting and penis jokes but this show is so multi-layered with geek referencing that I think its problem is not that it’s too base; it’s that you really need to be well versed in geek culture to get everything. From Dr Who “in jokes” to camera angle and prop homages.

Outland is not a sitcom in the vein of The Big Bang Theory with the dumb, good looking blond with common sense contrasted against the specialised knowledge and social ineptness of 4 PhD holders.  So why contrast them with it?

It doesn’t tell you when to laugh, with long pauses and canned laughter.

And thank goodness. Shows that try to imitate what the Americans do, look exactly like that poor imitations.

I say enjoy the fact that it’s unique and remember that it’s squeezing that uniqueness into 6 episodes that focus on each of the characters.  Big Bang Theory had 17 episodes in its first season and has less main characters - indeed you could argue it has two.

A major opportunity at a mainstream, line-crossing sitcom has been missed with Outland. And, to be fair, a look at the subsequent episode on the preview disk was sat through. No improvement.

I don’t know that you can criticise it on the one hand for not being line crossing and then suggest that it mimic a certain Sitcom format.

Outland as I hope I have pointed out is doing a couple of unique things, sure it might not be for everyone and maybe your average Joe Blow is going to baulk at it but then if we made shows that appealed to the widest demographic then well we’d end up with MKR every night of the week …oh wait..


1. I hate the word but am at a loss to find something that expresses the idea that homosexuals are indeed normal, human beings


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Comments (8)

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I agree that Max plays the straight man to Fab's comic foil. But another way to look at the show is to see it not as a sit-com but as a narrative comedy, as each character has an episode to tell his/her 'story'. Btw I think the show is hilarious and I'm a straight non-sci-fi geek (but I am a huge Adam Richards fan).
1 reply · active 680 weeks ago
Either John or Adam mentioned that it was more in line with Spaced. It seems too me that Schembri is more of a fan of the standard sitxom formula. But to characterise the show as overrtly gay and full of low brow dick jokes does it an injustice.
Did you see Adam Richards on Adam Hills last night? it was so funny, with serious in depth questions about 'when did you first know you were a science fiction fan'.

I think it was John Richards, the main writer on the show, who commented somewhere that because the cast are ALL gay, it actually means there's less 'talking about gay issues' and they can get on with talking about science fiction fandom and everyday problems. It's so rare to have gay characters in shows where there is more than one or two of them, and where The Problems of Being Gay are not front and centre. I think if the show was just about Max and Fab having lovely gay adventures with their straight female friend... well for a start you'd basically have Will and Grace!

I think a character like Fab really works best surrounded by other gay characters so that he feels less of a caricature - or a representation of what gay people are like - because they all get to smack their heads and go 'you DIDN'T just say that.' I think you're right that it normalises gay people - which is an awful word, but there are plenty of people out there who don't know any out gay people in person, who can look at this and see a spectrum of characters.

And, as John Richards has also mentioned, chances are very high that there are going to be some teenagers living in the country who haven't come out (whether as gay or as science fiction fans or BOTH) who are going to look at this show and see that, actually, there are options. Being gay or straight isn't just a choice between Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and, well, everything else. Max is a hugely important character because he does seem like such an average Australian bloke (especially in contrast to every other male character in the show!), and for many people out there, that will be a revelation.

I really do want the lesbian spin off show, though.
1 reply · active 680 weeks ago
Sadly I missed the start. Got sidetracked by a a good book while on the treadmill.You raise anothwr good point about the diversity of the characters-the representation of 5 different gay archetypes. A lesbian spin off? That might be too much estrogen on screen for some commentators. But it opens up the possibility of having transgender characters -i think it might be less challenging in an all female cast.
I must admit I have given the series up - not because of the gay cast - but because I am just not a science fiction fan and i suspect a lot of it is going over my head.

I am glad you are enjoying it though!
1 reply · active 680 weeks ago
Which is fair enough. My wife is similar - while she fondly remembers old Doctor Who she's not a die hard sci-fi fan.
Funnily enough I just watched Ep4 in iView last night - I somehow missed 2 &3. I love this show, it's brilliant and I was laughing hard at many points. And frankly, why the hell shouldn't we have a show with all gays? There are enough on TV with all straight people!
1 reply · active 680 weeks ago
Actually my other half laughed more last night as well. Might have understood more of the referencing

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