(from "Cultural Bias and Prime Time Television", Pg.114)
Will & Grace presented some challenging narrative elements and contradictions
within the cultural parameters analyzed in this study. While Will & Grace depicted at
least quantitatively increased representation of homosexual issues and, to some degree,
some elements of female self-determination, authority and power, it also presented a
trivialization of homosexuality to its more base level of expression. Most of Will &
Grace’s references to homosexuality referred mainly to sexual activity, dating and
physicality, excluding the serious issues of social acceptance, political power and long-
term, monogamous homosexual relationships. Promiscuity was apparent in all of the
sampled episodes, usually through some kind of dialogue reference and was
unaccompanied by any discussion of safe sexual practice or substantial discussion of
societal ethics with regard to dating, romantic, sexual relationships or marriage.
The issue of homosexual promiscuity was consistent with heterosexual
promiscuity references in other sampled shows, particularly That 70’s Show. Both shows
and other programs outside of the programs sampled in this study viewed by this
researcher generally focused comedy on situations referring implicitly to promiscuous
sexual contact whether with the lead or supporting characters. Mamaluth and Impett
identified that most sexual situations in prime time occur between unmarried characters
(2001). The difference between Will & Grace and other shows about heterosexuals lies
in the improbability that the characters will ever discuss monogamous relationships or
marriage with any depth or regularity. The petty and confrontational flavor of the writing gave no indication of any abiding level of healthy embrace of generally accepted social mores that tend to be understood in this society.
No teenagers were featured in the program samples and rarely, if ever, appeared
on any other episodes seen by this researcher. Considering the aspirational viewing
component in the teenage consumer of these narratives, it presented a challenge for
young people to try to figure out what their relationship should or could be with
homosexuals in their own lives, whether the viewer was homosexual or not. If they did
not see characters that were like them in age having positive or any relationships with the
homosexual characters, then teenagers were left with the need to extrapolate their own
behavior from how the characters treated each other. Therein existed a larger challenge as
none of the programs in this study showed positive, supportive or healthy sexual,
romantic and/or loving relationships during the majority of the show.
There were always life issues that presented themselves in the narratives. For
example, Will and Grace looked into the depth and future of their relationship (Sample
01/#5). In another episode, Grace dated two men and Will tried to deal with the growing
closeness of Jack and Grace when he left to spend time away (Sample 02/#5). Also, Will
struggled with whether to tell Grace that Ben, Will’s boss and Grace’s partner, was
cheating on her with another woman (Sample 02/#6). Though each of these situations
seemed standard and realistic in nature, the narratives revealed a mean-spirited, snide and
sarcastic character to the relationships in all program samples. It was important to
reiterate that the show was a sit-com and derived its character from basic comedic
conversational and situational setups. Nonetheless, there was no time, other than the
brief and random afterthought, in which any of the characters made any substantial
attempt at true understanding of another’s feelings nor did they make any attempt to
mediate any of the situations with any deep or abiding discussion of the on-going social
or personal effects of the behaviors displayed through the narratives.
Inherent in each episode, along with the above “standard” and “realistic”
situations, was an equally outlandish, sometimes risky or decadent social or personal
situation that got played out in an exaggerated way. In Sample 01/#5, Karen enlisted
Jack’s help to teach her how to cook so that she can avoid having sex with her husband,
Stan, who she regularly spoke negatively about in deeply sarcastic and disparaging ways
and who the audience never saw. Sample 02/#5 presented Rosario in an awful situation.
Rosario, Karen’s embattled Latina maid, was arrested and jailed, accused of smuggling
items from another country that actually had been stolen by Karen. Karen ultimately got
Rosario out of jail, but not until after a scene in a limo on the way to the jail in which
Karen leveled a barrage of insensitive jokes at Rosario, Latinos and people who occupy
the lower economic class. Even at the suggestion of getting Rosario out of jail, Karen
responded by saying, “I’m not going to Queens! There are people living in cabs down
there” (Sample 02/#5).
Seemingly less risky, but still questionable behavior, in two out of three programs
sampled, food was suggested as a way to soothe and console the spirit. In Sample 02/#5,
Jack offered Grace the idea of food so that she can feel better, though not for a physical
concern. Worse yet, in Sample 02/#6, Grace suggested to Will during a hard time that he
have alcoholic drinks and Krispy Kreme donuts. It was noted that none of the above
characters mentioned have an ounce of fat on them. Some might consider Grace too thin.
If this was a regular behavior of these characters, it would be highly unlikely and grossly
unrealistic that they would have had the body types portrayed by the actors in the
program. The program samples did not necessarily show the characters engaging in the
suggested behavior, but it may be significant that the behavior, in and of itself, is
condoned by the main characters, at least in two out of three episodes viewed for this
study.
Will & Grace regularly presented negative expressions about the characters on
many levels. Sample 01/#5 featured Will and Grace on a visit to a beloved high school
teacher of theirs. They were very excited to see him and idolized him since they were his students years ago. He was a writer and was openly homosexual, which was of great
importance to Will as a gay man and to Grace as someone who fancied herself a writer at
one time. Mr. Dudley, the teacher, and his best friend, Sharon, were shown as having a
similar and not so healthy relationship as Will and Grace. In one instance, Sharon, a
heterosexual, calls Mr. Dudley “a miserable old fairy”. They spent most of the scene
fighting, bickering and back-biting, a pattern which gave Will and Grace pause to
consider their own relationship, a rare moment of psychological, emotional and relational
insight in the programs sampled, other viewed episodes and television programming in
general. In another instance, Grace says of Mr. Dudley, “He’s the one that made me
want to write”, to which Will responds in a disparaging tone, “You don’t write”, to which she acquiesces, “But I wanted to”.
In a separate scene of this program sample (01/#5), Karen, while being taught
unsuccessfully by Jack to cook, became attracted to Ben, Will’s boss played by Gregory
Hines, an African-American person. Upon his entry to the apartment, Karen, who said to
Jack, “Sorry fruit, you’re out of the loop!”, and then began to flirt with Ben. Will &
Grace was replete with moments in which characters made hurtful or disrespectful
statements toward each other or others not present, like poor Rosario, languishing in jail
for the crimes of her boss, Karen. Though it was understood that disparaging statements
have been a part of comedy and humor on and off the small screen, it presented a
substantial concern of this researcher for the viewers of Will & Grace and especially the
target audience of this study’s focus, teenagers. As aspirational viewers, teenagers
looked to television characters to help them define how they should conduct themselves
in the world, in their society and how to put into perspective the many cultural offerings
that they see from day to day. Will & Grace offered no positive references or even trends
in thought or behavior that this researcher could find in any of the program samples.
Taking the above findings into account, NOW’s overall rating of Will & Grace as
a B+ (2002, p. 10) raised some question, if not only an eyebrow. The show also garnered an A- in the category of Social Responsibility (2002, p. 14), which further confused not only the issue, but also this researcher. Will & Grace did not show up in any of the Best or Worst of the categories of Gender Composition and Diversity, Violent Content or Sexual Exploitation, which gave rise to the extrapolation that it fell into the B+ to C- range in those areas, having been neither a standout on the positive cutting edge or the most negative of television’s representatives. The National Organization of Women presented only one other indirect suggestion of any positive or progressive elements in Will & Grace’s regular narrative. “Sadly missing is a strong, high-profile comedic character in the tradition of I Love Lucy, Murphy Brown, Mary Tyler Moore or
Roseanne. Do the characters of Rachel (from Friends), Grace (from Will & Grace) or
Reba qualify to fill that role?” (NOW, 2002, p. 4). Interesting that NOW asked the
question with regard to Grace, but did not see fit to answer it for us. Even the National
Organization of Women could not find enough about Will & Grace to report positively
and definitively about, at best regarding Will & Grace of moderate substantive value.
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