Television ignores the poor just as Americans do. Few shows have attempted to situate themselves in the living nightmare of poverty-the country’s quiet shame, the marginalized that the middle and upper classes don’t want to see next to the numbing comfort of Modern Family. The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men deconstructed the American Dream, while Friday Night Lights, The West Wing, and The Sopranos revelled in its lingering fantasy. On occasion we are blessed with art that entertains through consideration of American ethos. He’s a gay man, warts and all, defiantly alive.It’s not television’s responsibility to question our culture. In the case of Mickey, “Shameless” dares us to love him, even as he threatens his wife physically and largely abandons his new baby to live with Ian. See photos: Gay Hollywood: 13 Out & Proud Celebrities Before Ellen Page
#GAY BARS IN CHICAGO LIKE SHAMELES MOVIE#
As society becomes more accepting of a particular group, the movie and television business resorts to canonization in its portrayals of minorities, think Sidney Poitier in “Lilies of the Field” or Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia.” This array of saints grows more banal and boring, their pulses barely detectible. There is an evolution in Hollywood when it comes to portrayals of certain minorities. It’s to Fisher and Monaghan’s credit that they stubbornly refuse to resort to stereotype, showing us that gay, like straight, comes in many shades.Īlso read: GLAAD Study: Gays & Lesbians Still at the Back of Hollywood’s Movie Busīest of all neither Ian, on the run from the military for crashing a helicopter, nor Mickey, a brutal enforcer who is tough with the Russian prostitutes he oversees, are saints. Both revel in their masculinity and seem more interested in throwing a punch than picking out flower arrangements. They defy stereotypes and do not signal their sexuality with limp wrists or theatrical gestures. Mickey and Ian are radical in another important respect. Sexual orientation is the third largest motivator for hate crimes, according to a 2009 study by the Human Rights Campaign. Moreover, although the majority of Americans endorse gay marriage, broad swaths of the country side with the Milkovich clan in their distain for homosexuality. Studies, such as 20 reports by the Williams Institute, reveal that same-sex couples suffer higher rates of poverty than heterosexual ones and are more economically insecure.Īlso read: Why Robin Roberts Coming Out as Gay Isn’t News - But Is Still Significant (Analysis) There has been a pernicious and absurd belief that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens are largely affluent and upwardly mobile, a trait that has been popularized by shows and movies such as “Will & Grace” and “The Kids Are All Right.” Aside from Omar on “The Wire,” the original small screen gay thug, it’s as if being homosexual comes hand in hand with having oodles of expendable income.Īlso read: ‘Shameless’ Star Cameron Monaghan to Join Bella Thorne in ‘Amityville’ (Exclusive) They hail from the wrong side of the tracks in Chicago and never seem to certain about paying for their next meal or bar tab. Yet Fisher’s portrayal of Mickey still has the shock of fresh and is helping to toss out certain preconceptions about gay Americans that are way past their expiration date.Īlso read: ‘Divergent’ Star Theo James on Gay Action Heroes, Film’s Bisexual Undertones: ‘I Can See It’įor one thing, Mickey and Ian do not live among the one percent.
#GAY BARS IN CHICAGO LIKE SHAMELES SKIN#
“Shameless” has been barreling toward Mickey’s confession for much of its fourth season, as the self-loathing pimp and petty crook has slowly become more comfortable in his own skin and in his relationship with “out” boyfriend Ian Gallagher ( Cameron Monaghan). It’s the kind of four-letter fun - “no hugging, no learning” - that “Shameless offers up at its best.Īlso read: ‘Shameless’ Switching to Emmy Comedy Categories
Instead of a receiving a welcoming embrace, Mickey is pummeled by his father, inspiring a bloody brawl that nearly lands him in jail.
“I just want everybody here to know I’m f–king gay,” Mickey announces to a watering hole filled with family members after his son’s christening. Mickey Milkovich, the temperamental gay thug played brilliantly by Noel Fisher, came out of the closet in foul-mouthed, violent fashion on Sunday’s “Shameless,” shattering stereotypes along with shot glasses in a brutal bar room fight.