39,327
edits
Sweeps Week Lesbian Kiss: Difference between revisions
update links
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (spelling) |
(update links) |
||
Line 2:
{{quote|''"''[[Melrose Place]]'' is coming back this fall, and it has resorted to TV's tried-and-true marketing tactic - The Homo Promo".''|''[http://current.com/shows/infomania/90732681_thats-gay-lady-kisses.htm That's Gay: Lady Kisses]'' }}
The gossip columns go crazy. Interviews with the glamorous starlets are scheduled, and they say things like, [[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?|"well, I love men]], [[Les Yay|but women have such soft lips and are such great kissers... there's really nothing like it!"]]
Commercials announce that your favorite good, wholesome man-loving female character is about to take a walk on the wild side. The ad spots will inevitably show the two ladies facing each other, lips pursed, faces nearing, only to cut away before the [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot|good stuff]] happens.
Well, it must be [[Sweeps]].
This is an [[Always Female]] variation on [[Tonight Someone Kisses]] where a straight or [[Bi the Way]] female character kisses another woman (usually a tertiary character or one-episode guest star). The long-term implications are generally negligible and the female regular characters [[Bait and Switch Lesbians|remain straight]]. The non-regular's remaining screentime in the series will generally be measured in minutes rather than hours or seasons. This is all assuming, of course, that [[Never Trust a Trailer|the whole thing isn't taken entirely out of context]], and the footage taken from an [[Accidental Kiss]] or, worse, [[Imagine Spot]].
Often classified as [[Fan Service]] or [[Fetish Fuel]], this is mostly just a [[Ratings Stunt]], calculated to get more viewers while creating a manageable amount of blowback from the [[Moral Guardians]], who, while generally disapproving of lesbianism, have a sufficient [[Double Standard]] concerning depictions of male and female homosexuality that they generally save their outrage for, you know, ''serious'' dangers to society, like ''[[Dogma]]'' or ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]''...
There's one other explanation for the lack of outrage over the most recent Sweeps Sapphistry, and that's that people are ''losing interest'' in women making out in prime time. Since the mid-2000's, the lesbian sweeps kiss seems to be getting increasingly diminishing returns in the ratings. The LGBT community is no longer desperate for whatever non-negative representation they can get, and critics are no longer impressed by a showrunner's "bravery" by including it. Further, when you can see far more [[Twincest|bizarre]] things on [[YouTube]] (to say nothing of [[The Internet Is for Porn|other corners]] [[Shock Site|of the Web]]), the '''Sweeps Week Lesbian Kiss''' is clearly in danger of becoming a [[Discredited Trope]].
See [[Les Yay]], [[Faux Yay]].
{{examples}}
== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Picket Fences]]'': The sheriff's teenage daughter kissed her friend at a sleepover. The network was so [[Gay Panic|panicked]] by it that they [[Hide Your Lesbians|darkened the room]] to prevent it from being seen, though it was visible in the news and other outlets. The daughter decided that she was straight.
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'': Jadzia Dax, who is a host-symbiote character, kissed and got romantically involved with another woman of her species in one episode. Though the [[Star Trek]] universe has implied acceptance to gay people, the relationship was inappropriate because their relationship was based on a relationship had by a previous (male) Dax host with the other woman, [[Anvilicious|which is disallowed]]. The other woman was never seen again.
** Notably that episode at least tried to tackle a social issue - they did it again in the seventh season and it was gratuitous even in context, purely there to show the [[Mirror Universe]] is [[Darker and Edgier]].
* ''[[Party of Five]]'': Neve Campbell's character, Julia, kisses another woman (played by Olivia D'Abo). D'Abo's character appears just one more time in the series.
* ''[[Ally McBeal]]'' made sure that ''everyone'' knew about their Sweeps Week Lesbian Kisses between Ally and her co-workers. Unusual in that nobody gets [[Put on a Bus]] or [[Hide Your Lesbians|removed from the show without comment]].
* ''[[The OC]]'' had a kiss and bisexual relationship between Marissa Cooper and a short-lived female character named Alex. Alex got [[Put on a Bus]] in about four episodes after the kiss (after a brief relationship with a male character). Marissa, of course, went directly back to boys and did not pass Go or collect $200.
* ''[[Smallville]]'' curiously had its "lesbian" kiss a couple weeks ''before'' [[Sweeps]] when a female villain with a [[Green Rocks]]-powered kiss that causes face-melting hallucinations needs to do something about a witness (Lana, of course). She, ahem, uses her power on Lana, an act that seems to disgust both of them. One could speculate that the reason this episode didn't make it to [[Sweeps]] was that it simply wasn't very good [[Fan Service]].
** The "Lana joins a sorority of [[Lesbian Vampire|lesbian vampires]]" episode, on the other hand...
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' mostly averted this trope; the lesbian relationship between Ivanova and Talia Winters had no on-screen kiss and was completely understandable based on their characters. After the relationship was revealed, however, Talia was [[Put on a Bus]] {{spoiler|and later suffered a [[Bus Crash]] due to disagreements with her real life actress; there's a left over [[Chekhov's Gun]] saying she will come back}}.
* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' did a textbook example recently. In what is perhaps a sign that this trope is starting to become [[Discredited Trope|discredited]], both lesbian and mainstream reviewers responded with a yawn and a "Seriously? In 2009?" Viewers, apparently, weren't impressed, either.
* [[Winona Ryder]] showed up on ''[[Friends]]'' as an old friend with a crush on Rachel. Winona kissed Rachel, then promptly disappeared from the series forever, her purpose fulfilled... or perhaps not, since the episode didn't even win its timeslot.
** That kiss was immediately followed by [[Cloudcuckoolander|Phoebe]] kissing Rachel "just to see what all the fuss is about."
* In the season finale of Courtney Cox's struggling FX series ''Dirt'', Cox's character shared a liplock with a rival played by Jennifer Aniston in a last ditch attempt for ratings. Aniston's character was never seen again. The kiss caused a minor stir among entertainment publications, but unfortunately for ''Dirt'', the angle was less "OMG Rachel and Monica kissed!!!" and more "Wow, Courtney Cox's show is desperate for viewers," thus proving again why this trope is becoming [[Discredited Trope|discredited]].
Line 41:
* Beautifully averted by ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', where Willow and Tara's first kiss was neither gratuitous nor shown in the previews. (First on-screen kiss: the characters had been a couple for almost a year at that point.)
** Not only that but it appeared on a [[Wham! Episode]] that was about something extremely, disturbingly different.
* The previews of one ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' episode showed a ''very'' steamy make-out scene between Thirteen and another girl. Ironically, most of that footage wasn't even shown in the episode.
* ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' did a gender flipped version where Chuck kissed a guy.
** Two seasons later they did another one where ''Nate'' kissed a guy.
* ''[[Home and Away]]'' did this one as [[An Arc]] in 2009, although, being a soap, they really don't care about ratings.
* [[Glee]] managed to doubly subvert this in it's second season - the hype in the lead-up to the last episode of February sweeps mostly focussed on a ''straight'' kiss between a girl and a gay guy.
** Also, it's interesting to note that the very next episode ''after sweeps'' was the one where Santana gives her [[Anguished Declaration of Love]] to Brittany, and it didn't show them doing anything obscene like in "Duets."
*** I don't know what show you have been watching, but as far as Glee goes, feather-kissing someone's neck is pretty tame. Brittany and Santana's pseudo-voyeurism in the Rocky Horror Picture Show episode is more obscene than what they did in "Duets".
Line 52:
{{quote|"Know what Paul (Shaffer) and I are doing for our season finale? A lesbian kiss."}}
* ''Charlie's Angels'' (the 2011 remake) tried to generate some publicity by having Minka Kelly and Rachael Taylor kiss. It didn't work and the series was cancelled after only eight episodes, without airing the episode in question.
** They actually ended up cutting the lesbian kiss scene out of the eighth episode, perhaps as a reaction to the cancellation. When it aired on UK television, the scene was notably absent.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
Line 68:
[[Category:Kissing Tropes]]
[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]
[[Category:
| |||