The Beard: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8.2
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'''Maggie''': He can’t be gay if he’s got a daughter.
'''Andy''': [[Oscar Wilde]] was married with two kids.
'''Maggie''': Well he couldn’t have been gay.
|''[[Extras]]''}}
{{quote|'''Penny''': ''"Will you just play along until my dad leaves?"''
'''Leonard''': ''"Hold on. You actually want me to'' deceive ''your father with some sham, play-acting and kissing 'cause I'm GOOD with that!"''
|''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''}}
A character who pretends to be another's Significant Other in order to perpetrate a deception.
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Compare [[Citizenship Marriage]] and [[Undercover As Lovers]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* Nakahara played
* In ''[[Love Hina]]'' this sort of thing happens a couple of times. Once when Keitaro plays boyfriend to Motoko in order to keep her from being forced back to run her family's dojo. The punch line is that when it is exposed, said elder sister decides to force them to get married...
** This also a different take on the [[Will They or Won't They?]] instance where the Beard (or the person using the Beard) is a rival to the other part of the [[Will They or Won't They?]] couple.
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** In the anime version of ''Marmalade Boy'', Ryouko Momoi agreed to temporarily be Namura-sensei's beard in regards to Meiko Akizuki; he thought he wasn't worth all the trouble Meiko had already gone through, and wanted her to be free. {{spoiler|Eventually, when this messed up Meiko ''even more'', Ryouko grew tired and told her the truth. Namura recognized it wasn't working and broke the charade off, dating and eventually marrying Meiko}}.
* Implied to be why Prince Schneizel of ''[[Code Geass]]'' keeps appearing with Nina Einstein in public - as his aide and brother drop very big hints about his true sexuality. Of course, Nina herself is [[Psycho Lesbian|desperately in love with]] the prince's [[Dead Little Sister|deceased little sister]]...
* When matters of honor came to a head in ''[[Ranma ½]]'', Akane and Ranma pretended to be married so Ukyo would give up her claim. It backfired spectacularly;
* In the ''[[Rosario + Vampire]]'' manga, Tsukune is forced to play the beard for both Kurumu and Mizore at the same time, in order to convince their respective mothers that they have successfully seduced Tsukune. An interesting take on this trope is that the beard and the people using him are all part of the same [[Harem]].
* In ''[[Maria Holic]]'' Kiri decides to act as a lesbian beard to Kanako so that the jealous [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]] won't think that Kanako is involved the popular Ishima Ryuuken. Since Kanako really is a closet lesbian, this could have been a pretty original and interesting side plot... but unfortunately the matter got dropped for no adequately explained reason and nothing ever came of it.
* In ''[[
* ''[[The Day of Revolution]]'': Megumi, a young transexual in transition, is having trouble adjusting in part because all of her former Nakama are doggedly pursuing her now that she's [[Jumping the Gender Barrier|Jumped the Gender Barrier.]] So her best friend/therapist Makoto suggests Megumi use her younger brother Mikoto as a
* Light in ''[[Death Note]]'' pretended that Misa was his girlfriend in order to A) appear more normal and B) convince Misa to help him kill L. He also told his mother and sister that he had a girlfriend before he met Misa, as an excuse for being out of the house so often.
* In the ''[[Sasameki Koto]]'' manga, [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|Tomoe]] suggests that [[Transparent Closet|Sumika]] get a fake boyfriend to help her PR while she's campaigning for student council president, and they settle for [[Hopeless Suitor|Akemiya]], {{spoiler|who happily goes along with it... and unthinkingly shows up to their date in ''his crossdressing persona''.}}
* ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum]]'' eventually reveals that the relationship between {{spoiler|Tabuki and Yuri}} is this, and is a mutual setup in order to {{spoiler|get Tabuki's first love Momoka back -- and it turns out Yuri ''also'' loved her}}. Also is this trope in the more traditional sense in that {{spoiler|Yuri}} is apparently gay or bisexual.
==
* In [[Batman]], Bruce Wayne's girlfriends are little more than an endless string of
* In ''[[The Muppet Show]] Comic Book'', Fozzie's mother is coming to visit. As she's under the impression that he's not only successful and the partner of a noted detective (because he told her so), she's bringing a girl with her, clearly intending to play matchmaker. Not wanting to be fixed up with some loser, Fozzie gets Skeeter to pretend to be his girlfriend. Then he meets the girl bear...
* There's a scene in the graphic novel ''Shortcomings'' where Ben, the main character, has to act as this for his gay friend Alice when they go meet her parents at church.
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== Fan Fiction ==
* [
* In [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2163835/1/The_Refiners_Fire Refiner's Fire], Harry asks Ginny to be his pretend girlfriend to keep away a crowd of... interested... schoolgirls. After a couple of weeks, he asks her out for real.
* ''[[Princess (fanfic)|Princess]]'': Marlene assumes Julien was using her for this when he comes out as a female-to-male [[Transsexualism]], and is very, very angry.
{{quote|"I'm not one of your [[Girlfriend in Canada|girlfriends in Canada]]!"}}
* In many [[
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* ''[[The Wedding Banquet]]''. A gay Taiwanese-American landowner marries one of his tenants so that she can get a green card and his parents will stop matchmaking for him. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* In ''[[Easy A]]'' Olive makes up a relatively innocent and tame story of how she lost her virginity over the past weekend, but the rumor mill spreads it so far and blows it so wildly out of proportion that she gains a reputation as a slut almost overnight. When talking to Brandon, a friend dealing with torment and bullying due to his sexuality, she mentions how drastically a person's social status can change after a single juicy story and she agrees to pretend to sleep with him in order to convince the school he is straight. This is amazingly successful (For him, anyway) and soon many other unpopular boys are coming to her for help looking cool.
* ''[[Just Go with It]]'' features ''Devlin''
* ''Russian Dolls,'' the sequel to [[The Spanish Inn]], has Xavier convincing his lesbian best friend Isabelle to masquerade as his girlfriend for his grandfather, as Xavier is worried his grandfather will die before he finds someone to be in a relationship with. Isabelle is incredibly grumpy through the whole thing (mostly because she has to wear a dress) and {{spoiler|forces Xavier to wear the dress as well as makeup, referring to him as "my wife" for the rest of the night}} as payback
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== Literature ==
* Used in [[Georgette Heyer]]'s ''Cotillion'': Kitty persuades her [[Not Blood Relatives|cousin]] Freddy to pretend to be her fiancé in an [[Operation: Jealousy]]. Later, she pretends to be flirting with her other cousin, Dolph, in order to cover up Dolph's love affair with another woman.
* Played less idyllically with Lord John and Bree from the later ''[[Outlander (novel)|Outlander]]'' books. She's pregnant. He's gay, and a good many years her senior, as well as close friends with her dad. Considering the time period, it's not the unhappiest of
* Rosa and Sammy in ''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay'' get married in 1941 for a double-purpose: Rosa is pregnant by another man, who had then run off (for an unrelated reason), and so needs a husband, and Sammy is secretly gay.
* In the novel ''Thrones, Dominations'', the "boyfriend" of a missing actress tells [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] that their relationship is only friendly; she dates him to scare off an unpleasantly lecherous colleague, and he dates her because it makes him appear straight.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* In an early episode of ''[[Kate And Allie]]'', the titular characters played
** In a later episode, Kate was hired to portray the wife of a client to help him get promoted. She ended up falling for his co-worker.
* One episode of ''[[Who's The Boss?]]'' had Tony Danza and the woman he was housekeeping for switching between pretending to be married for one person and trying to prove they weren't married for another.
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** The whole premise of the show is that Jack is wearing a fake shave so to speak.
* Played with on ''[[Doctor Who]]'' when the Doctor discusses the latest appearance of the Master [[The Nth Doctor|with himself]].
{{quote|'''5th Doctor:''' Does he still have [[Beard of Evil|that rubbish beard?]]
'''10th Doctor:''' No, no beard this time. [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Well, a wife]]. }}
* In ''[[Ugly Betty]]'', Marc "dumps" Amanda as his beard, and she gets revenge by forcing him to use Betty as a new "girlfriend" to show off to his mother.
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* Wonderfully used in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' when known womanizer Barney Stinson was revealed to hire an actress to play the part of his wife... not to cheat or otherwise hurt anyone, but to fulfill a promise to his mother to get married if she recovers from an illness. He even went to the extent of hiring a kid to play their son.
** And of course, earlier on in the series, Lily pretended to be Barney's wife so his one-night stands would leave in the morning and never bother him again.
* In ''[[The L Word]]'', back during Dana's [[Transparent Closet]] phase, she and her male tennis doubles partner served as
* In ''[[Boston Legal]]'', this is probably the best place to put the Denny and Alan marriage. Whilst there is no doubt they are not in a physical gay relationship, it is done to keep Denny's estate from being devoured by the government when he dies.
** Only partly that; if anything Denny threw that in to sweeten the pot when first proposing to Alan. {{spoiler|It's mainly done as Denny has started to suffer the effects of Alzheimer's disease, and Alan is the only person he trusts to care for him when Denny is no longer capable of looking after himself.}}
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** Sam dating [[Armoured Closet Gay|Santana.]] Later, when she learns that Karofsky is as deep in the closet as her, she blackmails ''him'' into going to the prom with her as part of a scheme to get Kurt back and increase her standing with the rest of the club (specifically Brittany).
* ''[[Ally McBeal]]'': Ally and Elaine kiss to make a man persistently asking Ally out to think that she's a lesbian.
* ''[[The Office]]'': A story arc in Season 7 involves Angela dating a (state) senator whom Oscar believes to be gay. The implication is that the senator is using Angela as
* In Episode 9 of ''[[Leonardo]]'', Lisa's mother arrives, wanting to bring her back to her [[Arranged Marriage]]. Lisa claims to be married to Macchiavelli.
{{quote|'''Sofia''': Well, Niccolo, I can see how much you like my daughter. But if you think I'm stupid enough to be taken in by this charade, you've got another think coming. }}
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** They also did "Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend", which was reportedly inspired by a photo of George Michael with a beard, and written about the singer's experiences dating one.
* Jens Lekman sings "Nina I can't be your boyfriend/So you can stay with your girlfriend" in "Postcard to Nina"; she wants to spare the feelings of her Catholic father.
* "Gay Boyfriend" by [[Garfunkel and Oates]] is, as one might imagine, sung from the perspective of
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* Also done in an episode of ''[[Drawn Together]]'', where Spanky acts out a gay mariage with Xandir (who actually is) in hopes of getting free health insurance.
** And an episode where Xandir acts as Toots lover for her fat camp reunion.
* Done in ''[[Futurama]]'' in "A Flight to Remember", where Fry has to be
** In this case, Leela used Fry to keep Zapp Brannigan away from her, and Amy used him to deflect her parents' attempts to hook her up with any guy they could find [[I Want Grandkids|as long as it resulted in grandkids]]. But then Leela [[Becoming the Mask|started actually getting jealous when she saw Fry and Amy "together"]]...
* Naturally, ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' did this. Homer and Selma had to fake marriage in order for Selma to be allowed to adopt a child. Apu and Marge did the same for Apu to get out of an arranged marriage.
** And there's also the time Troy married Selma to resurrect his career in light of rumors of his fish-related "sexual abnormality".
** And with Marge's other sister, Patty, her onetime relationship with Skinner might've been a [[
*** Considering the fact that the throw-away-line "There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality" became accidental canon, it's entirely possible that Patty just "discovered" being gay, or was bisexual and now leans entirely towards women. Not an unrealistic situation.
* In one episode of ''[[Lilo
* Cleveland's boss from [[The Cleveland Show]] in one episode had a wife or at least was pretending to be and everyone thinks or knows that the boss is gay, later he asks for his beard and the "wife" shows up holding a Santa beard.
* On ''[[King of the Hill]],'' Dale's dad, Bug, tried to pull off the gay version of this trope when he was still in the closet. After Dale's wedding, Bug was flirting with an attractive Filipino caterer when Dale came into the room. He quickly grabbed, in his own words, "the nearest thing in a dress"
* The "Fake-out Make-out" from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.
* ''[[American Dad]]'' had an episode centering on this. The Smiths' gay neighbor Terry promises his partner Greg that he'll come out to his domineering father...but gets cold feet at the last minute and instead claims that Stan's wife Francine is his girlfriend, and that Stan and Greg are "the homos from across the street". Terry's dad seems to buy it, despite the obvious signs and Stan not doing a single thing to act gay.
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* Liza Minelli is often (snarkily) said to be this for her last husband, David Gest.
* A few years ago, Ian Wishart claimed that the then-Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, was a lesbian with a gay husband. Controversy ensued.
* According to the celebrity gossip blogs and their commenters, any woman who dates a handsome young Hollywood celebrity is a beard, because every last one of them is gay. Even when these men are serial monogamists who eventually marry, they're still gay, and the women they date are sniffily referred to as "the professional beard" and given the side-eye from there on in. Not surprisingly, Hollywood doesn't seem to have a large population of sexually active women (straight or lesbian) or conventionally
** Based on this, there's a persistent rumor that [[Taylor Swift]] is either gay or is the beard for all her boyfriends, because most of them have been suspected to be gay at some point, despite the fact half of the people she is supposedly the beard for have never actually dated her.
* In China, because of the immense pressure to get married and have kids, somewhere around 80% of the gay population marries straight people. This has resulted in an interesting phenomenon where various places will host [http://www.slate.com/id/2279907 "fake-marriage markets"] where gay and lesbian people can meet and look for someone who is willing to play the beard for them (and vice versa).
* Played for
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Queer As Tropes]]
[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, The}}
[[Category:
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