Where Everybody Knows Your Flame: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Now tell me do ya

 

 

 

 

As is the [[Rule of Cool]], gay audiences will note that such bars will be larger, sleeker, flashier, wilder, and generally far more interesting than anything they have in their own neck of the woods, unless they live in a big city. In fiction, the gay bars in Youngstown, Ohio are just as huge and lively as anything in West Hollywood.

 

Depending on the reaction of the characters, this is a [[Sub-Trope]] of either [[Coolest Club Ever]] or [[Bad Guy Bar]]. Contrast [[Bikini Bar]], which if anything is ''[[Double Standard|tamer]]'' than the [[Real Life]] places it portrays. Often used to set up [[Queer People Are Funny|jokes at the patrons' expense]]. Often, this sort of bar will be used for a [[Gay Bar Reveal]]; in this case, it's going to have to be for a parody of the trope because it is near impossible to mistake this sort of club for what it is.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Any gay or fetish bar in [[Vertigo Comics]]:

* Counter example, the ''[[Batman]]'' special ''Batman and the Ultimate Evil'' features a nice, friendly gay bar called the Lavender Dragon, to contrast the wholesomeness of consenting adult homosexuals with the sleazy business of paedophilia (the Ultimate Evil of the title).

 

* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/992536/1/ Arisugawa's Locket.] [[Girls Love|No men allowed.]]

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fanficverse, or at least the ''[[This Time Round]]'' 'verse, has [http://www.ttrarchive.com/cotc.html The Steel Maiden Bar & Grill].

 

== [[Film]] ==

* There's one of these in ''[[But I'm a Cheerleader]]''.

*** Until Andre` gets down on the floor.

* The infamous 1980 movie ''Cruising'' is made of this trope, with an emphasis on the depraved and scary nature of the gay club scene.

** Averted, however, in that it's just a somewhat upscale bar with non-stereotypically gay patrons.

* In Brazilian film ''Diva'', the protagonist is taken to a gay club by her date (who is straight).

* Probably the earliest depiction of a gay bar in film is in the 1919 German silent film ''Different from the Others''. It looks pretty much like any other German beerhall, except that the men are waltzing with each other rather than with women.

* Averted in ''[[Chasing Amy]]'', when Alyssa takes Banky, Holden, and Hooper to a bar in New York. It's a normal New York dive bar, so much so that Holden doesn't realize the significance that Alyssa chose it until after he's fallen for her.

* The nightclub that Armand and Albert own in ''[[The Birdcage]]''.

 

* Amusing parody of the trope: In [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[IT]]'', the landlord of a failing bar, the Falcon, is relieved when business picks up, in the form of quiet, youngish men who start patronizing his establishment. It takes him weeks to work out that his bar has become the official gay bar of the town, but once he's aware of it, he starts listening to gossip and begins to hear about all the orgies and perversions that straight men who would never dare set foot in the place ("In case all their wrist muscles went instantly limp") just ''know'' are going on there on a nightly basis. He also finds that his bar now suffers fewer breakages and less violence between patrons, making it more profitable to run.

 

* Averted in at least one episode of [[Burn Notice]]. A gay bar Sam and Fiona visit for information looks no different than any of the other drinking locations that the show visits besides the fact that Fiona's the only woman in it. Admittedly, though, nearly every bar in the show's version of Miami is pretty flashy.

* This place or something like it is extremely popular in the ''[[Law and Order]]'' series.

** And if you look closely enough, [[Armoured Closet Gay|police commander Bill Rawls]].

** Subverted when Kima Greggs and her girlfriend go drinking with two other gay women. They might be in a lesbian bar or they might not be - you can't tell.

** The show being what it is, Dennis ultimately gets his [[Ass Shove|comeuppance]], if you know what we mean.

* Averted in an episode of ''[[Roseanne]]'' in which the main character and her sister visit a lesbian bar with a gay friend. Most if not all of the patrons are regular people having a fun night out at a bar; Roseanne dances with her friend, and the one person who does hit on an uncomfortable Jackie is simply a conventionally attractive woman who sees Jackie sitting alone at the bar, and backs off without incident when told that Jackie isn't interested.

* Nicely subverted in ''[[Rescue Me]]'': Because the homophobic character entering the bar doesn't see any stereotypical gay indicators, he doesn't realize it's a gay bar until all the patrons stand up to defend the man he's harassing.

* Subverted in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' with the Demon bar "Willy's Alibi": "It's a Demon bar! It's like a gay bar... with Demons!"

* [[Parks and Recreation]]: Pawnee apparently has quite a large, active gay community, despite being a smaller midwestern town. The local gay bar is full of lights and loud pop music, but otherwise averts most of the [[Camp Gay]] stereotypes.

** Probably justified, since while the gay bar in town fits this trope, most if not all of the bars in Pawnee seem to be more like dance clubs than little midwestern bars.

* ''[[Glee]]'' has Scandals, where the gay boys of the cast go with fake ID's. However, it's realistic in appearance and size for a gay bar in small town Ohio.

 

* "Uneasy Rider '88" by the Charlie Daniels Band, in which two cowboys get a flat and are forced to stop at a joint where one is asked to dance by a [[Drag Queen]], though [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|he doesn't realize it at first]]. (A stark contrast to their original "Uneasy Rider", which was about a hippie in a redneck bar.)

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** "Hercules" in ''[[Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony]].'' Notably, it's got all the stereotypes present but it is much smaller than its straight counterpart up the block.

* The first level of ''[[Action Doom 2 Urban Brawl]]'' ends in one of these. It's mostly an ordinary bar, if dark and empty, but it features bright disco lights and [[Expies]] of [[The Village People]] attacking you. The bartender is a suave guy with an elaborate hairdo who wears pink and cries if you beat up his precious car.

* Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland in ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]'' is a typical one of these. It's run by [[The Legend of Zelda|Tingle]], with second- and third-in-commands being [[F-Zero|Captain Falcon]] and [[Kid Icarus|Pit]]. This is also the reason we know that [[Fire Emblem|Marth and Ike]] are not [[Heterosexual Life Partners]] and that Samus may be bisexual if her actions right before Luigi tells they're leaving is anything to go by.

 

* ''[[Wright As Rayne]]'' opens set in one called The [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Cocktail]].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Also, the ''Simpsons'' episode "Homer's Phobia". Homer makes friends with a kitschy antique store owner who looks like ([[Ink Suit Actor|and is voiced by]]) John Waters, but breaks off the friendship when he finds out that John is gay and Bart may be being influenced by him. In an effort to [[A Worldwide Punomenon|straighten]] him out, Homer accidentally takes Bart to a steel mill that turns into a gay dance club/bar after the work day is over.

*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icIwKaci3MI We work hard, and we play hard.]

* ''[[Time Squad]]'' had a robotic version of a gay bar on the season two episode, "Day of the Larrys." Yes, you read that right: a kids' show [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|had what was a pretty obvious depiction of a gay bar]] (though it was more disco than bar [there was a disco ball and disco music playing], the implications were still there).

* One cutaway in ''[[Family Guy]]'' shows Stewie in a club full of hunky men all dancing shirtless with lasers and fog overhead.

** "I know the guy that owns this place!"

* Subverted on ''[[South Park]];'' the [[Gay Bar Reveal]] in "D-Yikes!" is more realistic because [[The Problem with Pen Island|Les Bos]] seems like a pretty normal bar, except that its clientele are all women (with a good number, though not all of them, unusually "butch").

 

* [[Truth in Television]]: In many smaller cities where it's not practical to have more than one or two gay nightspots they can certainly end up looking like this.

** Additionally, in more conservative small towns where the only open gay men are those who are [[Camp Gay]] or otherwise in the [[Transparent Closet]], most patrons to be found in these few gay nightspots tend to fit this stereotype.

 

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[[Category:Settings]]

[[Category:Queer As Tropes]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]