roseanne And The Kiss :: essays research papers

Roseanne and The KissThis past winter break, myself and one of my best friends were drivingdown one of the main roadstead in our home town of Elmira, New York. I happened tolook up at a billboard that was on the side of the road, and saw a cross thatread something like Be safe, be smart, be protected. I thought to myself(immediately) well, thats a big improvement from a few years ago when goloshads werent even allowed on television. Then I noticed, it had the dauntless symbolsof the upside down pink triangle, and the symbols of two men and two womentogether. My first thought was why is this demand then I mentioned thatto my friend. He didnt notice, but we both kind of laughed and agreed that whydoes it have to be gay people that need to protect themselves? We (straightpeople) are just as much at risk--what was the point? The point is, that it hasbecome mainstream and accepted to be gay in this society now, so they can dothat. Only three years ago, however, it was a bit different .Roseanne helped to set a trend in society that has made it moreacceptable to be gay in the media. From the billboard I saw, to Roseannes now(in)famous kiss with another woman. Roseanne has contributed to this trendimmensely with her television amazecom.To begin with, the series Roseanne has had gay characters on it for a immense time. Roseannes boss Leon was gay, and after(prenominal) the kiss his role on theshow became more outspoken as he got married to his lover in the season afterRoseanne kissed another woman.In the 1994, Roseanne had a homosexual encounter with another womanplayed by Mariel Hemingway in a gay bar. The episode was entitled Dont ask,Dont discern seemingly making light of Bill Clintons policy of gays in themilitary. The plot of this episode is, that Roseanne goes into a gay bar withher bisexual friend Nancy, played by outspoken bisexual actress Sandra Bernhard.Roseanne dances with Nancys new girlfriend Sharon (Hemmingway). Thesituation is uncomfortable to Rose annes sister Jackie who also went with them,but Roseanne has a great time. After dancing with Sharon, the two sit down tochat, one thing leads to another and Roseanne makes a joke which ismisinterpreted by Sharon, and she kisses Roseanne. The rest of the episodedeals with Roseannes discomfort with the kiss.The episode was finally aired, but it went through a lot of trouble todo so.