Tuesday 8 March 2011

Further Eastenders egs

Although it was C4 and Brookside that broke the taboo of the lesbian kiss, Eastenders was the groundbreaker with the first male gay couple featured kissing, as touched on in an earlier post. Another example here from a long-running storyline about a decade later:

If you watch this on the YouTube page, you'll see a real mix of views, including some strong homophobic opinions.
More recently they've gone for a storyline which throws religion into an already combustible mix (though will we still see a gay kiss on TV as noteworthy in a decade's time?); this is apparently an unbroadcast clip, trailed on the BBC's website:

This is the broadcast scene that caused a rumpus:

At A2 we get more into wider aspects of the media, including the ideology or values of media such as the press. This is a perfect example; here's 3 publications covering this 'story'; one is a notoriously homophobic, right-wing source which caused outrage itself with its vicious attack on Boyzone singer Stephen Gately in the week of his death and funeral - can you guess which one that is?
Complaints pour into BBC after EastEnders screens gay kiss before the watershed
TV ratings: Gay kiss lifts EastEnders to nearly 8m
EastEnders gay kiss watched by nearly 8 million