What are the origins of "the straight woman with a gay best friend" cliché?
December 29, 2009 10:54 AM Subscribe
What are the origins of "the straight woman with a gay best friend" cliché?
1998 - Sex and the City
1997 - My Best Friend's Wedding
1992 - Single White Female
1981 - Love, Sidney
1976 - California Suite
1969 - William Goldman, The Season: Generally, the homosexual doesn't have to hide quite as much as he once did. ... Another reason is that various people of import, opinion makers if you will, enjoy the company of homosexuals. Princess Radziwill, for example, is rarely without a homosexual, and her sister, Jacqueline Kennedy, has her court homosexuals too.
1958 - Breakfast at Tiffany's
It's already coded at this point. [Holly addresses the narrator as "Maude," which, in the gay slang of the time, refers either to a male prostitute or a homosexual.] So perhaps nothing older will clearly identify the man as gay. But perhaps I'm forgetting some screwball comedy of the Thirties with a "fussy bachelor" friend.
1998 - Sex and the City
1997 - My Best Friend's Wedding
1992 - Single White Female
1981 - Love, Sidney
1976 - California Suite
1969 - William Goldman, The Season: Generally, the homosexual doesn't have to hide quite as much as he once did. ... Another reason is that various people of import, opinion makers if you will, enjoy the company of homosexuals. Princess Radziwill, for example, is rarely without a homosexual, and her sister, Jacqueline Kennedy, has her court homosexuals too.
1958 - Breakfast at Tiffany's
It's already coded at this point. [Holly addresses the narrator as "Maude," which, in the gay slang of the time, refers either to a male prostitute or a homosexual.] So perhaps nothing older will clearly identify the man as gay. But perhaps I'm forgetting some screwball comedy of the Thirties with a "fussy bachelor" friend.
(Not that eunuchs are necessarily gay, but the idea of a non-sexual male companion is pretty old)
posted by oinopaponton at 10:58 AM on December 29, 2009
posted by oinopaponton at 10:58 AM on December 29, 2009
In my experience, there is a very real pattern within gay male and straight female cultures of this pairing (much more common than say, a gay man and a dyke best friend pair). I'm not sure of the other reasons why this has become a pop culture stereotype - perhaps the presence of the straight woman weakens (makes less threatening) the presence of the gay man by putting him in a male/female duo?
posted by serazin at 11:24 AM on December 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by serazin at 11:24 AM on December 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
Erik Rhodes in The Gay Divorcee! "Your wife is safe with Tonetti--he prefers spaghetti."
Mae West had a lot of flamboyantly gay sidekicks, including the cabaret and drag artist Ray Bourbon.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:27 AM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
Mae West had a lot of flamboyantly gay sidekicks, including the cabaret and drag artist Ray Bourbon.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:27 AM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
I'd add Tales of the City to Joe Beese's list.
posted by cestmoi15 at 11:32 AM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by cestmoi15 at 11:32 AM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
According to the Wikipedia page, the phrase "fag hag" was well-known enough to be included in the 1980 movie Fame, which I know post-dates your earliest examples.
It might be useful to look for examples of implicitly gay characters (who may have female friends) included in the documentary The Celluloid Closet. And this Amazon list titled Closeted: Implicitly Gay Characters of Classic Cinema led me to the 1948 Clifton Webb Film Sitting Pretty, which looks promising.
This Salon story (titled: Ladies: I'm not your gay boyfriend) gives some possibly helpful explanation. It also references a documentary, Fag Hags: Women Who Love Gay Men, that may have more information.
The classic fag hags were theatrical, brassy, unconventional; they were the Liza Minnellis, Bette Midlers and Liz Taylors of the world. They drifted toward gay culture because they perceived themselves as outsiders, and bonded with gay men over shared feelings of social rejection, and love of camp, and appreciation of John Waters movies. ... "The company of the gay man gives the straight woman the potential to express her sexuality without feeling the need to tone it down," says Justine Pimlott, director of the documentary "Fag Hags: Women Who Love Gay Men." "There's a mutual identification."
For most of gay history, the fag hag held a coveted spot. "They're the unsung heroes of the gay world," says Shawn Hollenbach, the creator of New York's Miss Fag Hag Pageant. It was a mutually fulfilling relationship: Men got the appearance of heterosexual legitimacy and intimacy free of sexual tension; women got a touch of glamour and performance and exoticism.
posted by purpleclover at 11:35 AM on December 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
It might be useful to look for examples of implicitly gay characters (who may have female friends) included in the documentary The Celluloid Closet. And this Amazon list titled Closeted: Implicitly Gay Characters of Classic Cinema led me to the 1948 Clifton Webb Film Sitting Pretty, which looks promising.
This Salon story (titled: Ladies: I'm not your gay boyfriend) gives some possibly helpful explanation. It also references a documentary, Fag Hags: Women Who Love Gay Men, that may have more information.
The classic fag hags were theatrical, brassy, unconventional; they were the Liza Minnellis, Bette Midlers and Liz Taylors of the world. They drifted toward gay culture because they perceived themselves as outsiders, and bonded with gay men over shared feelings of social rejection, and love of camp, and appreciation of John Waters movies. ... "The company of the gay man gives the straight woman the potential to express her sexuality without feeling the need to tone it down," says Justine Pimlott, director of the documentary "Fag Hags: Women Who Love Gay Men." "There's a mutual identification."
For most of gay history, the fag hag held a coveted spot. "They're the unsung heroes of the gay world," says Shawn Hollenbach, the creator of New York's Miss Fag Hag Pageant. It was a mutually fulfilling relationship: Men got the appearance of heterosexual legitimacy and intimacy free of sexual tension; women got a touch of glamour and performance and exoticism.
posted by purpleclover at 11:35 AM on December 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
It's been forever since I read his stuff, but I swear Oscar Wilde plays had male confidants for some of his female characters, and that was sort of the implication. Could be wrong.
As far as the origins of the cliche, i'm going to go w/ most and I'd say, you know: "Life"
In the sense that people have been gay since we've been people, and this dynamic was even around in roman times if i'm not mistaken.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 11:36 AM on December 29, 2009 [3 favorites]
As far as the origins of the cliche, i'm going to go w/ most and I'd say, you know: "Life"
In the sense that people have been gay since we've been people, and this dynamic was even around in roman times if i'm not mistaken.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 11:36 AM on December 29, 2009 [3 favorites]
When you refer to "the origins" of the cliche, do you mean the first extent reference in some kind of media? The answer to that question is probably different from an accurate explanation of why it's a cliche. I would guess that it's a cliche because it accurately describes reality. People didn't just start interacting in this way because they saw it in movies; the phenomenon you're describing really exists.
posted by Jaltcoh at 11:36 AM on December 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by Jaltcoh at 11:36 AM on December 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
This post on the blue is about the article that purpleclover mentioned above, and the ensuing discussion may offer some more insight.
posted by amyms at 11:44 AM on December 29, 2009
posted by amyms at 11:44 AM on December 29, 2009
It's been forever since I read his stuff, but I swear Oscar Wilde plays had male confidants for some of his female characters, and that was sort of the implication. Could be wrong.
Definitely wrong. In fact, it's weirdly the reverse--whenever female characters turn to male characters for friendship, the male character makes an unexpected sexual play for them.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:48 AM on December 29, 2009
Definitely wrong. In fact, it's weirdly the reverse--whenever female characters turn to male characters for friendship, the male character makes an unexpected sexual play for them.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:48 AM on December 29, 2009
Response by poster: Jaltcoh: "When you refer to "the origins" of the cliche, do you mean the first extent reference in some kind of media?"
Short answer: Yes.
I mean, oinopaponton is right - the social phenomenon has been around as long as civilization itself. But it's now a romantic comedy cliché as well - largely due to Will & Grace, which I meant to include in my list but forgot. And I don't think you'd have had Will & Grace without Breakfast at Tiffany's, etc.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:53 AM on December 29, 2009
Short answer: Yes.
I mean, oinopaponton is right - the social phenomenon has been around as long as civilization itself. But it's now a romantic comedy cliché as well - largely due to Will & Grace, which I meant to include in my list but forgot. And I don't think you'd have had Will & Grace without Breakfast at Tiffany's, etc.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:53 AM on December 29, 2009
Because I'm bored at work, I'm racking my brain trying to think of ancient examples of woman/eunuch friendships (trying to find woman/gay man friendships would probably be pretty fruitless due to the ancient way of looking at sexualities), and I can't find much. Terence's comedy The Eunuch touches on the implicit trust placed in Eunuchs by people who valued preserving a woman's honor-- but instead of being BFFs with the girl in question, Terence's "eunuch" rapes her. So, there's that.
A slightly better real-life example: the Byzantine empress Theodora was really tight with her eunuch, Narses. When Theodora died fairly young, her husband Justinian honored her memory by promoting Narses (with whom he had some significant religious differences) to a high military post.
But, again, eunuchs are not the same as gay men, so I guess looking for media created post-1890s (after the term "homosexual" was coined) will probably yield better results.
posted by oinopaponton at 12:09 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
A slightly better real-life example: the Byzantine empress Theodora was really tight with her eunuch, Narses. When Theodora died fairly young, her husband Justinian honored her memory by promoting Narses (with whom he had some significant religious differences) to a high military post.
But, again, eunuchs are not the same as gay men, so I guess looking for media created post-1890s (after the term "homosexual" was coined) will probably yield better results.
posted by oinopaponton at 12:09 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
I'd include Suddenly, Last Summer on this list (Tennessee Williams, 1958)
posted by Sophie1 at 12:38 PM on December 29, 2009
posted by Sophie1 at 12:38 PM on December 29, 2009
Georgie Pillson in E.F. Benson's Lucia books (1920-1939)?
posted by bentley at 5:32 PM on December 29, 2009
posted by bentley at 5:32 PM on December 29, 2009
Suddenly Last Summer dealt with cousins, not friends....and it's made clear that Catherine knows that Sebastian was using her.
posted by brujita at 11:13 PM on December 29, 2009
posted by brujita at 11:13 PM on December 29, 2009
« Older Outside chili, stew, and meatballs - what else can... | Unemployment insurance for a sole-proprietor... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by oinopaponton at 10:58 AM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]