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Heterosexualized Gay Characters
Will Truman, a lead character on the hit TV show “Will and Grace", is handsome,
career-oriented, and a successful partner at a law firm in New York City. His
homosexuality is aired out within the first episode and so is his very close relationship with
his best friend, Grace Adler. They dated in college until Will came out of the closet, and
within the first season Will asks Grace to move in. Keep in mind that Will is depicting a
male homosexual living in NYC. In order to balance with Will’s serious and what some
might think of as not-so-gay personality, Grace who works as an interior decorator, is very
humorous and fun. The focus of the show is on these two best friends, whom beside the
fact that Will is gay, are the perfect “couple"(Connolly 288). “Will and Grace" is one of the
first prime-time television series on NBC with an openly gay character, yet never portrays
the true-life struggles of same sex couples.
Marisa Connolly investigates the show’s success and the relationship between the
two lead characters in her short essay, “Homosexuality on Television". Connolly mentions
that unlike the show “Ellen" staring Ellen Degeneres, homosexuality is never preached on
“Will and Grace" but on the contrary shown as a lifestyle. A lot of
emphasis was placed on Ellen’s coming out in the show, according to TV critics, making
the show “too political and didactic" (Connolly 288). On the other hand, Will’s sexuality is
less in-your-face and more heterosexual, thus creating a comfortable show for everyone to
watch. This is what also helped the show go mainstream and become widely popular.
In early episodes Will is shown as to having problems with his orientation- especially at
the law firm he works for and later becomes comfortable with it. Since Will doesn’t have
stereotypical “gay" behaviors on the show, the question rises of why is
gay Will heterosexualized? Most importantly, in the relationship with his best friend?
Will has yet to have an on screen romance like many that Grace has had. So is the show
accurately portraying the life of a gay man living with his best friend? Connolly reviews
different heterosexual metaphors the media places on the relationship between Will and
Grace. The media refers to the best friends as a “couple", and even points out the love
between them but using the word “romance". I agree with Connolly when she concludes
