When you look at a show like Sex and the City, the homosexual characters are nothing but cliches - and loud, flamboyant ones at that. This is not to say that gay men are not sometimes loud and flamboyant, but what Sex And The City says is that ALL gay men are like this. Looking shows a variety of men who happen to be gay but shows them as people. Every person is different so why can't every gay man be different? The majority of the cast are, in fact, gay in real life so they take the diversity of its characters very seriously and show them accurately. Although a lot of gay men do struggle with their homosexuality, a lot of them don't and our three main characters are firmly in the latter category. They're happy and comfortable being gay. The show doesn't look at this, it doesn't analyse , it simply continues. The stories are about gay men, not their choices of being gay; it's about their lives - the perils of their relationships. What Looking does, therefore, is give an accurate representation of the 21st century's comfortable - I use this word because not all gay men are - gay man. The 21st century gay man doesn't second guess life when he walks out of the door, he walks out as is. The three main characters don't hide their homosexuality, they don't scream cliches. They're human beings and human beings are all different.
Thomas Stewart is a graduate from the University of Glamorgan and currently a student on the MA in Writing course at the University of Warwick. He is a Freelance Writer for Mens Fashion Magazine, Make and Believe, Smashpipe and more. As well as writing, he loves horror films, folk music, Raymond Carver, patterned jumpers, Richard Yates, curry, Scarlett Thomas, editing, chick-flicks, watches and biscuits.
