Great Expectations

In response to the recent Daniel Tosh rape joke controversy, many people brought up the issue of expectation. They argued that people are not entitled to complain about a comedian’s brand of humour because they decided to watch it and should know what to expect. We apply such logic on a regular basis. It dictates, among other things, which televisions shows we choose to tune into and which we choose to bypass. It is why I avoid the inherent sexism found in shows like Manswers.  However, it is with this same level of expectation that we may let certain comments on our favourite shows slip by undetected.

Since it began in 2000, Gilmore Girls has been my feel good show of choice. A few months back, I popped in a season five DVD I had watched countless times. Yet for the first time, I caught the main character Lorelai, known for her quick-witted banter, say the following:

LORELAI: Okay. But I’m warning you. If I call and tell her, and then you change your mind and you want to back out, we’re going to have to leave the country. And have extensive facial surgery, and sex changes. Both of us, so that we can, you know, kiss and not look funny.

Between all her fast talking charm, I had repeatedly let that line go unnoticed. It made me question, what other blatant examples of homophobia had I missed? And which bigoted statements am I ignoring on shows that are currently airing? Our preconceived expectations may help prepare ourselves for offensive comments but they can also be the thing that allows us to glaze over them. It similarly took years of watching Friends reruns to discover that the humour in the show often relied on mocking the gay or transgender characters, as evidenced by this interaction between Chandler’s mother and transgender father:

CHARLES: Aren’t you a little old to be wearing a dress like that?

NORA: Don’t you have a little too much penis to be wearing a dress like that?

While people are often quick to chastise the writers behind popular television shows for their offensive sound bites, we tend to expect more from our cherished characters whom we invest so much emotional energy into. When we do happen to catch the intolerant nature of these comments, it can be unsettling to hear them come from the mouths of the characters we love. In such instances, I find myself searching the quotes for any signs of subversion or irony. I rewind them on the off chance that I misheard the words. Afterwards comes the inevitable question of what to do next. Do I stop watching the show or forgive my fictional friends for their verbal faux pas? More often than not, I continue to tune in, but now armed with a new set of expectations and the reminder that television may be entertaining but it is never truly an escape.