Lauren Goudie

 
Shameless
     Living below the poverty line in a run-down neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, the Gallagher family and friends survive one day at a time. Shameless: the name of the television series created by Paul Abbott, and distributed by Showtime and other streaming platforms, that follows the daily struggles in the lives of its underprivileged and chaotic characters. Paul Abbott and the producers of the series, including John Wells, Mark Mylod and Andrew Stern create a twisted yet realistic atmosphere that addresses many issues relevant to today’s societal struggles. It’s important to note that the show’s creators and producers are all white, heterosexual males. I chose to analyze the character Mickey Milkovich in Shameless due to the show’s popularity and inclusion of interesting dynamics regarding different minorities and stereotypes. In terms of representing aspects of the LGBTQ community, Shameless successfully provides realistic and relatable gay characters that defy popular homosexual stereotypes.
Mickey Milkovich
     Mickey Milkovich is the love interest of one of the main characters, Ian Gallagher. Despite having feelings for Ian, Mickey is not a stereotypical sensitive gay man and struggles with his homosexuality, reverting to being hyper masculine and aggressive. These types of characters have been classified as, “articulating a gender discourse increasingly anachronistic in a climate that hegemonically reifies sensitivity and emotional articulacy,” (Godfrey & Hamad, 2012). Mickey defies the post 9/11 paternalistic and sensitive masculine persona by being the neighborhood thug that eventually runs a prostitution business as a pimp. He hides behind this violent and brutal façade in order to affirm to the public that he is not a “faggot” to the public face. Mickey uses demeaning and homophobic language as a coping method while struggling with his sexuality. He struggles with accepting his sexuality for a long duration of the show because, “coming out is [an] intensely emotional, difficult, and personal experience for the homosexual,” (Berridge, 2011). His character is too emotionally unstable and lacks the supportive family aspect that many gay characters have in other media.
Homophobic Household
     A large influence on Mickey’s resistance to accepting his homosexuality is due to his homophobic and violent father. In a couple of episodes, Mickey’s father finds out about his son engaging in homosexual activities and tries to force Mickey into having sex with prostitutes. This is an example of the belief that certain forms of conversion therapy, including using prostitution, helps to change an individual’s sexual orientation. Although this has not been scientifically proven, “early attempts to reverse sexual orientation were founded on the unquestioned assumption that homosexuality is an unwanted, unhealthy condition,” (Haldeman, 1994). This situation between father and son successfully provides potentially relatable content for consumers who may be struggling with their sexuality or who lack someone to confide in.
Fighting His Way Out of the Closet
     After continuously struggling with his relationship with Ian due to his refusal to publicly accept his homosexuality, Mickey finally decides to come out. At this point in the show, Mickey is married to and has a child with a Russian prostitute. Unlike a typical father, Mickey doesn’t concern himself with the well-being of his bastard son and once again defies the paternalistic masculinity of post-9/11 culture. In Season 4 Episode 11: “Emily,” Mickey reveals that he is gay in front of a large room of family and friends, (Abbot, 2011). The scene immediately becomes violent when Mickey’s father attacks him, starting a fight, while screaming about killing him for being gay. This demonstrates an unfortunate yet common occurrence where, “family members are often portrayed as the most reluctant to accept their [child’s] sexuality… these exchanges are highly emotional, characterized by angry, tearful dialogue, raised voices, hurt expressions, and/or slamming doors,” (Berridge, 2011). Shameless’ depiction of this step in Mickey’s life shows a tough reality for a gay, underprivileged, and lower class white male.
#Gallovich
     In terms of consumption, Shameless attracted a large audience that fully supported the homosexual relationship between Ian and Mickey. The target audience for this show is aged 18-49, due to it’s 9:00 PM time slot on Showtime, (Kimball, 2012). Viewers went so far as to create a hashtag, #Gallovich, on Twitter combining the two boys’ names, establishing a significance in their relationship and deeming them “relationship goals.” Multiple tweets consisted of obsessing over, loving, and feeling personally connected to Ian and Mickey’s relationship. The show’s representation of these two gay individuals further promotes and elicits acceptance of on-screen gay interaction by audience members. Although their relationship has become romanticized, they maintain their masculinity by rough housing and calling each other demeaning names associated with feminine characteristics to assert their manliness and settle conflicts.
Conclusion
     In conclusion, Shameless’ representation Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich’s on-screen relationship exemplifies relationship struggles, identity crises, and sexuality issues that viewers can use to help understand the dynamic of a relationship similar to or different than their own. The significance of this critique is the analysis of the different portrayals of gay relationships in media. Shameless successfully provides its audience with relatable and realistic homosexual characters that satisfy alternate characteristics of gay men. Mickey isn’t portrayed as a proper, feminine and sensitive gay man, but he maintains his hegemonic masculinity while eventually learning to be vulnerable and accepting his identity. He learns that just because he is gay doesn’t mean he has to wear a dress or be a gay stripper. This reasserts the notion that homosexual individuals don’t all fall into the same stereotypical category as so popularly advertised. Having binge watched this series while taking the Media and Sexuality course, it helped me to understand and evaluate certain dynamics of the show from a critical perspective and taught me to look for ways in which certain people or issues were stereotyped.


References
Abbot, Paul (Creator). (2011). Shameless [Television Series]. New York: CBS Corporation.

Berridge, Susan. (2011). “Homophobic Abuse as a Catalyst for Coming Out in US Teen Television Drama Series.” In K. Ross (Ed.), The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media (pp. 313-325) John Wiley & Sons Ltd. (Original work published 2012).

Godfrey, Sarah & Hannah Hamad. (2012). “Resurgent Protective Paternalism in Popular Film and television Series Post-9/11.” In K. Ross (Ed.), The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media (pp. 313-325) John Wiley & Sons Ltd. (Original work published 2012).

Haldeman Douglas C. (1994). The Practice and Ethics of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(2), 221-227.

Kimball, Trevor. (2012). Shameless: Season Three for Showtime Series. Retrieved from http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/shameless-season-three-21979/

 

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