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Will&Grace&Lucy: A Close Look at Intertextuality at Odds with Representing Homosexuality — The American SitcomMain MenuWill&Grace&LucyA Close Look at Intertextuality at Odds with Representing Homosexuality — The American SitcomTable of ContentsIntroduction: More Intertextual than PoliticalAn introduction to the themes and arguments of the book: separating the show from political views.Chapter One - Lucy and GraceI Love Lucy intertextually informs the watching/reading of Will and Grace.Chapter Two - Self-intertextualizationInfantilization vs. StereotypingIf Grace and Lucy are infantilized, Ricky and Will are stereotyped.Fernando Riverad5c88774d182c630c8a86d5da4bb2c0ee596e51d
An Intertextual Reminder
1media/lucycrazyhair.jpg2019-05-06T00:02:44-07:00Fernando Riverad5c88774d182c630c8a86d5da4bb2c0ee596e51d336033Explicit vs. Implied Intertextualityplain2019-05-10T21:16:22-07:00Fernando Riverad5c88774d182c630c8a86d5da4bb2c0ee596e51dWill & Grace has intertextualized I Love Lucy in several ways that are also derivative of the American sitcom. The previously examined power dynamics between the main characters, the domestic setting, and Debra Messing's inspiration for the role, all fall under the first category of unconscious intertextuality. However, if an author were to produce a work with as many striking similarities, they're would likely be copyright issues and the author who copied another's work might be seen as a fraud, someone without innovative thoughts or ideas. Most audiences do not feel that Will & Grace is a bastardization of I Love Lucy, even though Will & Grace writers likely knowingly modeled “My Fair Maid-y directly after “Lucy Gets a Maid,” for instance.
The example of looking back at Lucille Ball's iconic show is a testament to how influential the show was to screenwriters and actors alike. Geoffrey Nunberg’s idea of “intertextuality without transgression” is at work in the domestic comparison (Nunberg 4). Print literature with equally explicit intertextuality would have to be much more careful, either premising the text or its publication with an understanding that this is based on an earlier work, Ulysses and The Odyssey for example, or careful citation. Television, specifically sitcoms, are allowed to be messier.
Will & Grace was considered envelope-pushing and innovative in its time and in some respects – the introduction of gay people as lead character on primetime television – it was. Still, as an analysis of these specific episodes in the context of performance theory, intertextuality and new historicism exposes, Will & Grace as rooted in I Love Lucy. Debra Messing was key in the original comparisons, but the show’s other characters, situations, and themes closely resemble the earlier model which is part of a vast schema called the American sitcom.
Because Will & Grace had the mission of being funny not some particular innovation (for example telling gay stories in a new three dimensional way). Creator-writer Max Mutchnick's quote below:
“We are not responsible for representing gay America or gay culture; we are only responsible for writing the characters of Jack, Karen, Will, and Grace as responsibly and funnily as we can.
The mission to be funny put Will & Grace in line with the older model of I Love Lucy.
There are also direct references to Lucy in Will & Grace. In the second episode of the rebooted Will & Grace, writers modernized a scene from The Lucy Show, I Love Lucy’s post-Arnaz counterpart. In the scene, Karen and Grace get stuck in Karen’s “smart shower” when Karen unintentionally voice commands the door locked and the drain shut (Rorke 1). In the Lucy version, Lucy and Viv (Vivian Vance) set up their new shower incorrectly (with the door on backwards so that it will not open) and in both versions the water starts to rise and the female leads must rely on their own devices to escape. The explicit intertextuality demonstrates both how performance theory and new historicism affect the outcome of Will and Grace. The physical comedy is funny in both instances. The fact that it is still funny to watch women struggle with technology is a reflection on how little society’s expectations of women in practical roles has changed in some instances. Grace is painted as needing to be protected/needing extra help, just like Lucy was in the 1950s.
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1media/Screenshot (174).pngmedia/Screenshot (174).png2019-04-25T19:28:02-07:00Fernando Riverad5c88774d182c630c8a86d5da4bb2c0ee596e51dChapter One - Lucy and Grace7I Love Lucy intertextually informs the watching/reading of Will and Grace.image_header2019-05-11T03:04:58-07:00Fernando Riverad5c88774d182c630c8a86d5da4bb2c0ee596e51d
1media/Screenshot (205).png2019-05-05T23:58:21-07:00Fernando Riverad5c88774d182c630c8a86d5da4bb2c0ee596e51dChapter Two - Self-intertextualization8image_header2019-05-11T05:16:36-07:00Fernando Riverad5c88774d182c630c8a86d5da4bb2c0ee596e51d
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12019-04-27T23:29:22-07:00The Lucy Show Shower Scene1media/lucyshowshower.jpgplain2019-04-27T23:29:22-07:00
