Caprica and the Queerness of Sam Adama

In the new SyFy show Caprica we are introduced to a queer character, Sam Adama. Here is the good and the bad of his queer representation. For links and info visit: http://www.feministfrequency.com/2010/03/caprica-and-the-queerness-of-sam-adama

Watch That's SO Gay - Homo-Cidal Maniacs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS4c05WPyRY

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Caprica
• Battlestar Galactica
• Sam Adama
• SyFy
• Queer
• Gay
• Homosexual
• Sexuality
• Sasha Roiz

[TelepathicPebble]

If you watch the show, you should notice that Sam Adama is not evil. Sure, he's a hitman, murder, etc. But its not that black and white. So what, a villain can't happen to be gay without people accusing the writers of hidden messages? As long as they don't make his sexuality a focus for his villainous or anything like that, I think they represented his character well. Though I do agree, too often gay characters are villains like James Franco on General Hospital.

[cswood413]

I wouldn't call Sam evil. He's a thug. Aside from him being gay, he's a typical thug. On The Wire, Omar was the best character. He was gay, but he also stole and killed people. But so did a lot of people on that show.

I write. But I avoid writing gay characters for just this reason. SOMEBODY'S going to have a problem with it. Either too much or not enough of something. I'll leave gay characters to gay writers.

[LauraSeabrook]

Perhaps another issue with this is that apart from Sam's partner, he's the ONLY openly gay male on the show, so even though the presentation seems "fair", it's still just tokenisation. It disturbed me as well that the other antagonist on the show Clarice, is shown in a polygamous situation - that works! Once again a situation where a seemingly fair treatment of a situation, but focussed on a mass murderer.

if other non-hetero and non-monogamous relationships were shown, would have been better.

[RaymondoPerson]

and here's another video that I agree with - I totally think that gays would benefit from having more characters that just happen to be gay and *aren't* murderers. it does seem that there always has to be a catch, either this or having gays be these wacky 'charming' stereotypes.

[scottandrewhutchins]

@cswood413 As a writer, I would say that it's risky writing gay characters for exactly that reason. I wrote for a script about a lesbian love triangle, but the director, who was having me flesh out his concept, was telling me that he would be crazy to film what I wrote, probably because the one who was newly lesbian was ridiculously homonormative.

I have an original script that has a lesbian couple among the supporting cast. I don't know what the response will be if anyone ever sees it.

[scottandrewhutchins]

John Constantine came out as bi rather subtly in Hellblazer #51 He mentions bringing girlfriends "or the odd boyfriend" to a particular hangout. Prior to this issue, he was always portrayed as straight, but with numerous gay friends.

Then there is Midnighter and Apollo... I think Apollo is a little more stereotypical than Midnighter.

[Abridgedfan134]

As a gay man in the culture sphere, I'm fine with gay people being morally on the wrong side, as long as their "villany" doesn't stem from their sexuality, and if it does stem from that, its because of how society has treated them and not because of their sexuality is just evil in nature. I'd rather take a morally ambigious gay character with dimensions and flaws than an over the top saint like Kurt on Glee.

[GaEv4]

Your comment about stereotypes reminds me of something I've noticed in a character of a show I like (My family). Around the time of the show's ninth series the cast and crew decided to make him gay. This wasn't a problem but what I have noticed is that ever since they did that he has changed the clothes he wears and his voice is a lot softer.

I could be wrong but it seems like the writers have changed these aspects of his character to make him match traditionally held cliches about gay men.

[ghandiwon]

@markmatson The problem isn't necessarily in his representation as sociopathic, it's that for some reason movie and television refuse to make a gay character both normalized (as he is here) AND on the good side, it's exclusively one or the other. However, they have no issue with making a gay character both opposites (stereotypical and absurdly monstrous). Similar to what you said, this character would be a non issue if there were characters to counterbalance but there just aren't.

[MisterAvailable]

I find it far more problematic when certain people demand that all gay characters in TV series and movies are presented in the same positive and politically correct light. This is just as narrow-minded as portraying all gays as being evil or flamboyant.

[markmatson]

Identifying problems in our culture is a worthwhile endeavor. Everything our host says is correct, but it goes beyond this. In a world where homosexuality is accepted and normal, there is nothing wrong with this character. In a world where gays are considered scary and abnormal, this character can add to the stereotype. In reality, we live in both worlds simultaneously.

I personally believe the benefits of characters like Sam outweigh the negatives, but I get our (unnamed?) host's point.

[feministfrequency]

@RobotsAreOnEarth Oh sorry, about that... I put the link in the NOTES section now.