Will & Grace
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
The sitcom Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–20) shifted the media landscape and its treatment of queer themes by starring an openly gay protagonist, Will Truman, on primetime network television. Will, along with his best friend Grace Adler and their constant companions Jack McFarland and Karen Walker, engaged in many stereotypical sitcom shenanigans imbued with decidedly queer twists. Despite the series’ groundbreaking nature, its accuracy and responsibility in representing gay men—and of queer culture in general—has been questioned throughout its initial run and reboot. Author Tison Pugh places the sitcom in its historical context of the late 1990s and early 2000s, considering how it contributed to contemporary debates concerning queer life.
Will & Grace returned in the Trump era, offering viewers another chance to enjoy the companionship of these quirky yet relatable characters as they grappled with seismic shifts in the nation’s political climate. Pugh demonstrates that while heralding a new age of queer representation, characters across the series were homogenized through upper-class whiteness to normalize queerness for a mainstream US audience. In negotiating protocols of network television and the desires of audiences both gay and straight, this trailblazing series remains simultaneously haunted by and liberated from longstanding queer stereotypes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The sitcom Will & Grace was a groundbreaking if flawed landmark of queer representation on television, according to this incisive installment of Wayne State University Press's TV Milestones series. University of Central Florida English professor Pugh (Queer Oz) lauds the show for lampooning the prejudices of anti-gay conservatives by turning "right-wing rhetoric upside down," as when the character Jack McFarland quips, "Heterosexual marriage is just wrong. I mean, if God had intended man and woman to be together, he would have given them both penises." Because the show was subject to the restrictions of network television, however, its "treatment of queer sexualities consistently teetered between pushing boundaries and reinstating borders." Protagonist Will Truman's characterization came under fire for being too stereotypically feminine or too masculine, depending on the critic, and, as Pugh notes, the sitcom's original run was much more timid about depicting Will's sexuality than Grace's heterosexual escapades. Examining the show's 2017 revival, Pugh contends that Will & Grace's depictions of queer life had fallen behind the times (a 2020 episode centered on Will's reluctance to view bisexuality as real). The evenhanded analysis balances a love for the sitcom with a clear-eyed assessment of its shortcomings. The result is an insightful study of queer representation in the early 2000s.
