rafael behr on the politics of strictly come dancing

Rafael Behr has written a great post on how the dynamics the experts and the popular vote in reality TV competitions illustrates the inherent tensions within representative democracies. I’m becoming quite a fan – he was also one of the few people in the press to really investigate what the Cameron/Johnson oligarchy means for British society.

 I have a particular interest in the John Sergeant case because his wife attempted to teach me Latin at school (it was a valiant effort, but I’m no linguist). I say this to defend the Sergeant name against Behr’s accusations of brute popularism! Anyway, check it out, it illustrates exactly how I believe that popular culture and democratic politcs can illuminate one another, despite Behr’s contradictory disavowal of this in his concluding words (‘Well, I don’t care that much. It’s only TV.’)

two steps backwards with prop 8, an inch forward with boyzone

 November hasn’t been the greatest month for gay rights. The passing of Proposition 8 in California took the shine off Obama’s election victory for me and many others.

 However watching the new Boyzone video today made me smile, and not just because I’m a recovering boyzone fan (they were the primary focus of my teenage years). Because their video for ‘Better’ features a boyband member in a gay coupling for the first time:

The video seems to be getting a good reaction from fans and critics alike.

This is the second major First for Stephen Gately. He was the first openly gay boyband member in the UK in the 90s. Since then others have followed, but the sexuality of their sexuality (as it were), has always been discretely brushed to one side, much in the way that gay TV characters have often been sidekicks rather than romantic leads. Even in Will Young’s video for ‘Switch it On’, his gayness was only referenced with jokey innuendo. But in ‘Better’ two gay men are put side-by-side, seriously, and without comment, with straight couples.

 Against the backdrop of the crushing constitutional entrenchment of Prop 8, it is easy to feel that a Boyzone video is a drop in the ocean (and I admit that I have been known to overestimate the cultural significance of boyzone!). Nevertheless, it is the cultural drip drip of acceptance and inclusion that can end up eroding away even the biggest mountains of prejudice.

 So let’s celebrate every time anyone sends out the message ‘some people are gay. get over it’.