Excerpt from Composition:
Therefore, one need to begin by observing that ideology reveals alone in rhetoric through specific words or phrases, that happen to be frequently called “ideographs, inch after a term coined by Michael jordan McGee in the 1988 article “The Ideograph: A link between Rhetoric and Ideology” (McGee 1). Even though in his article McGee restrictions ideographs to single terms, this study need not comply with such a strict regular, especially for the reason that essential function and effect of ideographs do not change whether one looks at only one words or perhaps certain repeated phrases. McGee argues that ideology is definitely expressed through rhetoric by means of ideographs, discrete units of ideology as certain terms (or phrases) that work with each other to maintain “diachronic’ and ‘synchronic’ patterns of political mind which have the capability both to manage ‘power’ and influence (if not determine) the shape and texture of each individual’s ‘reality, ‘” (McGee 5).
Put simply, ideographs are the visible parts of larger ideologies, and these kinds of points, through their complex of historic and contemporaneous meanings, will be the language through which ideology is expressed and perpetuated. McGee uses the examples of “law, ‘liberty, ‘ ‘tyranny, ‘ or ‘trial by jury'” to demonstrate what he means by ideograph, because each of these terms or key phrases, while having multifarious meanings in general, nevertheless purport to “have an obvious that means, a behaviorally directive self-evidence” when deployed in rhetoric (McGee 6). Thus, the self-cloaking trend of ideology in general is usually reflected within a fractal approach on the level of the ideograph alone, demonstrating how pernicious this tendency can be.
In the framework of the L Word, after that, the most important ideographs to consider are those words or concepts which concern themselves with dissimilarities of sexuality, sex, and sexuality, and moreover, that purport to have consistent, self-evident definitions. As will be expected, after that, the most importance ideographs with this study are precisely the ones that deal with these topics, just like “man, ” “woman, inch “bisexual, inches and “transgender. ” In addition , the title with the show itself makes one to include “lesbian” through this list, only if because by calling it “the L word” the show imbues it which includes special importance.
In fact , the decision to call the demonstrate L Term actually serves as the initial clue as to its ideology, because though it purports to consider homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgendered persons equally, focusing on the term “lesbian” automatically means that the demonstrate is mainly concerned with lgbt women above and beyond anyone who detects themselves anywhere else on the wide spectrum of human sexuality. This shows an important presumption on the part of the show, and demonstrates a few of the roots of its challenging representation of bisexuality and transgenderism. In other words, the present assumes in the get-go that its target, and its audience’s expectations, can revolve mostly around firmly homosexual girls, because this is a subjectivity together with the most specialist. This makes feeling, considering the fact that bisexuality was not possibly recognized as a distinct form of intimate expression till relatively just lately, but it also shows how the present, rather than pushing forward toward more expansive representations of different subjectivities, appears intent in taking the “safe” route simply by proclaiming itself to be mainly interested in that form of female sexuality deemed most acceptable in contemporary society (Herek 264, Schneider 73). (One can easily quite realistically argue that the L Word’s representation of lesbians is definitely not considerably better than it is treatment of bisexuals, because it will depend on so much on patriarchal ideas of woman homosexuality, nevertheless that is a theme for another study).
This focus on lesbian ladies specifically have been noted by simply previous authorities, although with no attendant recognition that this target comes at the expense of different characters (Moore 3). This kind of focus on lesbian women especially comes to the fore when contemplating the character of Alice, mainly because she is the only self-identified bisexual on the show, although other heroes maintain intimate relationships with members in the opposite sexual intercourse at various times. In “Losing this, ” Alice meets Lisa, a man whom self-identifies like a lesbian in a man’s physique. While Alice is talking to her mother on the phone, Mack talks with the mutual good friend Shane, whom tells him that Alice “doesn’t need to be a lesbian porn anymore. inch He responds by declaring “maybe I can change her mind, inch and in this kind of moment the L Term reveals an underlying ideology that stands in stark contrast to their supposedly neoliberal focus on addition and equality.
While the advantages of Mack, a “lesbian-identified man” seems intended to increase the show’s representation of various sexualities, the way in which it does this kind of actually just serves to alienate bisexuals and reiterate, albeit in a modified contact form, some of the more atrocious assumptions previously used to diminish the identification and subjectivity of lesbians. When Lisa says “maybe I can alter her mind, ” he is effectively reiterating a common misogynist trope with regards to lesbianism, besides in this case becoming a lesbianism is utilized to cede and condemn bisexuality, while in the past, heterosexuality was used to alienate and condemn lesbianism. In short, the first version of the trope relied upon the assumption that female homosexuality was not basically a genuine trend, but rather that lesbians were merely women who had not yet had sexual with the “right” man. Thus, when Mack says “maybe I can change her brain, ” he could be repeating verbatim the same rhetoric which was previously used to reject lesbian ladies their sex identities. The only difference is that the L Word changes the prospective of the slur; instead of denying female homosexuality, it implicitly denies and alienates female bisexuality simply by suggesting that Alice is at reality a lesbian, apart from she just has not been with the right one yet. That Lisa is actually a person matters hardly any, because within the rhetorical limitations of the present, their romance is considered a homosexual 1, due to the fact that Mack self-identifies like a lesbian. As a result, the D Word properly discounts the possibility of genuine bisexuality, but should it00 in just like way concerning appear to be partying sexual selection.
If the D Word’s take care of bisexuality is definitely lacking, in that case its treatment of transgenderism is definitely outright daunting. Moira’s story begins fairly hopefully, with Jenny assisting her in her change to Utmost, as noticed in the show “Lonestar, inch but by final period, Max has effectively changed into the show’s token transgendered character, present only inasmuch as he can be used to make the show feel highly relevant to its immediate historical circumstance. While more friendly replies to Moira/Max’s transition include described her “as a stone butch who becomes a queer trans boi, techniques through a feminine to men transgender personality that appears committed to binary gender id and hegemonic masculinity, and then, settles in to a more ambig relationship to masculinity and queerness, inches this gives Moira/Max far more agency than the present actually grants her, as it pretends that the various transitions in his or her life happen to be indicative of the complex portrayal, rather than a relatively blatant application of belief (Reed 170). Transgendered individuals lead lives just as intricate and multifarious as anyone different, but rather than demonstrate this kind of complexity, the L Word essentially depends on gimmicks and stereotypes in its representation of transgenderism (even if it does make a few efforts to discuss the difficulty encountered by transgendered individuals inside the workplace) (Barclay and Jeff 499).
To view how completely this is the case, one only need consider Max’s eventual being pregnant, revealed inside the episode “Leaving Los Angeles, inch in its immediate historical context. The show aired in February 2009, just a few months after Jones Beatie, “a transgender gentleman who had had ‘top’ medical procedures and been on body hormone therapy nevertheless had ceased taking testosterone in anticipation of becoming pregnant, ” truly did get pregnant (Currah 330). Although the specifics of Max’s pregnancy had been somewhat several, the fact that the L Word had its sole transgender character become pregnant just a few months after a transgendered pregnant man became one of the hottest media topics uncovers the level to which it considers transgendered people while individuals, with lives since complex and varied anyone else. In a show ostensibly concerned with addressing the varied lives of women based on a sexual preferences and details, one must question what it takes for stated show to dramatically change the course of it is only transgendered character’s story in order for it to slip in with the newest, well-known representation of a transgendered person inside the media, regardless how much of an outlier that representation is definitely.
After reviewing how the T Word snacks its bisexual and transgendered characters, it can now be feasible to organize these representations to a coherent ideology. Firstly, it seems clear the fact that show thinks bisexuals and transgendered persons as somehow lesser, or at least less relevant, than firmly homosexual girls. This is confirmed by the identity the M Word, nevertheless also by the way the identities of its bisexual and transgendered characters are relatively denied or alienated. Furthermore, the
