Thanks for posting the link to that article, WCT. I was unaware of that particular furor.
My favorite part of the article is when the producer tries to reassure irate parents by saying: [quote:a76ea18d9e][b:a76ea18d9e][i:a76ea18d9e]Quote:[/i:a76ea18d9e][/b:a76ea18d9e]
She {Rosie O'Donnell} is not the only adult on the set.
[/quote:a76ea18d9e] I realize his main point is that the "gays and lesbians shouldn't be parents" point of view will be represented as well, but what a way of expressing that point. Freudian slip much? *sigh*
During the last part of season 5 and the first part of season 6, I was so happy when I saw that Tara, and to a somewhat lesser extent, Willow, were being portrayed as surrogate moms to Dawn. Seeing Tara mothering Dawn about eating a well-rounded breakfast or green leafy vegetables, or Willow helping her with her homework or Tara checking up on how much homework Dawn had, or staying on the couch with Dawn all night rather than leaving her alone -- these were powerful images that had political significance even if they had no explicit political content. They showed us positive well-liked lesbians nurturing a female child.
I personally never heard or read any criticisms directed at the show about the "inappropriateness" of lesbians spending "unsupervised time" with a teenage girl. Because I didn't hear those tired old complaints, I looked at the W/T-as-surrogate-mommies-storyline as a subtle, but very real, victory. It meant that viewers looked at Willow and Tara as plausible and acceptable moms and their sexuality was irrelevant to their parenting skills.
Which made me particularly disappointed when, in Wrecked, ME chose to have Willow's totally irresponsible behaviour while being alone with Dawn serve as Willow's "wake-up call" about her magic addicition. ME had already muddied the waters with the whole "magic=sex/magic=drugs/magic=seductive power" thing. So showing the lesbian taking the teenage girl to the magic/crack house so that the lesbian can shoot up and have orgasms on the ceiling and then showing the still-high-as-a-kite lesbian driving wildly with the girl in the car until they finally crash was a very disturbing and damaging series of images IMO.
I don't understand how the story would have been compromised if it had been Tara or Buffy, rather than Dawn, who ended up being hurt by Willow's addiction. If ME believed it absolutely had to be Dawn (presumably b/c of her vulnerability and dependence on Willow as the adult), I don't understand why Willow shooting up at Racks had to be as overtly sexualized as it was. Not every powerful intoxicating experience in life is sexually arousing. Just b/c you don't have an orgasm, it doesn't mean that it wasn't a powerful trip. Again, ME specifically chose a storyline in which something bad and violent happens right after the lesbian gets off.
So I think about those parents threatening to boycott Nickolodeon and I have to wonder what the lasting image in their minds would have been if they watched Season 6 -- Tara making pancakes for Dawn or stoned Willow driving Dawn into a cement wall? And as Amy brilliantly pointed out, it's us, not Joss who have to deal with the ramifications of Joss' negative images of lesbians when we meet the Nickolodeon parents in RL. If Joss ever decides he wants to adopt a child do you think he's going to face the same hurdles as I would? Not by a long shot. And yet Joss can actually say out loud that Willow and Tara are just a story and not a political statement.
Beware of bad karma... /insert spooky noice/ I have faith: it'll come back to him three times 
by Killin Joke » Wed Jun 05, 2002 5:07 am 
.
I think ME sent some of their very special crack to a certain Daily Hearld columnist.