# Films & television shows that have been 'de-gayed" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438 "2006-05-04T19:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/81 "2006-05-08T13:32:26Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The main difference is that in the book (which was never sexually graphic or anything like) Idgie was flat out _butch_. She looked like a marine as an old woman, but even as a young woman people usually thought she was a man until they got closer. She wore an ambiguous outfit of overalls and work shirts most of the time, she was identifably masculine- _nobody_ seeing a similar character today would assume she was anything but gay. In the movie they lighten this to a retake on Ellie Mae- she’s a happy go lucky tom boy basically, and if you’re one of the people who’s bothered by lesbianism (like my sister and aunt and some co-workers) then you’ll just see two platonic friends who happen to live together. And own a business together. And never demonstrate the slightest interest in the opposite sex. And raise a child together. Whose surname is taken from the masculine partner in the relationship. Like platonic friends will often do. Another thing the movie did to de-gay the relationship between Idgie and Ruth was including the relationship between Ruth and Idgie’s doomed brother Buddy at the beginning. This way they could make it seem (to people like [b[Sampiro’s mother and sister and coworkers) that Idgie was protecting Ruth ‘for Buddy’ or some such. In the book, Ruth never met Buddy – she first came to visit some years after his death. Another clarifying scene in the book that was left out of the movie was the one where Idgie’s father, after Idgie has brought a pregnant Ruth home with her, gives her the cafe and tells her (paraphrased), “You have a family to look after now and need a way to support them.” The relationship between the two women is very subtle in the book. As **Sampiro** said, there is no explicit sex, and the relationship is never baldly laid out. But, subtlety notwithstanding, the relationship is impossible to miss, even if you were trying. It’s subtle, but _obvious_. For the movie, they dialed up the subtlety to the point where, if you wished, you could contrue the relationship between the two women as mere friendship. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/82 "2006-05-08T15:08:21Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > There’s _Golden Girls_. The pilot episode included a fruitier-than-a-nutcake housekeeper, whom Sophie kept calling the “fancy man”. No sign of him in the series, though. They partly redeemed themselves with the episode where Dorothy’s old friend Jean falls in love with Rose. “Isn’t Danny Thomas one?” “Lesbian, Blanche, not Lebanese.” Blanche: “Im offended, not because she’s a lesbian, but because she chose Rose over me!” ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/83 "2006-05-08T16:04:28Z")
> [@Jess](#): > > The relationship between the two women is very subtle in the book. As **Sampiro** said, there is no explicit sex, and the relationship is never baldly laid out. But, subtlety notwithstanding, the relationship is impossible to miss, even if you were trying. It’s subtle, but _obvious_. For the movie, they dialed up the subtlety to the point where, if you wished, you could contrue the relationship between the two women as mere friendship. I’d agree. In the book, it was there, but subtle. In the movie, the real relationship was non-existant. They were just friends. Idgie is portrayed as basically a tomboy. I also just have to say, between ‘de-gayed’ ‘re-gayed’ ‘Jesus H. Gibson,’ and ‘lesbionic,’ this is one of the funniest threads I’ve read in a while. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/84 "2006-05-08T16:10:31Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > They partly redeemed themselves with the episode where Dorothy’s old friend Jean falls in love with Rose. > > “Isn’t Danny Thomas one?” “Lesbian, Blanche, not Lebanese.” > > Blanche: “Im offended, not because she’s a lesbian, but because she chose Rose over me!” On the DVD extras for season one, it was explained that they decided to see which character would be more popular, Sophia or the housekeeper/cook. I love the episode that you described **gigi**. It put Jean’s sexuality in such loving human terms, and dealt with it with the GG trademark humor and compassion. GG dealt with alot of timely issues, including Blanche’s gay brother coming out at an older age, and AIDS. The creative team was very forward thinking and very sensible when it came to such things, much like most of the Dopers here. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/85 "2006-05-08T16:46:15Z")
> [@supervenusfreak](#): > > GG dealt with alot of timely issues, including Blanche’s gay brother coming out at an older age, and AIDS. The creative team was very forward thinking and very sensible when it came to such things, much like most of the Dopers here. Oh, that’s right. Blanche assume his boyfriend is the cabbie and tries to pay him. You’re right, the characters’ responses range from acceptance to \. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/86 "2006-05-08T16:54:29Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Oh, that’s right. Blanche assume his boyfriend is the cabbie and tries to pay him. You’re right, the characters’ responses range from acceptance to \. Exactly. I never trust anything that shows the coming out process to be quick and easy all of the time. They showed several different types of responses. And lest we forget, Dorothy’s brother (and Sophia’s son) Phil was a straight crossdresser who, apparently, was comfortable in his own sexuality. The funeral episode was one of my all time favorite shows. Sophia’s reactions were very realistic, and her grief was palpable. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/87 "2006-05-08T17:08:20Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > They partly redeemed themselves with the episode where Dorothy’s old friend Jean falls in love with Rose. > > “Isn’t Danny Thomas one?” “Lesbian, Blanche, not Lebanese.” > > Blanche: “Im offended, not because she’s a lesbian, but because she chose Rose over me!” Completely off-topic, but I once heard my parents’ humorless pastor refer to the evils of homosexuals and lebanese. He also decried the anti-spiritual bents of agnostics and Athenians in the same sermon. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/88 "2006-05-08T17:59:51Z")
> [@Jess](#): > > The relationship between the two women is very subtle in the book. As **Sampiro** said, there is no explicit sex, and the relationship is never baldly laid out. But, subtlety notwithstanding, the relationship is impossible to miss, even if you were trying. It’s subtle, but _obvious_. For the movie, they dialed up the subtlety to the point where, if you wished, you could contrue the relationship between the two women as mere friendship. Oh, and of course there was that idiotic “Was Jessica Tandy really Idgie?” thing at the end (which didn’t even make sense even as a mystery- why would she lie about it?). I would love to have seen the ending from the book: A little girl on vacation is scared to realize that the old man selling honey at a roadside stand is really a woman, but bonds with the old woman [who gives her a piece of honeycomb] in the short time she’s there. Idgie’s old and living with her brother running a little store and stand, but she’s happy and doing fine. (Of course the modern day scene that involves Big George’s black [as opposed to his white- he has one of each in the book] son in a nursing smiling is the realllly memorable scene, but he wasn’t in the movie. Question: I am a gay man and as such probably the lease possibly aroused demographic when it comes to lesbian porn. But I find [this image](http://www.geocities.com/traciy_c_walker/the_real_idgie_threadgood.html) (which is completely work safe) of Fannie Flagg’s aunt Bessie and her partner, who were the owners of the Irondale Cafe and the inspiration for FGT, to be strangely erotic and… well, hot. Odd. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/89 "2006-05-09T22:39:21Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Question: I am a gay man and as such probably the lease possibly aroused demographic when it comes to lesbian porn. But I find [this image](http://www.geocities.com/traciy_c_walker/the_real_idgie_threadgood.html) (which is completely work safe) of Fannie Flagg’s aunt Bessie and her partner, who were the owners of the Irondale Cafe and the inspiration for FGT, to be strangely erotic and… well, hot. Odd. Dear GM-with-the-lease, Not odd at all. You’re into suspenders, that’s all. So am I, by the way–and I’m strictly on the straight and narrow (geddit?). Actually, not narrow, but that’s for another column… Check [this out](http://fashion.kelkoo.co.uk/ctl/do/drilldown~100291223/Ann_Summers). It’s sure to give you a new lease of life. (Not work safe if your employer’s a wuss.) Or were you after leashes, you naughty boy? Don’t tell mummy, but [this](http://www.edirectory.co.uk/sexydirectory/s/1016/bondage+kits+236066.html) might tickle your fancy. (Not work safe if your co-worker is looking for pretexts to badmouth you to the boss.) Should be right up your alley, GMWTL. Jam Samwage [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438.md?page=4)