Saturday, December 8, 2012

RC Responds to Felix: To Fey to Play Gay?



On the  Towelroad Blog, there is a post you should read regarding the newest gay character "Felix" on GH...here's what Ron has to say about it:

To Andy Towle and the readers of this blog: My name is Ron Carlivati and I am the Head Writer of General Hospital. I am also an openly gay man. I created the character of Felix Dubois, the "lipstick-wielding gay male nurse," and I am frankly appalled by the intolerance and internalized homophobia expressed in this post and in the majority of its comments. During my career, I have brought no fewer than six gay characters to daytime television: male, female, Black, White, Hispanic...all shapes and sizes. I have written coming out stories, gay bashing stories, gay marriage stories, gay parenting stories and gay love stories. I wrote the first love scene between two gay men that ever aired on daytime TV. I won a GLADD award for these stories. What exactly is it about this character that is causing such righteous indignation? The fact that he carries a tube of lipstick in his scrubs? SPOILER ALERT: Felix sells cosmetics to put himself through nursing school. This will be revealed on Monday's show. Not because I think gay men love lipstick, and certainly not to "establish" himself as gay. But even if that were the reason, so what? Does this make him too queeny? Not straight-acting enough? Is that the only type of gay character allowed on TV now? As far as I'm concerned, to be offended by this character is what is offensive. And just FYI, the majority of women (our core audience) I have heard from thus far about Felix have expressed to me how much they like him. The only people who seem to have a problem with him are certain gay men who are apparently afraid of a gay character who might be portrayed as a little bit effeminate. Well, I say shame on you, and shame on Andy Towle, too. Oy, indeed.

Posted by: Ron Carlivati | Dec 8, 2012 12:08:10 AM

Interesting. Many of the same things were debated on Twitter about ol' Felix. I still have no opinion since I haven't seen him, I just caught the end of the lipstick scene.  

19 comments:

  1. I wonder if RC lives on planet Earth. Intolerance is rampant here. I don't disagree with anything he said but I do recognize that some of the worst haters are ppl you would think are your supporters.

    I've seen some comments about the new character and none of them are really about him being a gay, black male they are about the fact that he is one among many that RC is writing as proppers for the character Sabrina, or as they referred to her the New Ugly Betty. When you need ten ppl to prop and approve a character such as Sabrina or my personal fav. Sam then you aren't hitting the right notes with fans. I personally haven't seen him but I don't watch GH.

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  2. LOVE Ron C. even more now!!!

    Wow excellent debate, both bring about interesting points....... I get both sides. People would be freaking out if he put a black character on welfare on the show.

    Its apparently the negative stereotype of being a feminine gay male that is upsetting this blogger. I am not going to lie, I was a little surprise when watching it that he went there. Because I have felt that other gay soap opera characters have always been very opposite of this stereotype... Fish OLTL, Matt from melrose, the guy from 90210, etc. All very "respectable", "masculine" males.

    But then after watching the scene, I kinda like where he was going with it.... at first I thought, oh brother, it will be another coming out of the closet story. But Ron C. just laid it out there, no need to guess or wonder, this guy is clearly gay and proud of it.... could he have laid it out there without the lipstick? sure? but that helped introduce Felix with shock and give a comical scene to the nurse. Who in herself is a stereotype! Clearly an attractive man (patrick) would not be interested in a glasses wearing fizzy haired girl..... : /

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  3. I only have ONE problem with the new character and that is...
    We dont need anymore NEW characters!!!
    IMO, certain vets STILL arent getting enough air time or S/L's worthy of them.
    Instead they are used as filler to pimp other NEW characters.

    Yes, RC is doing WAY BETTER at using vets than the last PTB. But sill not enough for me. Not only do the vets of GH have to share air time with OLTL cross over characters, they also have to stand in the back while New characters are on the screen every single day!
    I'll admit it. I dont mind Todd. Heck, even more than that, I LOVE TODD! Always have and always will. He is excellent character period and he mixes so well with Carly.
    I can even handle Starr because she gives Micheal a S/L. Okay, and John. You got me there too! Only because I was a fan of Caleb and Livvie.
    But I most certainly dont want Blair or Tea. I didnt mind them on OLTL but this is GH! Lets keep it that way.
    I know...
    I have gotten WAY OFF TOPIC. But once I get started, it is hard to stop.
    So yes, the Only problem I have with the NEW character is We dont need anymore new characters! At least for quite awhile. All we need is s/l's worthy of the fabulous characters we already have.

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  4. My favourite character on True Blood is Lafayette. That being said, my problem is with all the newbies getting airtime while vets are ignored. The NB s/l should be driven by Patrick and Liz. Patrick because of Robin. Liz also because of Robin and because she's actually been in one of the NB. I've had enough of Sabrina & Britt... now they're adding Felix to the list.

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  5. Dunno what to say about he whole Felix thing, but I agree with the comments above these are too many new characters that #1 can't act and #2 aren't really that interesting. (Please note I am not including Todd, McBain or even Star in #1 or #2 - they are all fine but then again I watched OLTL some so I was familiar with them already)

    Patrick and Liz SHOULD be dating (since they already knew each other, their relationship could have proceeded quickly in a believable way. Also, if they want a gay character on the show, bring back Lucas and give him a good storyline...the character has a backstory with roots and could give a jolt of fresh energy.

    Oldschoolghfan

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  6. Carlivati utterly misses why most gays are upset: there is 1 (ONE) gay character on the show now, and he's the worst stereotype of gays that haters believe in. If there were a gay group of actors, then diversity is fine- you can have the macho gay, the metrosexual gay, the bitchy queer, the PC activist, the flamer, but Felix makes it seem that all gays are wannabe women.

    That RC is queer makes it all the more egregious, and starting off with 'as a gay man' to defend your stereotyping is rt there with, 'I have many gay friends.'

    One of the posters on that blog nailed him well: RC says 'Is that the only type of gay character allowed on TV now?', menaing queens and flamers. The point is that IS the only homosexual male types on TV, as a poster names several sitcoms. Why wasn't Jack Bauer of 24 queer? Or the head of Hawaii 5-0?

    Open flamers make up maybe 10% of the gay population, yet 100% of the tv characters.

    RC should man up and admit he screwed up, and trying to say that Felix sells cosmetics as a job is akin to saying Stepin Fetchit was paying his way thru college by shining shoes.

    RC has a MASSIVE blind spot, and it looks like GH's abysmal record on minorities of all sorts continues.

    Bring back Lucas Jones, or make Felix really Tommy Hardy, and queer. And also tone him down, otherwise he's just a token, and that's so 20th C.

    Another blog poster gets it rt, too, saying of course straight women like Felix- every girl wants a guy as a girlfriend!

    Stereotype City. Get ready to cringe, Karen- it's really disappointing and sad.

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  7. Cosmoetica said...but Felix makes it seem that all gays are wannabe women.
    ==========================
    I don't think he does. And I don't think Ron or Felix is Stereotyping anything. :) I like Felix.

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  8. Sonya: you then need to get to know more gay guys, because the VAST majority of them are NOT Felixes.

    What you just stated is akin to in 1959 seeing a fat black woman with a kerchief, laughing and singing, and selling pancakes, and then saying she's not Aunt Jemima.

    Big Gay Felix is embarrassing for the show and RC.

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  9. I'm torn.. I still haven't SEEN Felix in a scene so I can't judge. I refuse to judge when I haven't seen it.
    I know LOT of gays... many in my own family (now Cosmo don't yell at me just yet). They are of all kinds. There ARE gays like Felix-- many are barristas at my Starbucks--and the point should be he's a "new" character around to "help" Betty. Yes, I call her Betty because THAT copycat thing is IN YOUR FACE. (her last name is even spanish!)
    Do you remember Elton? Same thing. Anyway, I think that GH has been so starved for diversity that the gay community is upset that this is what was chosen for the show. The Lucas gay storyline was dropped and the professor guy evaporated. So here we have a campy story ("Geeky" girl goes after handsome doc and her gay BFF helps along the way) that doesn't address the real problem on GH: the lack of real diversity on the show.
    I'm not sure if anyone touched on this fact: A Character "Like Felix" is way more acceptable to the ignorant people that DID rebel against Fish/Kish on OLTL. Remember that? Two very NON fey characters who married on the show.
    The network couldn't deal with the heat so they took them off.
    Catering to the ignorant public isn't a great thing, but having a character who may be comical and fun COULD be a good thing. I see Alice much in the same way--
    I don't know if this makes any sense. I'm not really on a "side" here. If Felix works as a character, I'm with it. If he's just a prop to get Sabrina all beautified for her big "Debut" then ugh..no thanks.

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  10. Well, I'm not saying anything against Felix's actor, just that for RC to NOT see why it's a stereotype and many gays are upset is laughable.

    Yes, there are Latino drug dealers, but Manny Ruiz was NOT a stereotype. So far, Felix is. Ok, if he hulks out and sits on Faison's face to save Anna's life, good one.

    Till then....

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  11. On another note, I also thought of another thing about stereotypes. Think about Patrick and Epiphany--they shared AWESOME scenes. As friends.. you knew it would never "blossom" why? She's over weight. I hate to say that but it's so true. I would have LOVED if they went there. It would be about time

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  12. True, but, let's face it- Piffy's like my age- pushing 50, and Patrick's mid-30s. Even if Anna was NOT his mom-in-law, it would be kind of yucky for them to go there. That's why Helena's stud lovers were always played for laughs.

    Yes, Connie Towers was a male fantasy fifty years ago- she could wear a bald cap and beat the crap out of me any day (Sammy Fuller), but back then. Now, she's likely stroke and die, and I'd starve trying to break free from her kinky tie ups.

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  13. Now, Finola Hughes could tie me up still, and she could be bald or whatever....

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  14. Why did I think Sonya Eddy was like just 40? Hmm

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  15. IMDB says Piff is 45. Splits the diff. Still, a decade older'n Paddy.

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  16. True, but be honest,no one her size would land Paddy on a soap!

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  17. Fin Hughes is HAWT! No lie!
    OldSchoolGHfan

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  18. The only problem I had with Felix is that he just popped up out of nowhere. I think if he was introduced as a character first and then gay it would have been better. No explanation about how he came to GH and was friends with Betty. I would rathe see him friends wih Liz and ive her some airtime considering she is 100 times more popular that Betty. I was hoping that maybe Trey was gay and that would have been an interesting turn of events. Felix seems too contrived but I'm all for gay characters, especially since a few of the top actors and one actress are openly gay. That's the real world.
    LindaV

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  19. Good point, LindaV.

    If Felix had been a flamer who had real ties to a prior character, it wd have been better, too. As is he's just an accoutrement to Ugly Betty Redux- which was itself a stereotypefest.

    I say, by spring we'll all be saying: 'Big Gay Felix, whodat?'

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