On Objects and Affections: Contemporary Representations of the Gay Man/Straight Woman Dyad in Popular Film and Television Page: 39
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CHAPTER THREE
GAY MEN, STRAIGHT WOMEN, AND THE QUESTION OF ROMANCE
If My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) brought together the gay man and straight
female as a platonic alternative to the heterosexual couple, more recent texts have carried
this new couple to the next logical step. What happens when the line between friendship
becomes blurred when one of the members of the couple begins to fall in love with the
other? Can the new couple hold together despite a presumed lack of sexual chemistry? Is
this new couple a disguise for or a reformulation of the traditional heterosexual couple?
Can true love conquer even sexual orientation? These questions are taken up in several
forms in the films The Object of My Affection (1998) and The Opposite of Sex (1998).
The former film's entire premise is based on the possibility of romance between the new
couple, whereas the latter film presents a female supporting character whose attachments
to gay men has led to her own problematic heterosexual love life. The sitcom "Will and
Grace" premiered on NBC in the fall of 1998 bringing the new couple to television in the
form of best friend roommates homosexual Will and heterosexual Grace. Over the
course of the first two seasons, several episodes have suggested that the title characters
will eventually cross the sexuality divide and consummate their relationship either
through intercourse, marriage, or both.39
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Pillion, Owen L. On Objects and Affections: Contemporary Representations of the Gay Man/Straight Woman Dyad in Popular Film and Television, thesis, December 2000; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2706/m1/42/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .