Gaycation

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Television series
Original title Gaycation / Gaycation with Ellen Page
Country of production United States ,
Canada
original language English
Year (s) 2016-2017
Production
company		 Viceland
length 44-66 minutes
Episodes 8 (+ 2 special episodes) in 2 seasons ( list )
genre Documentary series
Theme music Cansei de Ser Sexy
idea Ellen Page
production Allen Otto,
Bernardo Loyola,
David Laven,
Cristian Rossel
music Benjamin Forrest Davis,
David Starck
First broadcast March 2, 2016 on Viceland
occupation

Gaycation (occasionally also Gaycation with Ellen Page ) is a US-American - Canadian documentary series broadcast by Viceland, which belongs to the media company Vice Media of the magazine of the same name . It celebrated its premiere on March 2, 2016, on which date the station itself was launched. The program on the situation of the LGBT community in several countries was moderated by the Canadian actress Ellen Page and the American artist and filmmaker Ian Daniel .

content

Ellen Page and Ian Daniel traveled to various countries and US states , where they interviewed people about the situation of the LGBT community there. The interviewees included their members, operators of LGBT-relevant meeting places such as bars or shops, activists who campaign for non-heterosexual people in aid organizations such as the ACLU or Planned Parenthood , as well as people who had a negative attitude towards them, for example a Rastafarian elder or a former Brazilian police officer who, according to his own testimony, murdered LGBT people in favelas for a fee , but allowed himself to be interviewed incognito . Some people also had a rather unusual view of the LGBT community, such as two fujoshi ( Japanese 腐 女子 , translated as “depraved women”), female Yaoi fans who showed Page and Daniel an erotic audio book.

Other interlocutors were celebrities such as the politician Jair Bolsonaro , who flirted with Page during the interview while answering her questions, or the artist Marie-Pierre Pruvot , who described how she wanted to challenge typical gender roles at the beginning of her career. The moderators also occasionally took part in local customs, for example they danced with First Nations at a powwow and in another episode they were "married" as friends by a priest in a Zen temple.

Also took Page and Daniel several "self-tests", inter alia by the statement of the famous guru s Ramdev tested, is that homosexuality with specific Yoga Exercises "take" leave, also Daniel was in several episodes fix up as a woman, among others, a drag artist and a theater director who cast him in the female lead in a play about Antebellum South (a Southern Belle ).

In the first season, Page and Daniel went to Japan , Brazil , Jamaica , Canada , New York , Iowa , California and Illinois . In the second season they traveled to Ukraine and India , while Daniel went alone to France and Texas , Louisiana , Alabama , Mississippi and Georgia , respectively .

In a special episode after the first season, Page and Daniel spoke to relatives and survivors of the Orlando attack, respectively , in a second from 2017 they explained the potential consequences for the LGBT community with the help of political experts and those directly affected in Washington and Indiana of the United States under the Trump administration .

production

Before Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, broadcaster's director and co-president Spike Jonze reached out to actress Ellen Page and asked her about ideas for series on the new channel. Page that her in 2014 out coming- had he proposed a by itself moderated travel show from an LGBT perspective. Jonze agreed, but suggested that Page find a co-host. She chose her also homosexual friend Ian Daniel , a curator and filmmaker.

Filming began in New York in June 2015. Before it was broadcast, Page developed a conversation with Ted Cruz at a State Fair in Des Moines , during which she asked him questions about religiously motivated discrimination against the LGBT community, which he initially answered evasively and finally changed the subject entirely, using cell phone recordings of bystanders to a viral video . The conversation ended up being one of the themes of the episode, which discussed the situation of queer people in the United States in general.

On May 13, the official extension of the series for a second season was publicly announced by Viceland. Before it premiered on September 7th, the special episode on the aftermath of the Orlando attack for the local LGBT community was broadcast on August 24th . The series was not extended for a third season, instead the broadcaster produced a second special episode published on April 30, 2017, in which Page and Daniel discussed the possible consequences of Donald Trump's presidency for LGBT people in the country in discussions with those affected .

criticism

In the Internet Movie Database, the series received a 7.7 out of ten star rating based on 1,317 votes. On Rotten Tomatoes , the average viewer rating is 100 percent.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya of The AV Club was of the opinion that all situations were viewed from Page's point of view, which can be seen in her natural interview style and sentences like I imagine or It seems to me . This would also have disadvantages, one weak point of the program is the rather narrow understanding of queer culture despite the aim of painting a very comprehensive picture of it in other countries. Page and Daniel did not view the events from a voyeuristic angle, but because of their origins they could never really understand what it meant to be queer elsewhere. This throw a chilling filter on Gaycation on occasion . However, the focus of the program is on "digging up" the complexity of each country and its greatest strength. Page and Daniel did not describe any state as universally LGBT-friendly or homophobic, rather they would try to represent as many aspects of queer culture as possible with statistics and personal stories. They presented themselves as neither activists nor white saviors , and Gaycation was also captivating thanks to the emphasis on culture rather than just repression. The show remains realistic in terms of anti-LGBT violence and challenges, while also celebrating the positive aspects of queer everyday life. This becomes particularly clear in the last episode of the first season. The presenters focused in this on activists and initiatives that are not in history books and mainstream media mention would find or victims of Hollywood - Whitewashing were. Like everyone before her, the episode is relentlessly honest about homophobia and heterosexism in the United States, but also hopeful thanks to the portrayal of queer love, which reflects the sincerity in Page's point of view, which does not romanticize or "martyrize" anything in the description of her outing, but open and act honestly. This also strengthens the intimate tone of the program, which strikes a solid balance between the personal and the political.

According to Kylie Obermeier of The Daily Free News , Boston University's student newspaper , the first episode in Japan was informative and entertaining, if at times lackluster and problematic. Page praiseworthy doubts the questionable action of two straight women to regularly listen to explicit Yaoi audiobooks, while Daniel seems on the whole superfluous despite some convincing moments. The sequence in which a young man comes out to his mother is a bit too much like a dramatic, highly instrumentalized revelation in Maury Povich , but the mother's reaction is undeniably heartbreaking. Exploring both the “glittery, fun” side and the often painful reality leads to an astonishingly balanced portrait of the everyday life of Japanese LGBT people. The wedding between Page and Daniel in a Zen temple is one of the weakest parts of the show, as the priest's open-minded attitude is interesting, but the focus is almost only on Page and Daniel, whose personalities are not strong enough to attract attention to keep the viewer. Their vows should touch, but we don't know enough about their friendship for that. The non-mention of bisexuality is also disappointing, which is not due to Vice , but to the general invisibility of bisexual people. Despite these flaws, Gaycation succeeds in not “exoticizing” Japan's LGBT community or presenting the country as backward. Those affected would not be portrayed as victims who had to be rescued, and the illustration of the progressive, playful as well as the depressing, serious elements of queer culture was something that past Vice trips would not always have succeeded in doing. Thanks to its unique documentary format, Gaycation is likely closer to depicting non-heterosexual reality than any other previous television series.

Brian Moylan wrote in The Guardian that the program advertised as a travel documentary was more of an autopsy of queer culture in several countries around the world. Page and Daniel really got to the bottom of this during their travels and interviews in the respective countries, but the moderators lacked the charisma of some of their interlocutors. They treated LGBT culture with an inviolability that is mostly withheld from university campuses that are afraid of offending someone with the smallest form of criticism.

David Goldberg referred to Gaycation in the LGBT publication OutSmart as both an anthropological documentation and a personal narrative about the discovery of the larger world beyond one's own queer everyday life. Every dark scene was followed by groundbreaking moments of joy and optimism. It is refreshing that the moderators, who developed their full potential through their curiosity, are not experienced, international reporters, even if they sometimes seem “out of place”. By reflecting on their personal views while confronting the "horrors and glories of travel" they would embody the awakening of "unouted to perfectly knowledgeable" individuals on a responsible, global scale. The show believes that coming out should be the beginning of a larger mission, not a quick path to complacency. Gaycation is a call to stand up for the local and global LGBT community, as well as a reminder of the spectacles the world has to offer, if one is willing to seek them out.

Awards (selection)

Emmy

  • 2016 : Nomination in the Best Unstructured Reality Program category
  • 2017 : Nomination in the category Best Unstructured Reality Program

GLAAD Media Award

  • 2017: Nomination in the category Best Reality Program
  • 2018: Nomination in the category Best Reality Program

Imagen Award

  • 2017: Award in the Best Information Program category

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Koa Beck: Ellen Page and Ian Daniel Find the Hope in a Post-Trump Nation With Gaycation Special “United We Stand”. In: Vogue . April 30, 2017, accessed June 1, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Stephanie Marie Anderson: 5 things 'Gaycation' taught us about what it's like to be LGBT + in America's deep south. In: SBS. August 24, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Sam Anderson: Ellen Page Goes Off-Script. In: The New York Times . October 1, 2015, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Cahal Milmo: Ellen Page describes coming face-to-face with serial killer of gay people. In: The Independent . March 13, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Vanessa Golembewski: Ellen Page On Her New Series That Changed Her Life & How She Feels About The "Hateful" GOP. In: Refinery29. March 3, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Sunnivie Brydum: Antigay Presidential Hopeful Jair Bolsonaro Once Had a Showdown With Ellen Page. In: The Advocate . October 9, 2018, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Stephanie Marie Anderson: 7 things 'Gaycation' taught us about French LGBT + culture. In: SBS. August 24, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  8. ^ Francois Biber: Actor Ellen Page attends two-spirit gathering in Batoche, Sask. In: CBC / Radio-Canada . April 12, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  9. ↑ JJ O'Donoghue: Kyoto monk on a mission opens his doors to diversity. In: The Japan Times . March 16, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Dana Piccoli: “Gaycation” recap (2.2): India. In: After Ellen . September 16, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Dana Piccoli: "Gaycation" recap (2.1) in Ukraine. In: After Ellen. September 16, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  12. ^ Ian Daniel: What to Expect in the Season Finale of 'GAYCATION'. In: Vice . September 22, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Jordan Crucchiola: Gaycation Season 2 Trailer: Ellen Page Will Shatter This Oppressive Reality. In: New York . August 25, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Syeda Hasan: Ellen Page Shoots in India for Season Two of 'Gaycation'. In: India.com. May 19, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Jim Halterman: Gaycation's Ian Daniel Goes Solo to Explore France's LGBTQ Community. In: TV Insider . September 21, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Oriana Schwindt: Ellen Page's 'Gaycation' to Air Orlando Shooting Special in August. In: Variety . August 4, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  17. ^ Sarah Thomas: Ellen Page and Ian Daniel in Gaycation: Giving a voice to LGBTQI people all over the world. In: The Sydney Morning Herald . December 2, 2016, accessed June 1, 2020 .
  18. ^ Koa Beck: More Than a Gaycation. In: Marie Claire . March 22, 2016, accessed June 1, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Josh Haskell, Jessica Hopper: Ellen Page Confronts Ted Cruz on Gay Rights at Iowa State Fair. In: ABC News . August 21, 2015, accessed June 1, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Laura Prudom: Viceland Renews Five Shows, Including Ellen Page's 'Gaycation,' Picks Up Five More. In: Variety. May 13, 2016, accessed June 1, 2020 .
  21. ^ Jude Dry: Ellen Page Talks Filming 'Gaycation' Orlando Special and How Coming Out Freed Her Creatively. In: IndieWire . August 26, 2016, accessed June 1, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Gaycation. In: Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved May 30, 2020 (English).
  23. ↑ Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya: Gaycation heads home for some introspection in season one finale. In: The AV Club. March 23, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Kylie Obermeier: REVIEW: “Gaycation” explores LGBT culture around world, despite flaws. In: The Daily Free News. March 4, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  25. ^ Brian Moylan: Viceland: Vice's foray into CNN-style cable TV is a mixed bag. In: The Guardian . March 2, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  26. ↑ David Goldberg: 'Gaycation'. In: OutSmart. March 18, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Dave Lewis: Complete list of 2016 Emmy nominations and winners. In: Los Angeles Times . July 14, 2016, accessed April 19, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Pete Hammond, Patrick Hipes: Emmy Awards Nominations: 'Westworld', 'This Is Us', 'Stranger Things', 'Atlanta' Lead Diverse List. In: Deadline.com . July 13, 2017, accessed April 19, 2020 .
  29. ↑ JD Knapp: 28th GLAAD Media Awards: Complete List of Winners. In: Variety . May 6, 2017, accessed April 19, 2020 .
  30. ↑ Kimberly Nordyke: GLAAD Media Awards: 'Call Me by Your Name' Wins Best Film. In: The Hollywood Reporter . May 5, 2018, accessed April 19, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Bruce Haring: Imagen Awards Honor 'How To Be A Latin Lover', 'Queen Of The South' & Lin-Manuel Miranda - Complete Winners List. In: Deadline.com. August 19, 2017, accessed April 19, 2020 .