Ruined

In January of this year, I began watching the L Word and by March I had finished all four seasons on DVD and had watched all of season 5 on YouTube. It was like my own private L Word immersion program except that I came out of the program speaking a language I already knew. When it was over, I felt a bit lost and had no idea what to watch next. It was in this moment of vulnerability I found a neglected movie from Netflix stuffed in the dusty crevices of our television cabinet. I’m too ashamed to give you the name of the movie but, let’s just say, that Jennifer Garner was involved and that is not a good sign. A movie doesn’t have to be great for me to enjoy it, though, so I popped some popcorn, put in the movie and we settled down for a nice evening of mindless entertainment. The movie was moving along on its predictable romantic path when Jennifer Garner’s character did something so unfathomable and shocking that I gasped aloud and clapped a hand over my mouth - her character kissed a man! In only three months, I had become so accustomed to seeing women kissing and having sex with other women that I could no longer watch mundane boy/girl lovin’. In that moment, I realized that the L Word had ruined television and movies for me. Sure, I had always wanted Christine Cagney to get it on with another woman but I didn’t expect it. And, who hasn’t wanted Olivia Benson to go home after a hard day at the precinct and climb into bed with some hot gal? And sure, I would have loved to have seen Sarah Sidle host some sort of lesbian poker party and end up making out with Sofia Curtis but I knew that would never happen. But then…then...Jennifer Beals started kissing and topping the ladies and anything seemed possible. Now? I expect to see complex lesbian characters on television. I expect queer humor and inside jokes. I expect to see women kissing women and not simply because it might help with ratings (Grey’s Anatomy, I am looking at you). This can only lead to disappointment because there are fewer lesbian characters on regular old television now than there were several years ago. When season 6 of the L Word is over, I will have to return to fantasies. I’ll have to kick start my imagination again…maybe Angelina Jolie can help.