Visibility and Legitimacy of the Heterosexual Female Character on Boy Meets Boy and The A-List

Abstract

This project investigates the role of the heterosexual female character on two reality television shows, Boy Meets Boy (2003) and The A-List (2010-2011), that target a dual audience consisting of the homosexual male and the heterosexual female. In Section One, I investigate how both shows are able to target this dual audience, as well as the representational politics of each character type. From this, I perform a close textual analysis of the each character’s coding by utilizing Katherine Sender’s “Dualcasting,” or the idea that both audiences can be targeted through advertising that is crafted to appeal to both demographics. In Section Two, I investigate what intent is behind the existence of the heterosexual female and whether her character reinforces or dismantles a heteronormative gender structure. In Section Three, I assess how the audience responds to both the homosexual male and the heterosexual female characters based upon fan forum response. In this section, my goal is to investigate the legitimacy of the female character through eyes of the audience and her role in creating significance on these shows.