Line #36 Main/QueerShowGhetto


1	->''"''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' is, in some ways, a new kind of Hollywood film [...] Why wouldn't the film studios touch it? Because they thought a [[{{Music/Liberace}} Liberace]] [[note]] A singer, pianist and actor famous for his flamboyant rhinestone-studded costumes and capes.[[/note]] biopic was just 'too gay' to make money."''
2	-->-- '''[[https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/jun/11/gay-characters-hollywood-films Why are gay characters at the top of Hollywood's kill list?]]'''
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4	Works involving same-gender romances or LGBT+ topics are watched/read most predominantly by members of the UsefulNotes/LGBTCommunity. This may be caused by being assumed to only be for people who are LGBT by everyone else; a potential level of homophobia within other potential audiences; and "mainstream" creators or distributors not wanting to use a queer narrative because they believe it will be unpopular, forcing these stories to be themselves marginalized and only accessible by audiences who go out of their way looking for them -- these audiences often the LGBT+ people who have been elsewhere starved of representation -- making the stigma that causes the ghetto self-fulfilling.
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6	What makes matters worse is that the Queer Show Ghetto is even harsher than other "ghetto" tropes, because every letter in LGBT is a distinct community in and of itself, each one with its own stereotypes, cultural norms, in-jokes, etc. A lesbian period drama will not attract large numbers of gay men. And that's not even getting into ''racial'' minorities within the LGBT community.
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8	Naturally, this trope denotes an LGBTFanbase, and these works are more likely than others to have [[QueerCharacterQueerActor queer actors]], too. Alternative programming channels may have large fanbases of young people and/or socially liberal people, which can extend a fanbase when queer themes are included in works shown there. Creator/{{LOGO}} used to be this in the United States; Creator/Channel4 is this in the United Kingdom.
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10	ButNotTooGay, AmbiguouslyGay, AmbiguouslyBi, and HideYourLesbians are often used to avoid the stigma of seeming "too gay" for people. AdaptationalSexuality is sometimes used to subvert this. Genres like {{Yaoi}}, {{Yuri}}, {{Josei}}, and the {{Bara}} are often designed specifically to be consumed by LGBT people and therefore are not in a queer ghetto. BoysLoveGenre fiction (which features male/male romance) is also not in a queer ghetto because, despite featuring gay male love interests, much of it is written by and for cishet women.
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12	See also MinorityShowGhetto and GirlShowGhetto. See WatchedItForTheRepresentation for when people tune in to a work for its LGBT representation. For LGBT-themed works that managed to find mainstream popularity, see OutOfTheGhetto.
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14	----
15	!!Examples:
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17	[[foldercontrol]]
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19	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
20	* ''Film/ButImACheerleader'' remains a downplayed AcclaimedFlop; [[CriticalDissonance queer viewers love it, but many critics didn't,]] and it bombed when it first came out. It's still an obscure film today.
21	* In the film version of ''Film/FriedGreenTomatoes'', the lesbian romance was toned down to being implied instead of explicit to market to mainstream audiences.
22	* There have been frequent rumours that ''Film/BendItLikeBeckham'' was originally about a romance between two women interested in football which was removed both due to worries that the film would be too niche and due to not wanting to perpetuate the LesbianJock stereotype. Supposedly Jess' romance with Joe was added to further downplay any subtext between Jess and Jules.
23	%%* ''Film/SaveMe'', a drama about a gay drug user who goes to Jesus Camp and kind-of-sort-of starts to turn his life around and then decides that all these people are horrible and leaves but comes back to reconcile because the people aren't horrible, but the institution is (or something)
24	%%* ''Film/TheMostlyUnfabulousSocialLifeOfEthanGreen'', a romantic comedy about a neurotic and chronically single gay guy who constantly screws up all of his relationships, but then finds love (or something)
25	%%* ''Film/BoyCulture'', a drama about a world-weary, cynical gay male escort who forms a begrudging relationship with a rich client who, unlike most clients, just wants to talk to him. His conversations with the client lead him to realize that, despite his cynicism, he's in love with his roommate.
26	* ''Film/{{Milk}}'', the biopic of assassinated early gay activist and politician Harvey Milk, won two Oscars but is barely known (to the point that Music/SamSmith mistakenly thought that they were the first gay artist to win an Oscar). Of course, it was written by Creator/DustinLanceBlack, whose original productions are mostly limited to be for an LGBTFanbase.
27	* ''Film/MySummerOfLove'', a ComingOfAge PsychoLesbian religious summer movie starring Creator/NataliePress and a young Creator/EmilyBlunt. Notably, it was the lesbian and 15-years-too-early version of ''Film/GodsOwnCountry'' (which is set in the same place and mixes MSOL's story with that of ''Film/BrokebackMountain''), which was mainstream popular in 2017/18.
28	* ''Film/TheImitationGame'' is a biopic of World War II codebreaker Alan Turing, who was tortured for his homosexuality. The film suspiciously avoids [[ButNotTooGay any scenes with Alan and another man together]] and he's only [[ShowDontTell said to have private affairs]]. Overall his homosexuality is completely downplayed, and the film amps up his eccentricities to make him a textbook case of Asperger Syndrome (which he wasn't in real life).
29	[[/folder]]
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31	[[folder:Literature]]
32	* ''Literature/{{Stranger}}'' was stuck in DevelopmentHell for years because agents either wanted to make [[GetBackInTheCloset a gay character straight]] or take him out completely out of fear the book wouldn't sell.
33	* Discussed in ''Literature/BreakfastAtTiffanys''. Holly is uninterested in the protagonist's book because it revolves around two female teachers and how one of them spreads scandalous rumors about her friend in protest of her getting engaged. Holly mentions that stories about lesbians bore her, though she doesn't mind lesbians and is bisexual herself.
34	[[/folder]]
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36	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
37	* ''Series/TheBigGaySketchShow'', which is basically a low-budget LGBT version of ''Saturday Night Live''. It became marginally more famous later for having starred Creator/KateMcKinnon, who would go on to be a breakout hit of ''SNL''.
38	* The American network [=LOGO=] was originally LGBT themed however it went through NetworkDecay to become more mainstream, and subsequently less outright LGBT material is shown on the channel.
39	* ''Series/TheLWord'' was a show about lesbians and bisexual women, and the showrunner said that it wouldn't have been greenlit if it hadn't focused on the GirlOnGirlIsHot angle to attract a straight male demographic.
40	* ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'' was in the works of getting adapted into a TV series as part of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, but it never reached its slated 2018 release on Creator/{{Freeform}} in spite of executive confidence, ostensibly because the network "did not have room in its schedule for the series." However, [[https://www.cbr.com/marvel-new-warriors-bts-photos-squirrel-girl/ showrunner Kevin Biegel later alleged that the actual reason why it never got past its pilot]] was because said pilot "was very proudly gay," and that the series was shot down by a since-fired "high level exec with an agenda."
41	[[/folder]]
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43	[[folder:Music]]
44	* Referenced in "Radio Friendly Pop Song" by Matt Fishel, which is about how Hollywood forces musicians and actors into the closet in order to make them mainstream and conventional:
45	-->''But face it, kid, if you want to get onto radio just do what I say''
46	-->''Change all the 'him's into 'her's''
47	-->''And just don't tell the world that you're -- shh!''
48	* Discussed, alongside the MinorityShowGhetto and GirlShowGhetto, in "Dumb" from ''Music/StraightOuttaOz''. Being a queer black man makes it harder for Todrick's music to hit the mainstream:
49	-->''If I had blue button-eyes and blond hair, would I make the magazine on the best page?''
50	-->''Be the leading man, if I was less gay?''
51	-->''If I was a woman would you try to give me less pay?''
52	[[/folder]]
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54	[[folder:Theatre]]
55	* {{Lampshaded}} in one of Creator/NeilPatrickHarris' MediaNotes/{{Tony\|AwardWinners}} [[Platform/{{Broadway}} Awards]] opening performances, where he does a number saying that "[Broadway]'s not just for gays anymore".
56	[[/folder]]
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58	[[folder:Video Games]]
59	* ''VideoGame/GoodbyeVolcanoHigh'' was speculated to fall into this when it was first revealed due to its heavy focus on queer characters, including having the player character being nonbinary. After being SavedFromDevelopmentHell and releasing late August 2023, Sony barely promoted it, and few mainstream game outlets reviewed it.
60	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / QueerShowGhetto