Metrosexuality is a little known British short series of 6 episodes (+ the pilot) written, directed and produced by Rikki Beadle-Blair in 2001.
The show is a slice-of-life dramedy about a community of people of various ethnicities and sexual orientations.
Kwamé, on one hand, is devising ways to get back his crush Asha since he screwed up his first time with her, all while trying to help his friends with their own relationships, keeping a relationship with his mother and trying to get his father back with his ex-boyfriend.
His father, Max, is pretty much his friends' caretaker and likewise helps them with their own relationships and life trials, even his straight friends who often come to him for advice on life in general.
The show addresses many issues including how children of queer parents relate to them and to the world around them, how Gays & Lesbians relate to each other in Real Life, how Straights can relate with LGBT people without aggressivity or how manhood and femininity can be endorsed by Gays & Lesbians respectively. Also present are the issues of racism, homophobia and, unusual for this kind of show, heterophobia.
In those aspects, the series is quite notable for defying, deconstructing and inverting many conventional tropes found in LGBT shows and isn't afraid of portraying some aspects of queer culture in a very critical way, and as such comes across in a rather realistic depiction of the lives of LGBT people.
Metrosexuality is self-contained despite its shortness and isn't scheduled for any sequel.
Metrosexuality provides examples of:
- All Lesbians Want Kids: Addressed in a rather unusual way. Cindy, Max's sister who's a lesbian, is framed as your usual baby-crazed lesbian whereas her girlfriend Doris, while happy with the kids, never really intended to have kids and points it out to Cindy.
- All Gays are Promiscuous: Deconstructed. Bambi, Kwamé's friend, would like a committed relationship with is boyfriend Robin but Robin is notoriously unfaithful thus leading their relationship in a dead end. In another couple, Jordan is dating Jonno but doesn't know Jonno is an escort boy and fucks other men for a living. This one however, is apparently more heading towards a happy conclusion.
- The Bear: Robin, who could also double as a Big Beautiful Man with his plus size build.
- Boomerang Bigot: Jonno openly states that effeminacy in men, especially Gay men, is just a manifestation of said men's paralyzing fear of women, making them straight at heart. According to Jonno, only Manly Gay homosexuals are real homosexuals.
- Boy Meets Girl: The pilot episode introduces many characters but also sets the whole Kwamé-Asha sub-plot.
- Butch Lesbian: Played with. Jaye looks indeed masculine but her tiny Asian frame and the bright colours she wears actually make her look more boyish than mannish.
- Camp Gay: Max, definitely. Even though he loses most of his campiness when he's being serious.
- Coming Straight Story: Kwamé pretends to be gay at one point in order to spite Asha and then in order to facilitate his father rekindling with his ex-boyfriend.
- Drag Queen: The Local Hangout's bouncer who is played by the very tall and massively built DeObia Oparei
◊. - Gay Best Friend: Subverted. Max has a lot of straight friend but not because he's gay, just because he cares for them and helps them out in time of need.
- Gayngst: A constant subtext of the show. The whole moral of the series could be "There's nothing wrong with being queer, but it's no bed of roses".
- Lipstick Lesbian: Cindy, Doris, Flora and pretty much any lesbian who appears on the show, save for Jaye, look rather feminine.
- Manly Gay: Discussed and Lampshaded. Everyone notices just how masculine Jonno looks and Jonno hismelf, a former serviceman, addresses the issue of manliness among Gays.
- Magical Queer: Subverted. Max isn't a good person because he's gay, he's a good person because he's been through a lot and his life experience makes him knowledgeable about many things.
- Old People are Nonsexual: Max states many times that growing old is basically forbidden by queer culture.
- Poor Communication Kills: A big point throughout the show, to the point that Max points out to Kwamé that none of the shenanigans that they engaged into would have happened had Kwamé talked to him in the first place.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The whole "community" the series is about features mostly outcasts and minority people. The 3 straight couples appearing in it are highly dysfuntional either because of Poor Communication Kills (Kwamé/Asha), relationship fatigue (Daniel/Geraldine), or drugs (Pablo/Peggy).
- Satellite Character: Strangely, despite being Kwame's main interest, Asha doesn't have much effect on the story past the pilot episode and her interactions with Kwamé stop until the series' finale where whether or not they eventually make up is Left Hanging.
