| Abstract: | Bravo's surprise hit series, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, has attracted a large and loyal viewing audience and garnered a great deal of critical acclaim. Though there is much to celebrate about the show, the authors of this study point out that Queer Eye also represents a new way of containing queers and queer sexuality. This essay argues that this containment is accomplished through a mediated ritual formula that inverts the traditional sequence characteristic of rites of passage and allows queers only temporary and controlled access to the cultural mainstream while ensuring that, in the end, they do not pose any serious threat of socio-sexual contamination by their continued presence there. Further, the authors argue that Queer Eye’s ritual formula illustrates the construction by mainstream media of a new kind of Closet, which they call “the Loft” because of the term's connection to one of the series’ conventions and because this new Closet simultaneously serves to elevate and contain queers and queer sexuality. |
