Shameless gay
Mickey Milkovich: A Character Assessment of Shameless&#; Best Piece of Southside Trash
Spoiler Warning: This article discusses events in Shameless primary up to the Season 7 finale.
“Kiss me and I’ll cut your fucking tongue out,” is what Mickey Milkovich (Noel Fisher) says to Ian Gallagher (Cameron Monaghan) after their first sexual encounter in season 1, episode 7 of Shameless, which reveals that Mickey is same-sex attracted. It is this line that he says after Ian tries to kiss him that epitomizes who Mickey is, at least in the beginning of the series.
Mickey lives on the rugged streets of southside Chicago and is first depicted as a hardened thug with a vile mouth who likes to snatch from the store where Ian works. He seems to contain no qualms about using his fists, as he is frequently shown fighting various different people throughout the series. So of course, I automatically assumed he would be the typical bully character, meant to be a thorn in the sweet Ian Gallagher’s side. Imagine my surprise when he was revealed to be, in fact, gay and attracted to Ian.
In a lot of shows I’ve
- Abigail Reiter, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke
- Tyler Flockhart, Viterbo University
Abstract
On the pilot of Shameless, in , one of the primary characters, Phillip (“Lip”) Gallagher, finds a magazine full of naked men behind his brother, Ian’s, dresser. What follows is a brief period of resistance from Lip, who is not ready to accept that his brother is homosexual. By the finish of the episode, however, Lip has accepted his brother’s sexuality. The recover of the family follows suit. In fact, Ian’s sexuality is portrayed as a non-issue with his siblings and most every other character in the Shameless universe.
This does not mean, however, that representations of gayness in Shameless, nor being a gay character in the show, is without issue. Representations of queer1 people in popular television and film often align with what sexualities scholars cite to as a “post-gay” narrative (see Coleman-Fountain ; Russell et al. ). Here, social, political, and legal advances over the last decade are used as evidence that homophobia is a thing of the past, and
The audience really has a lot of affection for these two characters. What kinds of interactions contain you had with "Gallavich" fans?
NF: Some really cold moments I've had contain been just walking around on the street and having people run into me and recognize me from the show.
EF: Are they scared of you?
NF: They think I'm a lot tougher than I am. But I've had several people talk to me about how this kind of a story, being told in this way, is kind of a first and how that's very important to a lot of people. As an actor, that's like the pinnacle of what you want to be doing, and Shameless is amazing for letting us be a part of this kind of a story. It's been pretty awesome.
CM: Yeah, right from the start there was really positive reaction, both online and in person. Especially online. That component has really exploded over the last five years. You can't observe every single message, but you try to watch whenever you can, and it's amazing to notice the excitement and the passion people have for it. It's good to know we're not alone in the passion for this work that we're doi
Queer Representations in Shameless
Alexa Michaels
The American remake of the British sitcom “Shameless,” was first aired in and continues to top International Movie Database’s “Most Popular TV Series” list at number seven as fans await an eighth season to atmosphere. The Showtime series, created by Paul Abbot, is about the Gallagher family—six siblings who work together to take care of each other, all-the-while dealing their destructive, alcoholic father. First produced by Michael Hissrich, followed by Terri Murphy, the series includes characters that openly detect, or are portrayed, as queer. Although there is no public information regarding Murphy’s personal life, I believe that due to the creator’s and unique producers’ positionalities as heterosexual males, the show’s minority characters are portrayed in a negative or stereotypical light (“Shameless,” n.d.).
Gay Males
According to Larry Gross’ model of sexual minority production, representation, and distrib