The L Word

The television show that I will be analyzing is The L Word. It was a Showtime show that had a six-season run, and ended in the beginning of 2009. The L Word was not only the first television show specifically created to tell a story about a group of lesbians, but it was also the longest running Showtime show, as they typically only run for five seasons. The show is based in L.A., and it follows a group of friends that are all connected in different ways. The episode that is my focus is the two-part Pilot.

The L Word as a show greatly draws upon universalizing discourses, as does the Pilot episode. More apparent than any other example, is the fact that the show literally does “shatter the primary norm” by making the norm of the show lesbianism. (Transgeneration). Although the show is based in modern L.A. society, where the norm is not lesbianism, the characters that make up the show are almost all lesbians, making it a norm in the circle of friends that the show follows. The Pilot also shows universalizing discourses by “envisioning subjects on a continuum.” (Transgeneration). In this episode, one of the main characters Alice first explains that she is bi-sexual, and that she falls in love with the person, not their sex. Bi-sexualism is just one example of sexuality being a gray continuum instead of fixed. Another main character, Shane, helps show universalizing discourses as well, by drawing from connotative meanings. (Transgeneration). In this episode, Shane does not say that she is a lesbian, it is inferred by the way that she dresses, as well as the multiple women she is seen “mingling” with throughout the episode.

Even though The L Word, as a show, mainly uses universalizing discourses, this episode still draws upon minoritizing discourses in multiple ways. One example includes Tina and Bette’s discussion of an African American sperm donor. Bette and Tina are two main characters of the show that have been in a relationship together for about seven years when the show begins. As Bette is half African American, and Tina is White, there is not an issue of racism within their relationship by either party, but when Bette finds a donor who is black, Tina is taken aback by the request to carry a half White, half African American baby because it is not what she had initially expected. (Transgeneration). This not only shows that Tina expected the norm to be that she would carry a White child, instead of a more fluid child of mixed races, but it also shows Hall’s idea of implicit racism by Tina’s assumption because as Hall states, “by inferential racism I mean those apparently naturalized representations of events and situations relating to race,” which to Tina, it seemed “natural” for her to carry a White child even though she was not with a White partner. (Hall). Another example of minoritizing discourses in this episode, as well as throughout the show, is how “non-normative identities are relegated to the periphery,” and how “categories of exclusion are created.” (Transgeneration). Because the show is a show about lesbians, and it reverses societal norms, the “non-normative identities” are the people who are straight. These characters all are important and tied to the story in key ways, but they are not the shows main focus. Kit, Bette’s sister, is a key example of this. She is important throughout the show, but never as important in most storylines because she is straight. The characters that tend to be a part of the “categories of exclusion,” tend to be male. Tim is an example of this in the Pilot because his entire purpose is to represent that Jenny is “straight,” not to be his own character or to follow his own storyline until later on in the first season.

Overall, The L Word is a show full of universalizing discourses as well as minoritizing discourses, even though it is a look into a lifestyle that is not the norm. The Pilot exemplifies how the show is overall perfectly, and is an interesting episode to analyze as it does not follow all of the same themes as most mainstream shows.

Hall, Stuart. “The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media.” In Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text-Reader. Eds. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Sage Publications. 2003. 89-93.

Brown, Adriane. Transgeneration. 2009.