And Another Thing....

Death as Fantasy

So, I just caught up on the last three episodes of Grey's Anatomy via iTunes. For weeks, I've had to practically cover my ears as friends around me sniffled and said things like, "Oh, it's so sad!"

And those episodes WERE sad---until the last 10 minutes or so of the third, when things resolved happily. What's interesting to me, though, is how during the sad parts they recreated what I think is a compelling fantasy for teenagers---let's call it Death Porn.

You know the scenario. You might have even imagined it  yourself. You're extraordinary, but no one around you seems to see it. You shine, you shine---but the people around you only express contempt or dismissal or, worse, ignore you completely.

So then you die. Maybe you commit suicide, like Meredity Grey kinda-sorta tries to do here. And then, oh, everyone is sorry. They weep around your bedside. They try to do everything they can to save you. They stare at your pale blue, beautiful face and think how sorry they were that they ever thought you were anything less than amazing. They gnash their teeth. They rip their garments.

Yep. Death Porn.

But what redeemed it was the other part. The part where Meredith is in heaven, or in her oxygen deprived brain, or whatever, and realizes that she won't be able to see all of this love and tragedy. Once in a while she'll be able to feel it as the people she loves pass near her. But she'll never really be able to hold on to it herself.

This is why we live, the episode says. To hold on to those we love as long as we can.

Grey's gay

So, George is gay. Well, at least the guy, T. R. Knight, who plays him on Grey's Anatomy.

But why is it that the mainstream media is focused more on Knight's coming out--or being outed--than about the situation that outed him?

Isaiah Washington (Preston Burke) in a fight with McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) said, "I am not your little faggot" like Knight.

Good for Knight for making the best of a bad situation by confirming to People mag that he is, in fact, gay. But lets all shake our head in disbelief--and anger--that Washington, who is starring on a thoughtful, compassionate show that treats the gay bartender Joe as just one of the guys, still thinks its OK to take a gay man down a peg by calling him a faggot.

Washington is no better than Mel Gisbson. No, actually, he's worse---because Washington wasn't drunk.