"My Job is to Live My Life, Not Save Yours": The Ordinariness and Emotional Labor of Queer Masculinity in Netflix's Queer Eye

Identifier

6470

Author

Cameron Lynn Brown

Date

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Communication

Concentration

Communication Studies

Committee Chair

Amanda Nell Edgar

Committee Member

Christina Moss

Committee Member

Craig O. Stewart

Abstract

The current study examines contemporary understandings of Queer masculinity through a textual and audience analysis of Netflix's Queer Eye: More then a Makeover. I begin by situating this project within the context of media studeis. From there, I engage with literature surrounding the representaitons of differing genders and sexualities in reality television shows. Using the theory of ordinariness (Cavalcante, 2018) and the theory of reflexivity (Sender, 2012), I argue that Netflix's Queer Eye represents a subtle shift in the representaiton of Queer men in television as ordinary and "everyday." Audiences understood this presentaiton as Netflix's Fav Five's ordinariness as confidence and through reflexive engagements with the series, came to expect the Fav Five to perform emotional labor on themselves in order to construct an actuated self. Audiences also deploy reflexivity to complicate their engagements with Netflix's Queer Eye through believability, queer representation, and anti-fandom.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

Recommended Citation

Brown, Cameron Lynn, ""My Job is to Live My Life, Not Save Yours": The Ordinariness and Emotional Labor of Queer Masculinity in Netflix's Queer Eye" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2025.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/2025