One of Britain’s most popular drama series Life on Mars, set in the 1970s, was this week criticised by a teaching union for containing homophobic language which could fuel anti-gay bullying among children watching.
We now live in a time, where any type of homophobic attitudes or abusive language have become unacceptable in the media, or in British public life generally. Although homophobic language and bullying are still prevalent in many parts of society, at least in the media it is now begun to be treated with the same level of outrage as racism.
There are of course still hugely controversial incidents, including the pejorative use of the word “gay” by BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles to describe a ringtone, implying that it was “rubbish”. Although many would argue that a similarly racist connation would have resulted in his sacking, at least the incident received widespread condemnation and provoked a debate on the use of such language by broadcasters.
However, when you begin to criticise fictional dramas for using colloquial language of the era, in this case the 1970s, then we are entering new territory. There should of course be a presumption that artistic integrity should not be compromised even to satisfy the norms of our more enlightened times, but at the same time you could argue whether younger viewers should be exposed to unchallenged homophobic attitudes.
In the case of soap operas I would certainly suggest that TV networks have a responsibility to make sure that any homophobia on screen is challenged. In the case of comedy series from the past featuring homophobic humour, then there is also a strong argument for saying that repeats of these should not be shown as there may not be the same historical context to make clear that this language was a being used in a previous era.
Where drama series are set in the past, this poses more difficulties. There is no use pretending that homophobic views would necessarily have been challenged, and expect dramas not to reflect the attitudes of the time.
I think it is important that these attitudes are still present in fictional dramas or novels. There is no point trying to rewrite history and pretend these attitudes did not, or do not, exist.
To be fair to the leader of the teaching union who criticised the show, she did not want it taken off the air but used it to raise the issue of homophobic bullying and the importance of making sure children see this type of behaviour shown on screen as unacceptable.
As society continues to change, such attitudes may well become seen as outdated and even ridiculed, in the same way that portrayals of how women were treated in the past. In doing so they have the capacity to act as an important reminder of how things were in the past and the extent to which public attitudes can move on.
The use of homophobic language even in drama series may make for uncomfortable viewing for many of us, the solution cannot be censorship of language in a fictional historical context but further effort to ensure that everyone feels just as uncomfortable hearing this type of language.
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