Classic high school drama: a secret is revealed by the popular girls about you, so you try your very best to pretend it’s not true and dispel every eye looking your way.
A slightly more modern retelling of the classic high school drama: a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person is outed by one of their peers at school and they are faced with having to deal with other people’s prejudices, while also realizing who of their friends are real friends and which of them aren’t.
A total plot twist: the popular girl outs two girls as lesbians when they’re actually straight. The two girls use this to their advantage and pretend to be lesbians to rise up the High School Social Ladder of Popularity (HSSLP? What a mouthful.).
Believe it or not, this is the premise of Faking It, MTV’s new series. The above paragraph is exactly what the story is — two seemingly straight girls are outed as lesbians by the classic, Regina George-esque Mean Girl at their school, and they use it as a platform to be elected Home Coming Queens, in an effort to become more popular at their school.
At first, I thought so too. There’s no way that a show like that could be anything but a train wreck. But, to be fair, I thought that about MTV’s other shows like Awkward and Teen Wolf. Needless to say, the both of those TV shows have actually advanced pretty well and gathered a great following. So why not Faking It?
I’m sure you can see my initial issues and reservations with the series. I had trouble believing that anybody would use being a lesbian to their advantage — for f***’s sake, I’m pretty sure I would never use it to my advantage, and I’m a lesbian here! I had trouble believing that the show could bring about being part of a prejudiced, abused minority as a good thing, apart from preaching the whole "accept who you are’ thing that every TV show has done in the past five years. But I gave it a chance, and watched the first episode.
I was, surprisingly, pleasantly surprised.
The show brings about a lot of different issues, and while some may be problematic, others are dealt with swimmingly, and this article serves as me dealing with the Pros and Cons of the show so far.
WARNING: If you haven’t watched up to Episode two, please be aware that this article contains spoilers from this point on! (Unless you’re totally fine with spoilers, in which case, carry on.)
Pro: The show emphasizes friendship over all.
When asking the main cast what the show is really about, Katie Stevens (who plays the quirky Karma) said that, over all, it’s about friendship. The girls know everything about each other — allergies, fears, habits. Everything. They show each other unconditional support and love, and treat each other like family, which they practically are for each other.
Con: The girls’ friendship can be somewhat manipulative.
Though Karma boasts that she supports Amy and would do anything for her, Amy is actually the one who does most of the "doing’ herself. Karma appears to be quite the manipulator, either guilt tripping
Amy into doing things for her, or reminding her that they’re best friends, and that best friends should be there for each other no matter what.
Pro: Lauren is the first Mean Girl to use someone’s heterosexuality against them.
This adds to the "plot twist’ element of the whole thing. Lauren is just mean in general, but she’s also the first person to accuse the girls of faking being gay (that is, of course, after she accuses them of it in the first place).
Con: The "Token Gay Friend’ stereotype is back!
Oh, how I hate this! I have met countless people who always say that they’ve always wanted a gay/lesbian friend because it’s suddenly "cool’ and "a fad’ to have one, but really, it’s like you’re treating us like Collector’s Items. We are not people you can "collect’ to stamp in a book and show off to your friends. Even sadder than that, the gay male in the story, Shane (played by Michael J Willett), is actually guilty of this himself…
Pro: The show celebrates diversity as a whole.
The high school that serves as a backdrop for the show is a place where being "abnormal’ or "social rejects’ is cool. The popular kids are gay, Goths, pregnant teenagers, hippies, the works (although not all at once). It’s refreshing to see a TV show where the popular kids aren’t the jocks and the cheerleaders, but rather the geeks and freaks. Being different is celebrated and encouraged.
Con: There’s some serious fetishization going on here……
And we can blame Liam for it. Yes, Liam. The Hottie, the "Tortured Artist’ archetype. Liam, who is narrowing down sexuality to something that can please him. Liam is the classic guy who thinks that "lesbians haven’t found the right man yet’ and can have their mind changed, or some bull*** like that. He’s a problematic character who views lesbians as being "hot’. He treats Karma as a conquest to be won, and even more so because she is supposedly gay.
Pro: We’re given both sides of the spectrum when it comes to accepting parents.
Karma’s parents are supportive and totally OK about their daughter potentially being a lesbian. They don’t give her grief for it; rather they accept it as a part of who their daughter is. We’re also shown Amy’s mother, who is shown as a classic Republican woman who doesn’t seem to take the news too well, which is realistic — not all parents are going to be accepting, but not all parents are going to disown you either. However, this does bring me to my next point…
Con: Republicans are depicted as "totally evil’.
We are treated to the classic media’s depiction of Republicans — backwards, anti-gay and totally conservative. However, this isn’t the case. While there are Republicans who do fit this (stereotypes have some truth in them, after all), this isn’t the case all the time. There are several Republicans who aren’t like the proverbial "rest of them’ — some of them are very accepting of other people. This stereotype, as all, is harming to society. But that discussion is for another article completely.
In conclusion, Faking It has some very good points, and also some issues that need fixing, but I’m eager to see where the show will go with it all — Amy’s evident attraction to Karma, Karma being caught in between Amy and Liam, Lauren trying to debunk the whole charade…
I’m truly looking forward to how the whole thing will play out. Maybe the Cons mentioned above will serve as plot points later on in the series, resolving them and surprising us all. Maybe they won’t. Regardless, I recommend this to anybody (queer folk and straight folk alike) who wants a good story riddled with laughs, as well as a main cast who make the story that much more believable in itself, despite the unrealistic first impression we get of it.