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asifjulia's review
5.0
definitely recommend this book to ur gay friend with a special interest in pop culture. (it's me, i'm the gay friend with a special interest in pop culture)
kalebd_2125's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia
gkepps's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
billiamslibrary's review against another edition
5.0
What a treat! Matt Baum presents a beautiful overview of the history and impact of Queer representation in television sitcoms. I was shocked by how much I learned about classic TV shows, both ones I adore and some that I have never heard of. This has me wanting to dig into my streaming library to watch episodes of Bewitched, All in the Family, and Cheers. This book is an excellent example of the power of pop culture to change minds, build empathy, and build a better world.
mallard_duck's review
4.0
That there wasn't a whole chapter dedicated to explaining all the ways in which Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H* was queer-coded was the biggest disappointment of this book.
Jokes (or was it?) aside: a solid 4 stars from me. If I was a Youtube person, I definitely would've been inspired to check out Matt Baume's channel after reading this.
Hi Honey, I'm Homo! focuses on queerness and queer-adjacent content in classic American TV shows... which means that the majority of them were largely unknown to me (whether that's simply because I'm European or because I've been living under a rock remains unclear). I'm not saying this as a criticism of the book - if the topic is American popculture, then it's American popculture - but I have to admit that reading the chapters about the few shows I do know made me add a grain of salt to my perception of all the others, in the sense that:
Baume's prerogative here is showing how mainstream US media (specifically, sitcoms) from as early as the 1960s has treated the topic of queerness - from subtle subtext, through dancing around the subject, to including openly queer characters. In that, the discussed shows both reflected and influenced the general atmosphere around LGBTQIA+ rights at the time. Through focusing only on that angle, though, Baume seems to avoid criticism, or broader context, of at least some of the shows. The Golden Girls, with its indeed brave and uplifting portrayal of gay characters and their relationships with others, and humor that, for the most (?) part, can easily make you laugh out loud to this day, isn't a show without faults. Classic as it may be (its place in some circles of the queer culture can't be denied), when looked at from today's perspective, a lot of its jokes are just slut shaming with a laughing track, or casual fatphobia made 'funny'. Similarly, while Ellen DeGeneres' public coming out was a huge milestone for queer people of the time, in his recounting of the story Baume doesn't acknowledge the comic's fall from grace at all, despite less than favorable stories about her personality and treatment of others (especially on set) having come out in recent years. To me as a reader, the omission of those contexts doesn't really take away from the message about the queer-friedliness of the sitcoms in the book, but it does make me wonder if Baume isn't perhaps painting the grass greener, so to speak, in his analyses.
While the above heavily contributed to my taking away one star from the final rating, Hi Honey, I'm Homo! is still a solid piece of queer history. The story it tells is cohesive - shows are discussed in chronological order, thus taking us on a journey from the 1960s to late 2010s and successfully showing how the media landscape (as well as general attitudes) around queerness have fluctuated and changed. The book definitely made an impact, which is what I always look for in books. The chapters about the 1960s and 1970s made me feel like I was reading about ancient history; the 1980s and 1990s started feeling more relevant, though still vaguely; and then we were suddenly in the 2000s and later, and I was like, hold on, I remember this - this happened in my (more or less adult) lifetime. Seeing mentions of HIMYM, Six Feet Under, and other shows from around 2010 gave me such a weird feeling: I remember those being popular, even if I didn't watch them myself, as if it was yesterday, yet it's already been so long.
It also drove the point home just how much has changed in such a relatively short span of time.
Friends, it has barely been 10 years since gay marriage was legalized in some (!) countries. Obergefell vs. Hodges in the US was in 2015, only 9 years ago. I live in a country where gay marriage is still not legally recognized. In that time, we've come so far when it comes to media representation - the diversity, but also the accessibility of queer media has increased exponentially. When I was a teenager, very few bookstores in my country put what little queer YA or other novels were available on display, if they carried them at all - now I can walk into almost any bookstore and leave with a whole bag of queer books if I feel so inclined. So much of mainstream media - shows, movies, songs - and uncountable indie productions contain queer characters, often in the main roles.
There's so much still to be done, so much pushback and cruelty directed at the community in the last few years, but we have come so far. Even here in Poland (or, at least, big parts of it) being openly queer is now rarely equivalent with putting yourself at near-certain risk of getting fired, beaten up, or otherwise harassed by the majority of the people around you. I know that to teenagers or even folks in their early 20s who grew up with gay marriage already being an uncontested right, the current political climate is scary. It's scary to me too. But if there's only one takeaway to be had from this book, let it be the fact that on the whole, we are making progress, and the setbacks so far have been temporary. Because, remember: as a community, we can push back too.
Jokes (or was it?) aside: a solid 4 stars from me. If I was a Youtube person, I definitely would've been inspired to check out Matt Baume's channel after reading this.
Hi Honey, I'm Homo! focuses on queerness and queer-adjacent content in classic American TV shows... which means that the majority of them were largely unknown to me (whether that's simply because I'm European or because I've been living under a rock remains unclear). I'm not saying this as a criticism of the book - if the topic is American popculture, then it's American popculture - but I have to admit that reading the chapters about the few shows I do know made me add a grain of salt to my perception of all the others, in the sense that:
Baume's prerogative here is showing how mainstream US media (specifically, sitcoms) from as early as the 1960s has treated the topic of queerness - from subtle subtext, through dancing around the subject, to including openly queer characters. In that, the discussed shows both reflected and influenced the general atmosphere around LGBTQIA+ rights at the time. Through focusing only on that angle, though, Baume seems to avoid criticism, or broader context, of at least some of the shows. The Golden Girls, with its indeed brave and uplifting portrayal of gay characters and their relationships with others, and humor that, for the most (?) part, can easily make you laugh out loud to this day, isn't a show without faults. Classic as it may be (its place in some circles of the queer culture can't be denied), when looked at from today's perspective, a lot of its jokes are just slut shaming with a laughing track, or casual fatphobia made 'funny'. Similarly, while Ellen DeGeneres' public coming out was a huge milestone for queer people of the time, in his recounting of the story Baume doesn't acknowledge the comic's fall from grace at all, despite less than favorable stories about her personality and treatment of others (especially on set) having come out in recent years. To me as a reader, the omission of those contexts doesn't really take away from the message about the queer-friedliness of the sitcoms in the book, but it does make me wonder if Baume isn't perhaps painting the grass greener, so to speak, in his analyses.
While the above heavily contributed to my taking away one star from the final rating, Hi Honey, I'm Homo! is still a solid piece of queer history. The story it tells is cohesive - shows are discussed in chronological order, thus taking us on a journey from the 1960s to late 2010s and successfully showing how the media landscape (as well as general attitudes) around queerness have fluctuated and changed. The book definitely made an impact, which is what I always look for in books. The chapters about the 1960s and 1970s made me feel like I was reading about ancient history; the 1980s and 1990s started feeling more relevant, though still vaguely; and then we were suddenly in the 2000s and later, and I was like, hold on, I remember this - this happened in my (more or less adult) lifetime. Seeing mentions of HIMYM, Six Feet Under, and other shows from around 2010 gave me such a weird feeling: I remember those being popular, even if I didn't watch them myself, as if it was yesterday, yet it's already been so long.
It also drove the point home just how much has changed in such a relatively short span of time.
Friends, it has barely been 10 years since gay marriage was legalized in some (!) countries. Obergefell vs. Hodges in the US was in 2015, only 9 years ago. I live in a country where gay marriage is still not legally recognized. In that time, we've come so far when it comes to media representation - the diversity, but also the accessibility of queer media has increased exponentially. When I was a teenager, very few bookstores in my country put what little queer YA or other novels were available on display, if they carried them at all - now I can walk into almost any bookstore and leave with a whole bag of queer books if I feel so inclined. So much of mainstream media - shows, movies, songs - and uncountable indie productions contain queer characters, often in the main roles.
There's so much still to be done, so much pushback and cruelty directed at the community in the last few years, but we have come so far. Even here in Poland (or, at least, big parts of it) being openly queer is now rarely equivalent with putting yourself at near-certain risk of getting fired, beaten up, or otherwise harassed by the majority of the people around you. I know that to teenagers or even folks in their early 20s who grew up with gay marriage already being an uncontested right, the current political climate is scary. It's scary to me too. But if there's only one takeaway to be had from this book, let it be the fact that on the whole, we are making progress, and the setbacks so far have been temporary. Because, remember: as a community, we can push back too.
dnndavie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0