When Dr. Booker first approached me about this new lecture series and asked me to write about how PepSi changed my life, I didn't have to think very hard to find an answer to that question. Simply put, PepSi opened my eyes. It's not that my eyes were closed before - PepSi wasn't the first lesbian couple I'd ever seen on TV. However, like I stated in my "First Time" lecture, they made me realize how underrepresented gays and lesbians truly were on American television. PepSi were the first gay characters I ever saw who were a part of the main cast and treated as equally as the other couples on the show. Yes, I had seen the occasional gay character/couple on TV before, but they were usually guest roles (during sweeps) or secondary (and largely invisible) characters. On the rare occasion that there was a recurring lesbian character, I rarely saw her in a relationship or saw that relationship treated with the same affection (and screentime) as the heterosexual characters on the show - "diet PepSi" as I like to call it.
PepSi opened my eyes by showing me an example of how our world can and should be today: people being allowed to love whomever they choose without judgment. LHdP wasn't a sci-fi/fantasy show (at least it wasn't until S9) where a lot of problems that plague humanity don't exist anymore. The world of LHdP existed in our world today - the 21st Century - and yet, for the most part, all of the characters on LHdP never judged or questioned the validity of PepSi's relationship or Pepa and Silvia's sexuality. Sure there was Don Lorenzo, who initially wasn't keen on Pepa and Silvia's relationship (or Pepa in general), but even he was willing to open his eyes (and his mind) and see things from a point of view other than his own: Silvia's. And by doing so, he realized that Pepa made Silvia happy and that his daughter was in love with Pepa, and it didn't and shouldn't matter that Pepa was a woman.
I'm not saying that people shouldn't be entitled to their opinions, but I do believe that in order for change to occur people on both sides of an issue need to be willing to look at things from the another's perspective. I also believe that media can be a great source for social change (and oppression) because it covers two of the most common ways that people learn - auditorily and visually - and PepSi was one of the best entertainment visual aids I've ever seen in the fight for equality. Through Marian Aguilera and Laura Sánchez’s portrayal of PepSi, we could see the love that Pepa and Silvia had for each other every time they were on screen together through every look, every touch, and every word.
PepSi changed my life in many other ways - the music it's introduced me to, the friendships I've developed through the PepSi community, etc. - but, for the most part, LHdP's honest and equal treatment of PepSi was a lesson to me that homosexuals can successfully be and should be the norm, not the "others" as they are so often portrayed as on American shows. That just as one shouldn't judge a person by their race, gender or the God they choose (not) to worship, they also shouldn't judge another by their sexual orientation. That a homosexual couple experiences the same ups and downs as any other person in a relationship. That two women and two men can love each other just as much as a man and a woman and that love is no greater or worse - it's just love. That a world of equality truly can exist as long as one is simply willing to open their eyes.
kalike
*The title for this lecture is based on the song "Open Your Eyes" by Snow Patrol.
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9 comments:
EXACTLY I SO agree w/ your lecture =)
you truely are ASOMAZING K!
'On the rare occasion that there was a recurring lesbian character, I rarely saw her in a relationship or saw that relationship treated with the same affection (and screentime) as the heterosexual characters on the show - "diet PepSi" as I like to call it.'
I just want to say how true this is. I'm from South Asia but I'm quite familiar with American television, and while watching Pepa/Silvia for the first time, my jaw had dropped open and I was literally thinking, "Is this really happening? Are they actually showing a lesbian couple in love and being tender and passionate and engaging in physical intimacy?" I mean, it's so unheard of to see this sort of thing portrayed, that the few times it is portrayed well enough, it's easy to get swept off your feet (esp. as a gay person).
Compare Pepa/Silvia to, for instance, Callie/Arizona on "Grey's Anatomy". There is just no comparison. CalZona is a sweet couple, and Shonda Rhimes has tried to give them a decent story arc and handled it with maturity, but it's unbelievable how little physical affection these two characters have been allowed to show each other. I remember one scene on a park bench in which Callie and Arizona aren't even holding hands, let alone kissing or hugging or anything. (By contrast the heterosexual couples have been allowed to do pretty much everything on "Grey's".)
I just want to say one more thing about equality and the portrayal of gay characters. People have argued that the character deaths in the S8 finale on LHdP should not be construed as an FU to the LGBT community because, after all, straight couples' story arcs were also killed off (Montoya dies before he and Rita can pursue their relationship further). Gay characters can also die, right? That's equality. OK, fair enough.
But, here's the thing. Point number one: If Silvia absolutely HAD to die, why could they not have crafted that death and the end of PepSi with the same honesty, care and attention with which they crafted the build-up to PepSi's relationship? Why could there not have been a more realistic story arc? (I'm sorry, but the Napolitan Camorra wanting to go after a two-bit precinct in San Antonio is a stupid storyline.) The death of Silvia was totally sudden and jarring when juxtaposed against the care with which her relationship with Pepa had been built up and portrayed.
And second point: Why could the run-up to the S8 finale not have been less deceptive? Alex Pina TAUNTED us with pictures of a dream lesbian wedding, for heaven's sake!! And why did Silvia have to die on her wedding day, bleeding to death in her wedding dress?
Gay people all over the world dream of having a wedding where we are accepted by our parents, families and friends, and for the most part, many of us will NEVER have that experience. Gay marriage is not acceptable in most parts of the world, and getting married IS a huge deal for us. So when you sell a dream lesbian wedding to your audience, acted out by two incredibly charismatic and beautiful actresses with unheard-of chemistry, what you're doing is playing into the dreams and fantasies of gay people around the world who yearn for that sort of acceptance but will NEVER get it in their lifetimes. And in that respect, we are NOT yet equal to heterosexuals.
So from both an artistic viewpoint, and a sociopolitical point of view, the end of PepSi was ill-timed, gratuitous and very hurtful for PepSi fans (gay and straight both).
(Probably the producers would argue in response to my previous comment that gay marriage IS legal in Spain, and they were targeting a Spanish audience -- the international audience wasn't something they had either planned on, nor were they even aware of it. Still, I doubt that even in Spain gay couples getting married face no opposition from their families. I believe half the country still opposes gay marriage, and prejudice is alive and well even in Spain.)
Your observations are wonderful. It is amazing that this Spanish show impacted lives around the world, and that viewers and posters became friends.
thank you, my dear friend.
"I also believe that media can be a great source for social change (and oppression) because it covers two of the most common ways that people learn - auditorily and visually - and PepSi was one of the best entertainment visual aids I've ever seen in the fight for equality. Through Marian Aguilera and Laura Sánchez’s portrayal of PepSi, we could see the love that Pepa and Silvia had for each other every time they were on screen together through every look, every touch, and every word."
To this I want to add that what's interesting is that PepSi's relationship was easily the most sweet, wholesome, family-values-compliant relationship on LHdP. Literally, this was the only relationship on LHdP that respected fidelity, commitment and the sanctity of marriage (yes, there's one part where Pepa sleeps with Aitor but that's after she and Silvia have already broken up). I found myself thinking that I could actually share many PepSi scenes with conservative homophobic family members, even. Only the most hardened heart would not melt a little at the portrayal created by Laura Sanchez and Marian Aguilera. So yes, K is spot-on in pointing out what an amazing set of visuals PepSi provided in showing not just sex, but love and commitment between two women.
Well said, k! (Of course, everything you say is well said. :-P)
I really enjoy getting your perspective on things because it comes from a different point of experience than my own...and yet, gay or straight, all the PepSi fans can basically agree on how truly special and revolutionary the couple was.
All I can say is I have never been so happy attending a real wedding ( until the fuck up, of course) I never smiled, held my breath and tear up as watching Silvia on D.L. arm nerviously looking at Pepa, Pepa's happiness looking at Silvia. There is anything so perfect in real life?
Re: the actresses' relationship, there was a TV talk show where ( homosexuality was mentioned) Laura said she walked on that side of the street but came back, and the interviewer did not ask her anything about it. Unbeliable! But she must have meant Marian, platonic probably as she became involved in a relationship with the singer she is still with around the time Pepsi reconciled and got engaged. It' s hard to believe the romanticism did not affect them somehow.
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