Season 4, Episodes 22 and 23:'The Puppy Episode'
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Centres around Ellen Morgan, the owner of the book store 'Buy The Book', as she uses her comedic personality to navigate the trials and tribulations of life.
Ellen is an American sitcom which aired on ABC from 1994-1998 with 109 episodes over 5 seasons. It starred Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Morgan, and was created by Carol Black, Neal Marlens, and David S. Rosenthal.
Analysis:
Sexuality
During this episode it is seen that Ellen comes out as gay, both as her character and in real life. This made her the first leading character of a sitcom to ever be gay, and it can be seen through the character of Ellen, especially during the airport scene when she comes out, how at the time people felt sublimated, as they could not express who they were due to social constraints.
This was an important moment in television history because it paved the way for other shows, such as Will and Grace (1998-), and Queer as Folk (1999-2000).
Ellen is later shown telling her friends she is gay, along with her therapist, to which they all have very positive reactions. I think this was important as it helped show how it should be acceptable for everyone to be able to be themselves and be accepted for it.
For-anyone-as-someone structures
This episode follows a for-anyone-as-someone structure, as laid out by Paddy Scannell, as it meant that the issue of gay rights entered the common public world, created as people talk about what they have seen on TV, generating reports in newspapers, and debates on news programmes on TV.
It was important that this happened on TV because of how TV directly enters the home and therefore, issues can enter people's own private spheres, causing them to think and analyse what they have seen, and maybe even change their opinion. Ellen shows that this is possible because of the huge effect this moment has had on helping to improve gay rights, and still continues to have, even almost 21 years later.
Queer as Folk and Cucumber
Because of the huge effect this show had, other sitcoms that allow for a more diverse representation of sexuality have been possible. Examples of these include Russell T. Davies' works Queer as Folk and Cucumber.
By showing the gay scene in Manchester, Queer as Folk helps it become less segregated as it is more accessible so is not as unknown to people as it was without being shown on TV.
The effect of this desegregation is shown in Cucumber (2015) as it is stated to be a show about 'people who just happen to be gay' (Lovelock, 2015). However, this show does take a dark turn later in the season with one of the character's murders, but what this does is show how, although there have been improvements for gay rights since Ellen, there is still more to be done to achieve equality.
Review:
I really enjoyed this episode of Ellen because of how it showed the importance of accepting and being who you are even if it means being discriminated against. It highlighted how wrong it is that some people are discriminated against just because they are labelled as 'different', but in a light-hearted way which did not distract from the issues. The humour was clever because it foreshadowed what was going to happen in the episode, and even made a joke out of how discrimination on all levels is wrong when Ellen was talking to her therapist. It reminded me of Will and Grace, which is why I was interested in watching The Puppy Episode in the first place, because of how it allowed for more representation like this on TV. What was most impressive about the moment Ellen came out was that Ellen put her career on the line to allow this to be shown, and the show did get cancelled a season after this, but she made a huge impact on society by using the power that TV has by being broadcast into homes to help people and affect change, which is still evident on her talk show today. This moment was also very funny because of how she accidentally talked into the microphone in the airport when coming out, which added to the personality of the character as being comedic and quite awkward, so therefore more relatable. Overall, I would like to see more episodes of this sitcom because it was interesting to see Ellen play a character compared to hosting a talk show, but also how through the character she allowed who she is to be revealed and made television history.
References:
Lovelock, M (2015) 'Cucumber as 'post-gay' television' In: cstonline.net 03.04.2003 [online] At:cucumber-as-post-gay-television-by-michael-lovelock (Accessed on 17 March 2018)
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