1.-2. Self-absorbed Ivy League educated Dennis and his sister Dee (Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson)
3. Their wealthy con-artist father Frank (veteran actor Danny Devito)
4. The dimwitted but highly bulgeworthy Charlie (Charlie Day)
5. Conflicted muscleman Mac (Rob McElhenney)
Some of the episodes went for cringe-inducing bad taste, but there was buddy-bonding, a strong gay subtext between Charlie and Frank, and a lot of beefcake, so what's not to like?
Well, I didn't like Mac much. He was muscular but homophobic. He dates a transwoman and worries that it makes him gay. He goes off on a Leviticus-rant at a gay couple.
TV sitcoms become more and more extreme over time, as character traits are exaggerated. Homer Simpson becomes not just a little dim, but a complete idiot. George Costanza moves from self-absorbed to sociopathic. Sunny upped the cringe-inducing poor taste, and the gang began manipulating each other. Cruelly. So I stopped watching.
I just discovered that Mac figured out that he was gay at the end of Season 12: he had a vision of a beautiful woman who turned out to be God, and said it was ok to be gay. But he's still conflicted: "I don't know where I fit in as a gay man. I don't know who I am."
He's not ready for sex or a relationship yet.
A whole year after coming out?
In the last episode of Season 13, Frank tells him that he has to "find his pride." He has an ulterior motive, of course: he wants Mac to dance on the pride parade float that the gang is building to draw gay customers into the bar.
The other characters are absent, or appear only briefly. This story is about Frank and Mac.
Frank forces Mac to go to a S&M club (with a buffet) and then a drag club, on the way making stunningly homophobic statements like "If any of these fairies makes a pass at me...", "Are you the boy or the girl?", and "I don't get it. I'll never get it."
Well, that last one is not homophobic, just rude. I don't get how anyone would be interested in sex with a woman, but it's really none of my business, so if you like that sort of thing, go for it.
(Photo copyright FX).
Wait -- Frank was never homophobic before. And if he's so homophobic, why is he on board with the plan to attract gay customers?
Mac announces that sex is not the way for him to "find his pride." He wants to come out to his father, who is in prison.
His first attempt to come out fails: Dad thinks he's going to become a father.
So for Try #2, Frank arranges for him to speak to an auditorium full of inmates, including his father.
Mac rips off his shirt to reveal a crazy ripped body and performs a beautifully choreographed pas-de-deux with a woman. They separate, long for each other, reconcile, separate again. He rejects her. She screams, trying to get into his life, but he rejects her. She chases him. Finally, exhausted, Mac falls into her lap. She caresses him and says "It's ok."
Dad leaves in disgust, but Frank, his foster father, exclaims "I get it!", tears running down his cheeks.
So how is this coming out?
If the woman is God, it's a sort of Hound-of-Heaven thing. Mac keeps rejecting God, or thinking that God rejects him, due to his gayness, but finally he gives up. God tells him that it's ok to be gay.
I had the Blessed Virgin telling me that it was ok to be gay, and I wasn't even Catholic.
He couldn't be dancing with a guy: a pas-de-deux with some muscle hunk would indicate that he was already out, and this is about his struggle to accept his gayness and God's love. Finding his pride.
It's a stunning conclusion that almost makes Frank's out-of-character homophobia ok.
See also: Why You Should Watch "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
(Photo copyright FX).
Wait -- Frank was never homophobic before. And if he's so homophobic, why is he on board with the plan to attract gay customers?
Mac announces that sex is not the way for him to "find his pride." He wants to come out to his father, who is in prison.
His first attempt to come out fails: Dad thinks he's going to become a father.
So for Try #2, Frank arranges for him to speak to an auditorium full of inmates, including his father.
Mac rips off his shirt to reveal a crazy ripped body and performs a beautifully choreographed pas-de-deux with a woman. They separate, long for each other, reconcile, separate again. He rejects her. She screams, trying to get into his life, but he rejects her. She chases him. Finally, exhausted, Mac falls into her lap. She caresses him and says "It's ok."
Dad leaves in disgust, but Frank, his foster father, exclaims "I get it!", tears running down his cheeks.
So how is this coming out?
If the woman is God, it's a sort of Hound-of-Heaven thing. Mac keeps rejecting God, or thinking that God rejects him, due to his gayness, but finally he gives up. God tells him that it's ok to be gay.
I had the Blessed Virgin telling me that it was ok to be gay, and I wasn't even Catholic.
He couldn't be dancing with a guy: a pas-de-deux with some muscle hunk would indicate that he was already out, and this is about his struggle to accept his gayness and God's love. Finding his pride.
It's a stunning conclusion that almost makes Frank's out-of-character homophobia ok.
See also: Why You Should Watch "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
Ah, the Gainax ending, a.k.a. "OK, what the fuck did I just watch?" (And not rhetorical. I literally don't know.) Usually when it gets too cerebral or surreal
ReplyDeleteI think for your generation, 2001 qualifies.
I absolutely have no idea what "2001" was about, but I did like the shirtless jogging scenes.
DeleteFrank is a stand-in for American ignorance suddenly being confronted and finding brief moments of clarity. I could make the argument maybe they tried to pack too much metaphor into the episode, but I like it. His face injury symbolizes hetero prestige being literally scarred after Stonewall. His whirlwind tour of gay hotspots with Mac is dizzying and feels like the media putting out gay movies and celebrities. But also, with Mac's dance, they cut through all this branding noise and connect for a single moment. He and a room full of (literally cut off from outside world) prisoners finally get a grip on what Mac is saying, but one artistic moment is not a cure for all of Frank's ignorance. He is like a cat being given LSD instead of catnip and seeing the mysteries of the universe. For all his growth, he still put chicken with hot sauce up his damn nose.
ReplyDeleteHere's I think a good attempt to go into what the dance means:
https://moonlightfilly.wordpress.com/tag/mac-finds-his-pride/
"the dance opens with mac on his knees in the rain, he looks upwards, asking god for guidance about his sexuality which is easily the biggest obstacle we’ve seen him struggle with. then, from the shadows his dance partner walks onstage. mac’s partner being both a woman and god symbolizes the path he thought he had to take, the heterosexual path. its also the only path that he thought god would accept and so it is both his relationships with women and his relationship with who he thought god was" until he transcends and "the fear has been taken from him."
Interesting interpretation, but I agree that the episode gets a little too esoteric for what is usually a gross-out show.
DeleteCut Mac some slack. I've loved It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for years and Mac has always been my favorite character. He may be my favorite character of all TV shows ever. He's just so conflicted and complicated and self-loathing but wants to be something better. I picked up on that he was at least bi in the early episodes, and his homophobic/Bible-thumping rhetoric was always presented as an overcompensating attempt to convince himself (as much as other people) that he wasn't gay. The other characters realized he was gay long before he was ready to admit it to himself, and the irony is that he's the only one who ever had an issue with it (besides his father, of course).
ReplyDeleteMac's character arc has been incredible and groundbreaking. You also pointed out that he hasn't had a relationship since coming out. I think he's stuck on Dennis. There's something incredibly tragic about a gay man falling in love with a straight man, and he and Dennis do have a strong emotional bond. He's going to have to resolve that before he can find that emotional compatibility with anyone else. I'm willing to bet Rob MacElhenney has a plan.
As for Frank and Charlie, I've never seen them as lovers, despite the joke that they sleep in the same pull out couch. I think this is another very strong emotional bond between two people who society just doesn't get. I've always seen their relationship as making two statements: 1) friendships can be as complicated and confusing and emotionally charged as familial and marital relationships, and 2) friendships can be as strong (and sometimes even stronger) than familial and marital relationships. Frank and Charlie belong to two different generations (there's got to be at least a 40-year age difference), yet they've found common ground. They've each found someone who accepts him for himself and has no expectation of conforming to societal "norms." Plus, a running gag has been the possibility that Frank is actually Charlie's father. It's another complicated and groundbreaking relationship.
Anyway...I'll wrap up my rant by saying that I hope you look at Mac's full character arc across 14 seasons, which Rob MacElhenney began laying the groundwork in the first season. He's beefcake, and a whole lot more. :)