If viewers of HBO's Looking think the team behind the show are existing in a vacuum, trust us, they're not. They're well aware of the controversy the show has raised both within and outside the gay community and they responded to criticism during a panel discussion led by Writers Guild of America-West's gay and lesbian writer committee chair Gary Goldstein on Tuesday.
With regards to negative criticism from some within the gay community, staff writer JC Lee says (according to The Hollywood Reporter【内容请见本楼第三层】).
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"Our gay community is looking at us in a certain way," said JC Lee, a staff writer on the show. "That there is one view of gayness, and we're not meeting it."
"It's a minority trap," continued Lee. "When you have a piece that showcases a community, there's this identity factor where if you're showing a certain kind of queerness, you're not honoring what queerness is. There's a sense their queerness feels threatened by a show that is normalizing it."
In response to criticism that the show is "too slow-paced" or even the dreaded "boring," staff writer Tanya Saracho says:
"The B-word is what they keep calling us; you know, 'boring,' " said Saracho. "I would rather they hate it than call us boring."
Staff writer John Hoffman took on the topic further, saying:
"Not to be in defense of boring, but that is very intentional," Hoffman said. "I think that has become part of the show. [The episodes] do feel like little half-hour indie movies."
These half-hour indie movies are in the vein of Looking director Andrew Haigh's indie feature, Weekend.
Saracho also noted that the show's title, Looking, was the final choice after Homos and Golden Boys were considered.
What's your take on the Looking criticism and the response from the team behind the show??
Do you feel like the show's hitting its stride or is something still missing? Looking forward to more Looking?