“Straight Male Friend (Available Everywhere Except Therapy)” – An Actual Good SNL Skit
Being a member of the LGBTQIA+ community comes with the acknowledgment that there is a lot of political grandstanding happening around your existence in the world. Sometimes, it’s good just to have a laugh and appreciate the lighter side of being gay. Enter Saturday Night Live’s skit called Straight Male Friend – a play on the gay best friend trope.
What is the gay best friend trope?
In the ’90s, female-led movies and TV series began including a side character who was flamboyant, gay and always available to help out our heroine with a shopping emergency or relationship breakdown. Think Stanford to Carrie (Sex And The City), Damien to Jannis (Mean Girls) or even Will to Grace (Will & Grace).
SNL turns this on it’s head
For a skit on the show, SNL has presented an interesting parallel to the gay best friend trope by turning the lens on straight men. Showing us what it looks like when you flatten a group of people to their essential stereotypes, demonstrates how silly it is and the Straight Male Friend skit does this flawlessly.
What are the core things that SNL defines as a straight male friend?
1. A low stakes relationship
“Straight male friend is a low-stakes, low-effort relationship that requires no emotional commitment,” muses Bowen Yang. Straight men are “no drama” and won’t tax you emotionally like straight female friends often do.
2. No commitment
“Hang out with him as little or as much as you want. It won’t effect the friendship at all.” Unlike other gay men or straight women, hanging out with a straight male friend is easy-going and can be as frequent or infrequent as you like! Men don’t care for commitment anyways.
3. Emotionally stunted
“Straight male friend is easy; and even if he’s having a rough time emotionally, he’ll never bring me into it.” This is of course implying straight men don’t know how to talk about their feelings because they’re emotionally stunted! Perfect if you’re looking for a vacation from doing emotional labour.
4. Easy to get a rise out of
“If you’re missing a bit of the drama, just say this: ‘I bet I’m faster than you’.” Straight men are simple creatures with delicate egos and if you’re missing some spice from the friendship challenge them in something physical that threatens their manhood.
DNA OPINION
If any of the above assumptions and stereotypes seem false or simplistic; it’s a perfect reason why the gay best friend trope in media needs to go. Gay men, like straight men, are not a monolith.
At the end of the day, the skit is an obvious joke but one that is surprisingly impactful and still funny.
