The New Normal and the Acceptance of Bigotry

Lately, it seems like everything producer and writer Ryan Murphy touches turns to gold, spanning the range from the thrilling (Glee) to the seriously chilling (American Horror Story). But could his latest series, The New Normal, tarnish that stunning record of success? Unlike Glee, the show only takes stabs around funny -- though most similar to Glee as a situation comedy of sorts, the New Normal is not based around a group of basically immature highschoolers punchily belting out pop hits, and since the characters of the New Normal are left without the props of song-and-dance numbers to boost their charm, Murphy's forced them to rely solely upon their dialogue. And with just dialogue, it's easy to see a couple things more subtly disguised in Murphy's Glee: a legitimization of racism and homophobia, with no backdrop of show tunes to lighten the mood.

Let's take it from the top. The New Normal, in case you haven't watched the Pilot episode or read all of the press, is about an Ohio mother, Goldie, who realizes, through a series of conversations with her caustic mother Jane and an unfortunate walk-in on a cheating boyfriend, that she wants more out of life for herself and her daughter. Thus, she impulsively moves to California. With no high school or college degree to speak of, Goldie comes to the conclusion that the one thing she's good at, and can make quick money at, is reproducing (let's not even get into an analysis of how demeaning that is to similarly disadvantaged women everywhere... yet).

Goldie, played by Georgia King, decides to become a surrogate mother
after an attempt to "drive to Honolulu" on half a tank of gas. 

A few sentences ago, I mentioned a caustic (grand)mother, Jane. Here's a sample of  the racist, homophobic, and generally bigoted dialogue that Jane provides to the episode:

"Would you look at that. Just strutting down the middle of Buckeye Road in broad daylight, proud as gay peacocks." (While gazing at a pair of lesbians)

"I happen to love the gays. I could never get my hair to look this good without them."

"Oh, and now with the PDA? Those ass-campers have some nerve."

"I am extremely tolerant to all peoples! When they opened that Chipotle here, I was the first of my friends to go. And that is Spanish food." (After her granddaughter says she's 'unfriending' her on Facebook due to her bigotry).

"You people are so darned good with computers. And thanks for helping build the railroads." (to a young woman of Asian descent).

"Oh, no. You are not growing one of her kind of eggs in my granddaughter." (referring to the eggs of NeNe Leaks).

"I feel like I ate a black and gay stew right before falling asleep. This is a nightmare."

"I never could stand going into that store. Leon gave every hamster some queer name from a Broadway musical."

None of this inflammatory language is truly taken seriously by the other characters, and Jane's bigotry is accepted as merely part of her character, an integral piece of her identity that cannot be helped -- and is forgivable because of its darkly humorous content. But the fact is, this behavior is unacceptable no matter the age, race, or gender of the person it comes from.
Now, we could take the approach that by presenting such a character, especially in such a humorous light, Ryan Murphy is attempting to weaken the strength of such views, which, if never spoken, in theory become all the more dangerous and damaging. Read: if those hurtful and hateful view centered around homphobia and racism are never presented, they can never be challenged, and opinions can never be changed.
But if this is indeed what Murphy is attempting to do, it's a decidedly lackluster effort -- Jane's character,  which spins hate in as much a laughable way as Glee's Sue Sylvester, is never seriously admonished by a main character of the show. Her relationships to her family are never threatened, neither her daughter nor her granddaughter, who present to her the legitimacy of being white and are assumed to be compulsorily heterosexual to boot, say "enough is enough" to Jane's behavior.

Everybody just sit as you are and keep being backhandedly funny. Let's not actually approach the frankly life-threatening issues of homophobia and racism in a mature and thoughtful way. We might offend people if we did that. 

Just because Jane's character is meant to be humorous and just because her behavior is tongue in cheek and is meant to be interpreted by viewers as inappropriate, it doesn't mean that the other character's reactions to her, the legitimization of her homophobia and racism, is acceptable in any way. And as viewers, I would go so far as to say that we should not accept it, that we should demand more than a humorous approach and humorous admonitions to very serious issues.