Despite the streaming era supposedly producing endless viewing options, it seems hard to find a shiny, new, easygoing show to dive into. Thankfully, Netflix has a solution: Glamorous, created by Jordon Nardino (Star Trek: Discovery).
In the vein of workplace shows like Ugly Betty and The Bold Type, the show follows Marco Mejia (Miss Benny), a wannabe makeup influencer who works at a department store, longing for something more. When Madolyn Addison (Kim Cattrall), the mogul behind the luxury makeup brand Glamorous by Madolyn shows up for an impromptu makeover, she’s impressed by Marco’s vision and hires them to work for her, giving them the opportunity of a lifetime.
But Glamorous isn’t just a sweet, charming show that makes for one of the most enjoyable binge-watches in ages—it also might be the gayest show there is today, a celebration of feminine queerness that we’ve never seen on mainstream TV before.
Seriously, this show is extremely gay. Like, answer questions about Marsha P. Johnson, dance to Sylvester’s “Mighty Real,” and drive a go-kart through a rainbow in order to get into a Pride party gay. Kim Cattrall does shots with drag queens (including amazing Drag Race winner Priyanka)! There’s an extended sequence where a group of gays get into drag and performs “Cell Block Tango” in its entirety. There’s an underwear party.
A major plot point involves Madolyn’s makeup company doing a pride campaign—allegedly a huge deal for a luxury makeup brand. There’s even a character whose name is spelt Mckynnleigh. Honestly, the only thing Glamorous is missing is Kylie Minogue’s queer summer smash “Padam Padam,” though I’m sure that would be here too if the show was shot more recently.
Glamorous isn’t just exuberantly queer—it also does something special with its main character Marco, who presents feminine. While that may not sound revolutionary, there’s still a very limited idea of how queer men should look and act on TV.
The gay guys we see in leading roles are often very masculine and very conventionally attractive. Groundbreaking shows about gay men like Six Feet Under, Looking, and Queer as Folk changed the way we saw homosexuality on screen, but it was an overwhelmingly white and hetero-coded image that’s remained over the years—and if gay characters aren’t white, you can bet on them to have abs on their abs.
Thankfully, things have progressed over the last decade, and we’re seeing more diverse looks at homosexuality. And by more diverse, I don’t just mean less white characters, but a more diverse representation of everything that queerness entails. That’s particularly true in the last few years, with shows like Sex Education, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Schitt’s Creek, Pose, and Dear White People giving us unique gay characters that show a breadth of queer experience. While that’s great to see, gay guys on TV are often still varying versions of six-pack-clad jocks, who exhibit all the qualities of a “bro,” but just happen to be gay.
But we’ve never had a main character quite like Marco Mejia before. Marco is unapologetically feminine, refusing to conform to any gender norms. Queer guys who celebrate feminine and flamboyant qualities are often sidelined in pop culture, given little more than the odd sassy one-liner. Marco isn’t one to fade into the background—this delightfully confident guy is the star of the show.
Marco isn’t just the star. He’s the guy everybody wants to be with. Not only that, but Glamorous deliciously plays with tropes surrounding masculine gay men, subverting them. We’re so used to seeing these muscular dudes at the top of the theoretical queer pyramid, with every he, she, and they thirsting over their incredible good looks. But Glamorous inverts that pyramid, having a bevy of sexy bros lust after Marco, the kind of character most shows wouldn’t give a second glance at because of his passion for makeup and female-coded outfits.
There’s Chad (Zane Phillips), the uber-masc son of Madolyn who spends more time working out than doing anything else. When he meets Marco, he’s quick to assert “I’m gay, but I’m not… gay,” looking at Marco in bewilderment. While the show never establishes a romantic relationship between the two, nothing can convince me that Chad isn’t actively undressing Marco with his eyes on numerous occasions.
Marco’s main romantic interests are Ben (Michael Hsu Rosen) and Parker (Graham Parkhurst), who are both very keen on bedding our makeup guru. Ben is sweet and geeky—but in that distinctly television kind of sweet and geeky where you realize he’s actually got washboard abs once he takes his shirt off. He falls for Marco the moment they make eye contact. Parker, on the other hand, is a shredded finance bro, who wines and dines Marco from the luxury of his flashy apartment.
While this obsession over Marco is delightful and awesome to witness, Glamorous explores some of the unfortunate realities femme queer people experience. This is a euphoric show, where things like homophobia seem to be ancient relics. But discrimination within the queer community is very real, and is present in the show.
Marco’s experience with Parker is glorious at first—there’s definitely passion there, and their sexual chemistry is off the charts. But it becomes increasingly apparent that, while Parker loves Marco’s femininity, he’s very uncomfortable with being seen with Marco. That’s a problem that is all-too relevant in queer communities, especially for femme-presenting and non-binary/trans folks: the idea that being your authentic self is somehow shameful, making others uncomfortable. It’s awesome to see that addressed in Glamorous.
Parker tries to make strides to come to terms with Marco’s femininity, but asks that they don’t wear makeup to his big work event. “If you can’t take it off for one night, then you’re not wearing it, it's wearing you,” Parker tells Marco. But what Parker fails to understand is that Marco doesn’t wear makeup because it's a fun distraction or for a need for more attention. Makeup is a huge part of Marco’s identity. It allows him to break the confines of gender and more freely feel who they are. In short, makeup helps Marco be Marco. As they told Madolyn in the very first episode, “When I do my makeup in the morning, I’m not some boy who lives with his mom and can’t get a real job. I get to be a star, a diva. I get to be anything that I want to be… It’s therapy in a tube. Magic in a jar.”
On the other hand, Ben loves every facet of who Marco is. One night, to show support for a big event Marco is helping to run, Ben leans into his feminine side, putting on makeup, earrings (his ears aren’t pierced, so he glued them on), and a black mesh shirt. It’s not just a supportive gesture from Ben, but one that places femininity as the ideal, rather than something to shy away from. It’s an incredibly touching moment, and one that’ll have you screaming at the TV for Marco to choose Ben already!
It’s magical to watch Marco over these 10 episodes of Glamorous. While in some ways, Marco is navigating who he is, in other ways he’s incredibly sure of who he is. Marching into a meeting after losing his job, Chad tells him he can’t just come in. “I’m a twink on PrEP, I can do anything,” Marco coyly responds in his crop top and bright blue shorts. Marco is incredibly femme, incredibly confident, and, as Glamorous reminds us constantly, incredibly desirable. This is a super fun, outrageously camp, and legitimately moving show. Bingeable TV is back, and it’s queerer than ever.
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