Netflix has introduced a reboot of the show “Queer Eye” which follows five gay guys in the journey of helping men — gay or straight — who are in need. This reboot has not only given me life but intense flashbacks to my childhood. The original show, called “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” aired on Bravo from 2003 until 2007. Both shows include a “Fab Five,” a team of men that are expert in all things. There is a design, food, grooming/beauty, fashion and culture expert. Unlike the first cast, which was five white guys, the new cast offers diversity: a welcome change and modernization.
In the reboot of the show, a man is to be nominated for a makeover by a friend or family member, and the fab five invades their home to save them, transforming their house, wardrobe, eating and much more. Not only is it an external makeover, but it is internal as well. The team of men do not force anything on the guys they are making over, and instead showing the beauty of the internal through the external. At the end of the week, there is usually an important date or event planned which the fab five have prepared him for.
The guys’ personalities shine through the TV and force you love every one of them no matter who you are. In the beginning of the new show, they state that the old “Queer Eye” fought for tolerance and this new version fights for acceptance. As I binged the series and wiped away my tears nearly every episode, I realized this show identifies the societal “man box” that men think they need to fit inside. This imaginary “man box” tells men that it’s not “manly” to openly cry, decorate their homes or even practice self-care such as an occasional face mask.
With the show being centered in Atlanta, Ga., the fab five are forced with deal with people sometimes having different ideologies than they may have. They fight and address the ignorance they encounter. For example, in the first episode, a member of the fab five states that he has a husband, and the man they are making over asks, “Are you the husband or wife?” That microaggression is just a simple example of the ignorance they are fighting against. The fab five member doesn’t get mad or even offended, but instead offers an explanation on why that question is chauvinistic in nature. The amount of love and compassion that this team shows to every single person they make over is something we do not see a lot today. Just by watching the show, it encourages the audience to be a better person themselves.
While I would like to think I am the sole supporter of this show, meaning I would then perhaps become best friends with every member of the fab five, this is not the case. “Queer Eye” received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes along with many other positive reviews and praise. The list of people I would recommend this show to is never ending: from my mom to my grandma, neighbors, the person reading this and the person next to you.
This article first appeared in the Friday, March 2, 2018, Edition of The Echo.