Camp Gay/Playing With

Basic Trope: A gay man with flamboyantly effeminate attributes.

• Straight: Bob is gay, and is very flamboyant and effeminate.
• Exaggerated: Bob lisps so much that he is completely incomprehensible and shudders at the thought of doing anything remotely "masculine."
• Justified:
  • Bob is gay and fits all the stereotypes, but for different reasons: he lisps because of a dental problem, loves musicals because his grandma used to take him to them, etc.
  • Bob is just naturally that feminine.
• Inverted:
  • Alice is a Butch Lesbian.
  • Manly Gay
• Subverted: Bob is very flamboyant and effeminate, but reveals to Alice that he's actually straight.
• Double Subverted: However, he only did so on a dare from his even more flamboyant friend Chuck, in order to win a ticket to Gypsy.
• Parodied: Bob is shown going to a "gay camp" where they teach proper lisping techniques, what constitutes a truly "fabulous" musical, etc.
• Deconstructed:
  • Bob is gay and fits the stereotype, but this is just a facade he puts up because no one will accept him as a gay man any other way.
  • Alternatively, Bob's extreme effeminacy makes other people think all gay people act like Bob, and thus contributes to discrimination and stereotyping of all homosexual males.
• Reconstructed:
  • Bob eventually is accepted for who he is and drops the facade, but then realizes that he actually enjoyed being Camp Gay. So he gets a job as a Drag Queen, and the series now revolves around his work.
  • Bob accepts and enjoys who he is, and realizes he doesn't need to act a certain way to please other people. And who he is just happens to be a fabulous gay man with a flair for fashion, musicals and cooking.
• Zig Zagged: Bob acts like a stereotypical gay, but then reveals that he's straight. But then it is discovered that he lied. Or perhaps he told the truth.
• Averted:
  • Bob is not gay.
  • Bob is Rated "M" for Manly, whether or not he is gay.
  • Bob is Invisible to Gaydar.
  • Bob is Camp Straight.
• Enforced: "I know it's stereotypical, but we need to convey that Bob is gay. Let's make him flamboyantly camp."
• Lampshaded: "OMG, darling, you're truly F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!"
• Invoked: Bob wants to live with two girls, so he acts flamboyant and effeminate so his landlord will think he's gay and let him.
• Exploited: See Invoked, where through his act, the landlord would mistake him as gay and Bob can have all the fun in secret.
• Defied:
  • Bob is gay, but goes out of his way to make sure he doesn't fit any of the stereotypes.
  • Bob is flamboyant, and bisexual, but only sleeps with women to avoid being seen as one of these.
• Discussed: "Of course you're gay, Bob! I should have realized it sooner."
• Conversed: "I'm really sick of all the portrayals of gay men on this show being incredibly camp."

---

Back to Camp Gay, darling!