The Gay And Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo
A Formal Analysis by Mitchell Barch
The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo is a short web-series that originally uploaded in 2016. The first episode alone has 722,249 views on YouTube (As of September 2018, before it was reposted). All of the episodes were created, directed and produced by Brian Jordan Alvarez. He also is an extremely talented actor and played the main character Caleb Gallo. The series is comical and focuses on a group of friends who all lay somewhere on the LGBTQ/queer spectrum. I believe the success of this series stems from Alvarez being gay himself making it a more of a genuine reflection of his reality. Even though the entirety of the series is lighthearted the sublime messages ring extremely true. This series represents the modern equality movement for the LGBTQ community and how digital platforms are helping the LGBTQ civil rights movement.
YouTube and It’s Importance as a Platform
YouTube is one of the homes to the series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo. (You can also find it on other video sharing platforms such as Vimeo) YouTube is also where I initially watched the series. YouTube launched as a digital platform in 2005 and was later sold to Google for 1.65 billion dollars. Today, this platform is one of the most popular video-sharing websites. Youtube allows virtually anybody to create their own ‘channel’ and upload, like, share and comment any video content. The accessibility YouTube gives to its users is inimitable and has completely shifted the way video producing was traditionally envisioned. Producing any kind of digital media was incredibly expensive and required professional teams to edit, produce and create content with high cinematic quality. Today, the ‘average’ person can access programs and tools relatively cheap. Beginners can also access free tutorials all over the internet and learn how to create astonishing low budget films with very high cinematic quality. In some instances, YouTubers can make salaries that range in the hundreds of thousands to millions. The Gay and Wondrous Life Of Caleb Gallo was a low budget, funny and genius series and because of YouTube, Alvarez has made a name for himself as a creator and actor, something that would have been difficult for a gay man to accomplish before ‘new’ digital media.
Impact on LGBTQ Community
One of the most powerful aspects of this short web series is the way it represents LGBTQ community. Not only does Alvarez depict LGBTQ people living a normal life, the characters are funny and viewers fall in love with their humor. Viewers are able to relate to the characters struggles and see them as normal people and not some dramatized side character. Historically LGBTQ people have been depicted as promiscuous, behaviorally and even sometimes morally different from heterosexual people. The truth is LGBTQ people act, think and feel just like heterosexuals. In recent years there have been trends that suggest LGBTQ people are being portrayed realistically. The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo does a incredible job including a wide range of LGBTQ people without making their queer identity the main focus. Brian Jordan Alvarez wanted to create something based off real LGBTQ people (his close friends). If we still lived in an age where digital production was not easily accessed by virtually anybody, LGBTQ productions like this one would not exist and systematic stereotypes would cease society from improving its moral. It is incredibly important to recognize platforms which allow users to be in control allow a diverse pool of content to be shared and accessed. For many LGBTQ youth who were around before the days of YouTube, there was no access to content which realistically depicted queer people.
Deeper undertones were prevalent and depicted the struggles LGBTQ people face when it comes to relationships and everyday life, this however did not take away from the witty humor. Viewers get to see struggles people from all over the queer spectrum deal with. Freckle, who is gender queer, drinks a lot of alcohol. Alcoholism, and many other addictions/mental illnesses are more likely to develop in LGBTQ people. Non-monogamous relationships are prevalent within the gay community especially which is another theme Alvarez touched on and something he mentioned he struggled with in his own life. There are a few instances where Caleb is conflicted with the idea of staying emotionally monogamous but physically open with other men. This causes a lot of conflict with his boyfriend who wants the relationship to be fully monogamous. Seeing normal, happy LGBTQ people with loving friends is a really powerful thing for people who are questioning their sexual identity. It is still incredibly difficult to accept any sexuality besides heterosexuality and for this reason The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo gives people the strength they might need to grow.
Going Forward
Without the advancements in digital media and platforms such as YouTube, the movement for equality would be hindered and would not advance as fast as it has. If you compare the LGBTQ movement to other civil rights movements in the past, you will see the tremendous impact the digital age has had on LGBTQ people. These platforms and content similar to the Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo make LGBTQ people feel significantly less isolated, allow for voices to be heard, and diverse ideas to be spread. The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo simply being available to the public and more specifically LGBTQ people speaks thousands of words on how far society has come in accepting queer people. In 2018 social injustice is still prevalent and being LGBT OR Q is still punishable by death in some countries. These powerful digital platforms will continue to extinguish homophobia and stereotypes as the world becomes more connected.
A Compilation of Fun Memes
