Mr. Neil Patrick Harris plays Barney Stinson, an infamous womanizer, on the hit TV Show, How I Met Your Mother. If you knew nothing of Neil Patrick Harris watching the show, you would think that his character is the epitome of the "bro" culture, which views women as objects to have sex with. Indeed, Mr. Stinson is far more complex than that (as I hope to show in my TV analysis), but the idea of a gay man was a womanizer on a hit TV show makes me ponder.
First of all, the first question I have is "Does this play into the hypersexualization of gay men and women?". My tepid answer to that is no. Indeed, Barney is a womanizer on the show and has numerous affairs with many women (although the nature of those affairs are often ambiguous). Indeed, Barney talks more about sex than actually pursuing it, and is a type-character to show the faults in "bro" culture, loosely defined as the culture of men who take brotherhood to the extent of defending their "bros" to unlimited ranks and demeaning the female population. Since you have no idea from the show that Neil is gay, it does not affect the hypersexualization of LGBT people.
Second, "Does Barney as a 'character' have a positive effect on the audience?" I would say yes, for those who actually watch the show. He's humorous, he's a satirist. If you don't take him seriously, he's purely comic. The only negative impact is those using the character as a defense of "bro" culture, although that is just showing their ignorance of the actual character.
Neil has consistently been a model for the improving view of gay men and women in society. He is in a long-term, committed relationship with his partner, and has just had surrogate twins, which is phenomenal for the new family. In fact, with the character of Barney, Neil is making himself loved by all, and allowing the conversation to start for the equality of all people.
Huzzah, NPH!
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