Review: Dutch show Uit de Kast (Out of the Closet)

By Gwen on Saturday, January 29, 2011 - 22:19

There’s one TV show in the Netherlands that, although it is only about a month old, I always have my doubts about. Two weeks ago I sat on my couch clutching my remote control like something terrible could happen to me at any moment.

Last week, I didn’t tune in at all. I’m talking about Uit de Kast (Out of the Closet), which follows young gay and lesbian people as they come out to their parents. Honestly, I think it is cringe-worthy.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is important that shows like this are being made. It increases visibility and shows people how hard coming out can be and how people react to it. And it is presented by Arie Boomsma, who is straight and left the evangelical broadcasting company EO for catholic broadcasting company KRO after causing quite the stur by posing for a gay edition of a magazine with his shirt off. Apparently, a lot of people think he’s good looking. At first I thought he was trying to look like Jesus (he no longer looks like this). Now I just think he is a bit uncomfortable with his height, which I can completely sympathize with. It took me a while to warm up to Arie Boomsma, but I can see he is honestly trying to make a difference.

Arie Boomsma / © Daan Brand for KRO

I watched the first two or three episodes of Uit de Kast because I thought it would be fun. This is where I get to ‘cringe-worthy’, because ‘fun’ doesn’t cut it. The show is interesting and the people are nice. What you want to see on TV is something you can relate to, and I’d say this is the definition of that concept. However, two weeks ago there was a guy who seemed so nervous about it even when they were visiting a gay bar halfway across the country, that I myself became nervous about it as well.

The difference between scripted TV shows with gay characters and putting a camera on someone who is truly still struggling with it, is that the latter gets too close for me. Boomsma was on a current affairs show a couple of days later and they showed a few clips from the upcoming episode, where the mother starts crying and says: “Why did you do this?” That’s when I decided to skip the episode.

What I thought this show captures is the time where you’ve only just accepted it for yourself, but are still uncomfortable with being gay partly because you are hiding it for everyone. For me, coming out was a necessary step. If I hadn’t had the conversations that followed, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

The episode of this week, broadcast last Wednesday, is the first and only episode that has a lesbian girl in it. Boomsma said he regretted the unfair ratio.