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It's too soon to tell what the long-term cultural effect of the lesbian awakening of Ellen Morgan will be — or, indeed, how long a life Ellen has in store. (Where once DeGeneres complained/ threatened that she might not want to stick around for another year of the sitcom — which will be syndicated on Lifetime next fall — she now says she's interested; ABC will decide whether to keep Ellen going next May.) But it's not too soon to know that nothing in American popular culture will be exactly as it was before Ellen Morgan, as well as Ellen DeGeneres, stepped forward and celebrated herself. In showing us the Ellen behind Ellen, this plucky entertainer showed what Shakespeare meant by ''To thine own self be true/And it must follow, as the night the day/Thou canst not then be false to any man.'' Better yet, she proved the value of that fine old piece of advice offered by high school English teachers everywhere: Write what you know.


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Posted Dec 26, 1997 | Published in issue #411-412 Dec 26, 1997 | Order Article Reprints
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