Invasion (Season 6; Episode 5)

This scene takes place shortly after Callie comes out to her father who shows up in Seattle for a surprise visit. Initially Mr. Torres expresses his concern about their recent falling out. However, when Calliope sees that her dad brought Father Kevin along for the visit; she lashes out in anger realizing he is not here to make amends but to ‘pray away the gay’ out of her life. In the following dialogue Callie vents her frustration to her partner Arizona.

Dr. Callie Torres: The man flew 3,000 miles to make me straight. With a priest! I'm lucky they didn't march into the ER swinging incenses all hepped up for an exorcism.

Dr. Arizona Robbins: Are you done yet? 

Dr. Callie Torres: Am I...No! He came here to disinfect you from my life, you don't find that abhorrent? 

Dr. Arizona Robbins: I do! But... 

Dr. Callie Torres: There is no but. Oh what, you're going to tell me you get where he's coming from? 

Dr. Arizona Robbins: Maybe you should try and talk to him. 

Dr. Callie Torres: I have nothing to say! If he wants to throw away our relationship after 30 years then that's his decision. 

Dr. Arizona Robbins: He hasn't done anything here; you're the one who changed the game. 

Dr. Callie Torres: You didn't expect a little understanding when you came out to your parents? 

Dr. Arizona Robbins: I...I never had boyfriends. Ever. I had a poster on my wall of Cindy Crawford, and it wasn't just looking at her mole. It wasn't news to my mom when I brought somebody home named Joanne. But you...you dated men your whole life, you loved men. You even married one! You're talking about 30 years of relationship, you know, he's been consistent for 30 years. And all of a sudden you're a whole new girl. So, cut him some slack. Sit down and have a conversation. Give him room to be a little shocked...

I believe Callie’s character fits Schwartz and Rutter’s (2004) argument in that the social constructionist vision of sexuality poses the possibility that sexuality could involve a continuum of behavior that is matched by a continuum of fantasy, ability to love, and sense of self. In this discourse Arizona is asking Callie to be patient with her father. Arizona argues to Callie that while you may break the rules or follow them; you can’t forget them, the social norm is always the reference point. Since we receive cues from an early age telling us which desires and behaviors were “normal” and which ones aren’t. All of the dialogues around Arizona and Callie’s relationship are depicted as color-blind. The issue of Callie and Arizona being an interracial couple is never brought up.

In the next scene Callie sits down to talk to her father, where he performs what Jose Torres identifies as machismo, a major element of a Latino man’s masculine identity. 

Dr. Callie Torres: Alright, fine. I get it. I sprang this on you and it’s a lot to take in. You feel like you don't have much experience with gay people. Even though Uncle Roberto hasn’t been single for six years for no reason.

Mr. Torres: Calliope.

Dr. Callie Torres: It’s still an adjustment. That said, you should had adjusted by now, you're supposed to love me no matter what. That’s what a parent does. (Callie and Mr. Torres are facing each other at the conference table while Father Kevin sits at the head of the table).

Mr. Torres: I love you with all my heart. But with all that’s going on with you now. Look, I’m scared for you. It's an abomination. It’s an eternity in hell.

Father Kevin: Let’s not start with words like hell...

Dr. Callie Torres: Oh! That’s why you flew 3,000 miles to tell me I was going to hell? I thought you came to apologize.

Mr. Torres: I can’t apologize Calliope. I don’t understand what happened, or where I went wrong.

Dr. Callie Torres: Where you went wrong?

Mr. Torres: Leviticus - Thou shall not lie with a man as one lies with a female...

Dr. Callie Torres: Oh, don’t do that daddy...

Mr. Torres: ...it is an abomination.

Dr. Callie Torres: Don't quote the bible at me!

Mr. Torres: The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and the sin is exceedingly grave

Dr. Callie Torres: Jesus - a new commandment that I give on to you; that you love one another.

Mr. Torres: Romans...

Dr. Callie Torres: Jesus - he who is without sin among you let them cast the first stone.

Mr. Torres: So you have admitted to sin.

Dr. Callie Torres: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. (Callie begins to stand up out of her chair leaning over the table looking directly into her father’s eyes.) Jesus blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Jesus - blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Callie begins to cry.) Jesus is my savior daddy, not you. And Jesus would be ashamed of you for judging me, he would be ashamed of you for turning your back on me he would be ashamed. (Callie storms out of the room.)

In this scene gender is presented through Mr. Torres’ machismo impulse to protect and save Callie from what he describes an eternity in hell. His assumption being that he knows what’s best for Callie. Masculinity is depicted as the gender of power; since both Calliope’s father and priest are males coming to save her from herself. Machismo according to Jose Torres, is protectiveness toward women, children, and family with uncompromising positions on matters of pride, respect, and honor or in Callie’s father’s case religion. Visually, however, the dialogue is challenged through camera angles and nonverbal movements such as posture, hand movements, and eye contact depicting Callie as a woman that is as strong as the men in the room. The Latino community is represented as an extension of the Catholic religion. In this case Catholics are negatively presented in the dialogue as intolerant of the LGBTQ community. Callie’s father expresses frustration with, “Where I went wrong.” Which is an enactment of according to Jose Torres, at is inability to be a good provider for his family which gives him stress, causing him to experience guilt, feelings of inadequacy, and a form of psychological emasculation stemming from fear of not being able to live up to the male role. Lastly, sexuality is portrayed as something sinful, dirty, and impulsive. According to Marianismo, this is based on the cult of the Virgin Mary, where women are expected to accept male authority and repress their sex drives (Torres 1998). I believe that Rhimes set out to fight the religious church, with religious faith. The discourse in the scene pokes holes in the conservative father’s argument and highlights the contradictions that lie within the text in the bible. 

Next, scene Arizona approaches Calliope’s father, Mr. Torres, as he’s staring out a window to talk.

Mr. Torres: I don't know you well enough to talk about her. We're not going to do that. (Both Arizona and Mr. Torres are facing a window looking outward standing next to each other but not facing each other in the dialogue)

Arizona goes into a dialogue sharing her family history of her military grandfather and the legacy that left on her father.

Dr. Arizona Robbins: ...I was raised to be a good man in a storm, raised to love my country, love my family, protect the things I love. When my father, Colonel Daniel Robins of the U.S. Marine Core (Arizona looks over at Mr. Torres) heard that I was a lesbian, he said he only one question, I was prepared for, "How fast can you get the hell out of my house?" (Mr. Torres continues looking out the window) but instead it was, "Are you still who I raised you to be?" My father believes in county, the way you believe in God, and my father is not a man who bends, but he bent for me because I'm his daughter. I'm a good man in a storm. I love your daughter and I protect the things I love. (Mr. Torres looks over to Arizona) Not that I need to, she doesn't need it. She's strong, and caring, and honorable, and she's who you raised her to be." (Mr. Torres looks away and corrects his posture and fiddles with his suit jacket.)

In this scene Arizona’s military upbringing is presented to appeal to Callie’s father’s masculinity. This discourse has a ‘guy talk’ sort of approach. Schwartz and Rutter argue that social theorists state that societies control sexuality through the construction of dichotomized sexuality such as male-female. In this scene Arizona is dichotomized as the male figure in the relationship. Arizona is depicted as traditional, honorable, and stubborn to appeal to Mr. Torres as a suitable partner for Callie. During this dialogue Arizona refers to herself as a male figure, “I was raised to be a good man in a storm.” The dialogue and camera angles depict male interactions with a lack of spacial intimacy in the conversation taking place. The physical distance and indirect visual contact represent the gap that exists between the ideologies of Arizona and Mr. Torres lifestyle. Still, Arizona is able to channel the same hyper-masculine values of being a soldier which is positively portrayed by the camera. Arizona appeals to Callie’s father’s religion by comparing faith in God to service to country.  Both the Military and Catholicism are portrayed as intolerant institutions, but at the parental level are portrayed as institutions whose members can bend for family. Arizona shares that she was wrong in assuming her father’s hyper-masculine ideology would overshadow his love for her as his daughter.

Dr. Callie Torres: I can't do this anymore. You’ll...You know you'll see me in hell.

Mr. Torres: I have to catch you.

Dr. Callie Torres: What?

Mr. Torres: You're whole life. You've always been on a bridge Calliope ever since you were little and you don’t just walk on it. No. You climb on the railing and you’re ready to leap. And when you do. When that happens. I have to be there. I have to catch you.

Dr. Callie Torres: You don't have to catch me dad.

Mr. Torres: Yes, I do. It's my job. (Callie smiles) Listen if this works out between you and Arizona, is there a chance that maybe you'd give your mother a wedding?

Dr. Callie Torres: If Arizona wanted to spend the rest of her life with me. Yea, I'll put on a big white dress and dance down the aisle.

Father: How about grand kids?

Dr. Callie Torres: Yes, I would imagine, when the time came. There would be kids. (Grunts approvingly)

Mr. Torres: Does she make you happy?

Dr. Callie Torres: (Callie smiles) Yes dad, she makes me very happy.

(Callie hugs her father)

Dr. Callie Torres: I love you, you know that.

Mr. Torres: She's not a vegetarian is she? ...Because I don't know how much more I can take. (Callie leans in and hugs her father with a smile on his and her face.) I feel very old. (Laughter)

In this scene males are depicted as a gender burdened with the obligation to protect. Jose B. Torres defines machismo as the complex interaction of social, cultural, and behavioral components forming male gender-role identity in the sociopolitical context of the Latino society. Torres argues that machismo can have positive expressions, such as responsibility for protecting and providing for the family, which is what I find Callie’s father performing in the dialogue. While, his dialogue is still condescending it comes from a positive expression of machismo rooted in family values.