Queer as Folk, and multifandom links

[selenak]

Having watched Queer As Folk (the original UK version, that is, not the US remake), these days also known as The Other Famous Cult Show Russel T. Davies Wrote, I was entertained and couldn't help but conclude the following:

- RTD really likes the name "Tyler" as a surname
- but not as much as he likes the constellation of "dependable kind person in unrequited love with charismatic guy also fancied by the rest of the
universe, whose sidekick dependable kind person is, charismatic guy is seemingly oblivious to when he hurts dependable kind person's feelings"
- and he loves Doctor Who even better than that.

Seriously. When Vince watched a Fourth Doctor episode in the pilot, I was just amused; when it got really hardcore later, complete with Genesis of the Daleks instead of sex, a K-9 model as the birthday present to top all other birthday presents and the ability to name all actors who ever played the Doctor as the ultimate test of true love, I wondered whether this was an early sneaky attempt to get the BBC to revive the show and make Rusty the headwriter, but then I checked the date, and Queer as Folk is from 1999 (New Who started in 2005), so no, it must have been pure fanboy devotion. Then I listened to the audio commentary for the final episode (which was recorded in 2003), in which Aidan Gillen and Craig Kelly (who play Stuart and Vince) say they wouldn't be able to name the Doctors anymore and RTD says that of course he can. Bless.

Of course, if you have a show in which all three main characters are white gay men, then you don't have to worry about the fact Charismatic Guy might love Dependable Kind Person but doesn't LOVE DKP in the same way DKP loves him, or does things like looking at someone else longingly right in front of DKP, could be read as either having a subtext that favours heterosexual romance over gay romance, or a subtext that discriminates against women, or a subtext that discriminates racially.

ETA for clarification due to a question: In other words: Vince loving his best friend Stuart unrequitedly (as far as a sexual relationship is concerned) while Stuart has sex with everyone BUT Vince and isn't above exploiting him occasionally is perceived differently than either Jack-Ianto-Gwen or Doctor-Martha. Presumably this has something to do with all participants (including potential rival Nathan) being of the same race and gender, because the emotional structure is remarkably similar, if not the same.

Also of possible interest in the eternal debate on how oblivious or not Our Russel is to minorities other than the one he belongs to: when recently outed Nathan gets into a teenage rant at his (black and female) best friend about her belonging to the "heterosexual fascist majority", she pwns him by saying "I'm black, and I'm a girl; try that for a day". Exit Nathan, silent and stunned.

***

Of interest for fanfiction writes in all fandoms: penknife wrote great meta: On letting the characters you love be wrong. Because that's one of the hardest things to achieve, and few fanfic writers manage it.

Speaking of fanfiction, two links:

Heroes:

Ordinary Boy: futurefic, in which Lyle along with Claire (and Mr. Muggles!) ends up living with the Petrellis. Lyle's pov on the craziness that is Petrelli family interaction is simultanously wry, funny and touching, and the relationship between him and Claire (the only non-dysfunctional siblings in the Heroesverse, they!) is wonderfully drawn.

Blake's 7:

Things That Happen In The Dark: Blake and Avon in the first season. Gen, with slashy subtext. You know, just like the show. *g*

Doctor Who:

Pockets: a great Donna pov, and through her an indirect portrait of the Doctor. Short but perfect.

Torchwood:

Waiting For A Dream: Martha and Owen during A Day in the Death. As the episode itself, dark and intense.

Comments

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Aww, I love the original Queer as Folk. Mind you, the US version can be quite fantastic, too, though they each have their shortcomings.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

On that Penknife link: hey, a lot of original fiction authors can't manage it either...

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

RTD really likes the name "Tyler" as a surname

Oh, doesn't he just! The first time I came across him was Revelations (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0313121/), a 1994 drama about two intermarried families, one of them called Tyler. There was also a Tyler (and a Harkness) in The Grand (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0118327/), and another Tyler (and some Saxons) in The Second Coming (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0353104/). He'd previously used Harkness in Century Falls (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0105969/). There are black bridegrooms called Lance in Queer as Folk and The Runaway Bride. If it weren't for all of that, you might not think there was anything odd about the number of Joneses in his work, or the fact that there was a Mickey Smith in Queer as Folk 2.

I was convinced that the Doctor's next companion after Tyler and Jones would be a Maloney, but that didn't work out because they didn't know Donna would be a regular when she first appeared. But she does share a name with Nathan Maloney's sidekick, Donna Clark.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Not just any K-9 model for a present: they apparently used the real Doctor Who prop!

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I remember being charmed by all the Doctor Who stuff in Queer as Folk (UK edition) as I'm a geek and that's how geek dating goes. *g* I've been really hankering to rewatch all that now that I'm apparently For Real Into Doctor Who.

[joonscribble.livejournal.com]

Queer as Folk (UK) was my very first RTD show and I really loved it back when I first saw it. The character of Stuart Allen Jones always fascinated me because he was the kind of guy who was an utter bastard about 364 1/2 days of the year and yet had flashes of genuine kindness. Plus, as dysfunctional as Stuart and Vince's relationship was, there was a purity to it that I loved.

Even though I'm probably making something out of nothing, I feel like a lot of things I saw in QAF ended up surfacing in one form or another in DW or TW.

And yes! RTD has a great love for the last names Jones and Tyler. I think I read somewhere once where he said he feels a character doesn't really take shape until he names him or her and so he tends to go with the same name over and over because it helps him ground the character a little.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I love the British Queer as Folk. Though I think Russell T. Davies makes some colossally bad judgement calls sometimes, I have no problem with his handling or gender or race: i think is errors in judgement are random and non-targeted.

when recently outed Nathan gets into a teenage rant at his (black and female) best friend about her belonging to the "heterosexual fascist majority", she pwns him by saying "I'm black, and I'm a girl; try that for a day". Exit Nathan, silent and stunned

I wouldn't mind seeing this as a conversation with Martha or Toshiko. Though I can't imagine it being Captain Jack in the male role; he's an outsider so far beyond the norm that he couldn't even conceive that rant. Ianto or Owen, maybe.

[stoplookingup.livejournal.com]

Here via Who Daily:

It's really weird that I just found this post, because minutes ago I posted on my lj about Casanova (http://parrotfish.livejournal.com/93646.html) and asked why Rusty seems to favor the hetero. And I asked if anyone who'd seen Queer as Folk (which I haven't) saw any of that there. And here you are, with "having a subtext that favours heterosexual romance over gay romance." Can you expand on that?

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

I came for the interesting meta (via who_daily) and unexpectedly found that you'd recced one of my stories! I am gleeful now.

I haven't seen the UK QaF, so it's interesting to hear that RTD was just as fond of unrequited love/love triangles then. But you're right, it looks different when the race or sexuality enters the picture. And RTD ought to realize that.