Been lurking around the board for a while, trying to figure out just where and how to jump in, this thread seemed a good place to start. So, here I go - head first dive off the 10 meter platform ...
I love QAF!! Like most of you, I have to close my eyes when Brian and the boys get into hormone overdrive - so not my cup of tea; however, there is so much more to the show than boy toy playtime. Although I haven't seen the original, I am told that the North American version has lesbians with their own story lines whereas the UK version does not.
I believe _anything_ portraying queer life should be supported, wholeheartedly. (This was how I got hooked on BtVS, I started watching when a friend told me that Willow was coming out and have faithfully watched every episode since and caught the entire series at least twice on re-run).
For those of you who haven't followed the whole show, QAF isn't just about sex. Although there are naked bodies a plenty, the story lines in QAF are about the things we all deal with on a daily basis: the issues we have with work, family, friends, who do we dare come out to, the frustration we face with the judicial systems, homophobia, acceptance, rejection, the list is really, really long. What I like most about the show (besides the fact it's filmed in Canada ) is that it re-affirms that at the end of the day what we have as a community is each other - our friends, our 'chosen' family if you will, and that it's okay to be gay.
I started watching the show because I felt I 'had' to - it was Queer and therefore required viewing. After a couple of episodes though I was hooked, mainly because I could relate to the characters - they are real people, brilliant, beautiful, flawed, emotionally damaged, charismatic, loved and hated normal people. I agree that there's more to the queer nation than bars, but that's where just about everyone (who is lucky enough to have a bar) starts out. I like that the show portrays sex as something that is as normal and natural as breathing, be it a relationship or a casual fling. IMHO, (and in my experience) we're trained that being gay is bad and what we do in bed is even worse - QAF shatters that whole notion, it celebrates being gay in a positive way. The producers set out to bend the boundaries of conventional television and I think they've succeeded admirably.
For all of you who have tuned it out, tune back in for a while longer - you might find QAF is more than just skin deep (and the QAF producers aren't going to kill off the lesbians characters as a 'plot' device.)
___
So, I guess the question now is, did I hit the pool with a perfect ripped entry or have I gone and made an embarrassing splash?
Cheers
.