QUEER AS FOLK COGNITIVE DISSONANCES #1-4

The American version of Queer as Folk aired from 2000 - 2005 & I have the entire series on DVD. Obviously I don't hate it. Nor am I one of those who would complain that it is "not representative of gay life" and hurts the cause, what with its cast of promiscuous, potty-talking, porn-obsessed, pill-popping, frequently-unfaithful-to-their-significant-others characters. Mind you, it isn't representative of most of us, and that includes the promiscuous party-goers: anymore than Bewitched was truly representative of American suburban life in the 1960's or Cheers of what actually goes on in bars. It's all fantasy, right?

However, nary an episode passed (at least after they'd used up the original British scripts) when something, or several things, didn't manage to annoy me. And as this blog is all about annoyances. I will be listing, in no particular order, as many of these annoyances as I can find - especially those that require the viewer to accept two contradictory things at once, i.e. "cognitive dissonance".

1. Uncalled for sex scenes. While, yes, "HELLO! - the series is ABOUT sex!", it never succeeded in making us relaxed about it, no matter how tastefully shot and artfully choreographed these scenes were. When the scene doesn't flow directly and realistically out of the moment for the characters, but is plopped in along the lines of: Well we haven't seen Lindsey and Mel do it since episode 2, have we? Or: What if Ted did that? - it turns the viewer into a voyeur, a spy. There is always at least one of these utterly unnecessary sex scenes, therefore embarrassing sex scenes, per episode
2. Shockeroo sex scenes. Subtly different from the above is the shockeroo sex scene. Not only is this unnecessary, it's quite unlikely, and even morally troubling. Two spring immediately to mind: a) Ted is buying Blake clothing. Blake goes into the store's changing room, which is actually just a circular curtained-off area in the middle of the store, and Ted follows him in they begin to... you know. Because it's broad daylight and the curtains aren't opaque, the silhouette of this action is quite visible from outside. Ted, up to this point, has been portrayed as a very uptight man whom you would never think would do something like this. In fact, you still don't think he would do something like this, so why do the writers insist on having him do it? For the sake of a shockeroo moment! The sales clerk figures out what's going on, and her response is just a sly, conspiratorial smile. Enjoy yourself boys! Rather than - oh, I don't know - scream out "Perverts! Perverts! Get out of here!" and call the police. b) A season or so later, Justin is giving Brian "the job we call blow" right on the sidewalk, in front of a poster of the evil homophobic mayoral candidate. Brian climaxes and Justin stands up and spits out Brian's semen all over the poster image of the mayor. I suppose this was meant as a political statement, but.... Eeww!
3. Brian's ad campaigns. Brian is supposed to be this hotshot cutting edge advertising genius. But almost all his ad campaigns involve associating hunky young men in varying degrees of nudity with the product being sold. I mean, he doesn't have any other ideas, none. The clients invariably are resistant to begin with, then they usually change their minds once they see how persuasive homoeroticism can be to the consumer. When Brian begins a presentation, his colleagues are polite enough never to interrupt him to say, "Let me guess, we're selling cat food - this'll be a guy in a speedo opening a can of Friskas for his cat, right?" "You couldn't be more wrong, he's wearing a jockstrap."
4. Queer moral lapses. Brian is forced to babysit his nephew for a few days. He catches the boy stealing, and grabs him by his neck, drags him over to the toilet bowl, and holds his head under for a few seconds. Later, the boy accuses him of sexual molestation, and provides a made-up story, as opposed to simply telling the truth about what happened. So: Brian is in a lot of trouble, and goes to court - how will he ever get out of this one? Ta da - Justin to the rescue once again! Justin manages to establish that the brat is a little liar, and the judge throws the case out of court. Triumph! HOWEVER, this viewer could not help but notice that sticking a kid's head in a toilet is also considered a form of assault in most places, and just about as serious an offense, even if it isn't sexual; and there Brian was definitely guilty. Yet the tone of this episode implies it's all about the good free-lovin' gays scoring one over the evil repressed family-values homophobes.

More to come...