American Remakes of British Television: Transformations and Mistranslations by

Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2011-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

“THERE’S NOWT AS QUEER AS FOLK”: BRITISH AND AMERICAN TELEVISUAL APPROACHES TO THE POLITICS OF HOMOSEXUALITY

This chapter considers trends in the politics of homosexual representations in the groundbreaking British TV series Queer as Folk and its American adaptation of the same name. In particular, I will look at their differences and discrepancies with a close examination of the series’ opening title sequences, pivotal narrative divergences, themes, and endings.

CONTEXT

In recent years, more homosexual characters have been surfacing in mainstream shows in the Western world, both in films and in TV programs. However, even if there are instances of commercially or critically successful films whose main characters are homosexual, these are few and far between.[1] More often, homosexual characters are at best supporting characters, at worst used for comic value. There is neither scope nor place here for an exhaustive review of all the U.S. and U.K. TV shows or serials with homosexual or bisexual characters, but the situation has not significantly changed since Vito Russo wrote in The Celluloid Closet,

In a hundred years of movies, homosexuality has only rarely been depicted on the screen. When it did appear, it was there as something to laugh at—or something to pity—or even something to fear. These were fleeting images, but they were unforgettable, and they left a lasting legacy. Hollywood, that great maker of myths, taught straight people what to think about gay people . . . and gay people what to think about themselves.[2]

However, it is worthwhile to briefly point out the televisual context in which the U.K. TV series Queer as Folk first appeared in 1999.

In relation to U.K. TV productions, Russell T. Davies’ Queer as Folk did not appear in a vacuum. Since the ’80s, for example, mainstream British soap operas have introduced homosexual storylines in their main narratives. In 1985, Channel 4’s controversial Brookside was the first British soap opera to introduce a gay character and televise a lesbian kiss. BBC’s EastEnders chose to draw attention to gay issues in the ’80s as well, earning the nickname “Eastbenders” in the headlines; in 1987, it screened the first ever gay kiss (on the cheek) in a prime-time British soap opera, followed in 1989 by another hugely controversial full-mouthed kiss between two gay characters. ITV’s Emmerdale added its first gay character only later, in 1999. There were also Channel 4’s Tales of the City and More Tales of the City in 1993 and 1998 respectively (based on Armistead Maupin’s books). BBC1’s popular medical drama Casualty also introduced a regular gay character in 1996.

Similarly, in the case of U.S. television, in the late ’90s a number of shows paved the way for the American version of Queer as Folk. ABC’s Ellen (1994–1998) especially showcased nationally the coming out of its main character and lead actress (Ellen DeGeneres), a feat previously unheard of in U.S. commercial prime-time programming. Extremely and internationally successful and long running series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and Dawson’s Creek (1998–2003) introduced regular homosexual characters and storylines: lesbian couple Willow and Tara in Buffy, and Jack in Dawson’s Creek.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.