Wrg Rabow: How ‘Queer as Folk’ transformed the gay experience on televisn - Daily Trojan

Contents:

• HOW QUEER AS FOLK BEME THE DEFG GAY TV SHOW OF A GENERATN—TWICE
• "QUEER AS FOLK'S" REPRENTATN OF NOT JT GAY MEN MAK IT MT WATCH TELEVISN
• WRG RABOW: HOW ‘QUEER AS FOLK’ TRANSFORMED THE GAY EXPERIENCE ON TELEVISN
• HOW QUEER AS FOLK BROKE THE MOULD FOR GAY PEOPLE ON TV

HOW QUEER AS FOLK BEME THE DEFG GAY TV SHOW OF A GENERATN—TWICE

In an era of creasgly equent—if often imperfect—queer reprentatn media, might be difficult for the young target dience of Peack’s new reboot of the classic Queer as Folk to image that a show followg a group of gay men Ptsburgh livg relatively average liv uld have created a new paradigm for how gay and lbian stori would be told on televisn. So often lled “ground-breakg” that the scriptn might start to sound tre if weren’t also te, Queer as Folk put gay people and queer storyl ont and center a way that even other media of the time promently featurg gay characters, like Will & Grace, had yet to do.

"QUEER AS FOLK'S" REPRENTATN OF NOT JT GAY MEN MAK IT MT WATCH TELEVISN

K., and provid many young queer people’s first exposure to gayns not amed as eher a dly tertg sishow attractn alongsi a straight person’s “real story, ” or an abject tragedy. Davi was chg to wre somethg he felt accurately ptured not only the reali of beg a gay man Manchter, but also the broar experience of growg up and disverg who you are. The show premiered 1999 on Channel 4, and followed three men and their iends Manchter’s Canal street area, known as the Gay Village.

Both versns of Queer as Folk followed homogeno ma sts of whe, cisgenr people, most of whom were their 20s and 30s. Though each versn provid unprecented gay reprentatn, the lack of diversy race and genr exprsn the show leav out any reprentatn of trans people and people of lor the queer muny.

Queer as Folks received somewhat mixed early receptn om both nservative forc unhappy to see a show centered on gay people airg on a major work, and queer people who felt the show relied too heavily on stereotyp and lacked diversy. Versn was also cricized for not featurg the AIDS crisis s plotl, nsirg how severely was affectg the gay muny at the time the show was ma. When the show premiered, gay marriage was illegal every state the untry, and 14 stat had sodomy laws.

WRG RABOW: HOW ‘QUEER AS FOLK’ TRANSFORMED THE GAY EXPERIENCE ON TELEVISN

And while they are to be mend for storytellg that was always ls ncerned wh chasg mastream straight acceptance than the Will and Grace-s of the world, both told their stori om a narrow and faiar pot of view that centered the travails of the young, whe, cis gay man wh a gym membership. The queer muny's tenncy to build and police strict silos based on race, age, body type, genr, e and disabily was not somethg the old homogeno Queer as Folk seri felt they need to addrs, and largely didn't.

Brodie (Dev Way) is a young hot gay man who returns to New Orleans after droppg out of med school, to the dismay of his adoptive parents, played by Ed Begley Jr.

But creator Stephen Dunn troduc a ntroversial element the pilot — a mass shootg a gay club equented by many of the above characters, not all of whom survive.

HOW QUEER AS FOLK BROKE THE MOULD FOR GAY PEOPLE ON TV

In 1999, Harrison land his first televisn actg gig, takg on the ma character of 17-year-old Jt Taylor, who is disowned by his parents after g out as gay. He quickly fds a new fay a group of gay men after fallg for Brian Kney. Paige plays Emmet "Queer as Folk, " and at first, he seems to be a feme gay stereotype, but as the seri progrs, Paige brgs layers to the plited and sensive character.