So maybe it's because I'm a gay guy….
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solmaquina — 10 years ago(February 21, 2016 02:46 PM)
Let's see:
The National Anthem
features pretty neutral male and female characters for the most part. Sexuality doesn't enter the equation, but obviously the Prime Minister isn't gay because he would be the first openly gay Prime Minister if he were and it would be strange if the show didn't address that given that it's meant to be set in contemporary times and it'd be a distraction of the actual story. None of the characters are overtly gay but none of the characters, bar the PM and his wife, are overtly straight either.
Fifteen Million Merits
features a rare example of a sympathetic character. Yes, he's a straight male. The female love interest is also pretty sympathetic for the record. Other than the lead (and possibly his laddish friend - I can't remember too well), none of the characters are particularly sexualised. They could all be straight or gay.
Now, the main character could have been gay without changing the story in this case. Statistics vary between about 1 and 10% of the population of the UK being gay, depending on which study you look at. Let's be generous and go with 10%, which means that we need to see 10 overtly straight characters (where they could easily have been gay) with no gay characters before there's a problem. We're currently at 1 out of 10.
The Entire History of You
features an utterly loathsome male lead and a pretty awful male supporting role. None of the other characters are particularly bad people including several women. This is a case where the character could easily have been gay so we're now at 2 out of 10 (the side-character doesn't count because he had to be a romantic rival to the protagonist of the story).
Be Right Back
features a completely sympathetic female protagonist. And she sort of had to be straight so that she could conceive a child (it's a fairly important part of the story).
White Bear
features a female protagonist who's in a moral grey area. She's definitely presented as sympathetic despite having done some horrible things. There are some utterly horrible male characters in this episode, though. She appears to be a straight character (though she could easily be bisexual for all we know), which I imagine is because if she was gay, it might be wrongly perceived as some sort of comment about lesbian relationships. Regardless, I'll include it, bringing us up to 3 out of 10.
The Waldo Moment
features a male protagonist. He's fairly sympathetic, though he certainly wanders into some morally grey areas. I seem to remember some stuff suggesting he's straight so that brings us up to 4 out of 10.
White Christmas
features a seemingly straight (though he could have been bi) male protagonist in John Hamm. He needs to be straight because he's a "pick-up artist" and that's something fairly unique to straight men. He's in the morally grey category.
Part 1 follows a straight, male character who, once again, sort of needs to be a straight, male to be part of the pick-up culture. He operates in the same grey area. You're definitely not meant to be on his side, but his fate is more than he deserves. He encounters a woman who is fairly messed up, but she needed to be a woman in order to be compatible with him and she needed to be messed up in order to give him an ironic end.
Part 2 follows a completely sympathetic female protagonist in the form of the cookie. Her sexuality isn't touched upon.
Part 3 follows a fairly sympathetic, though somewhat in the moral grey, male protagonist who deals with a horribly unsympathetic female supporting character (and her similarly unsympathetic male father). The sexuality of the protagonist and the woman needs to be straight as they need to have a child together (or at least think that they have) for the story to work.
Now, if you ask me, that's a very, very even spread. Many characters in this show are utterly loathesome individuals and that goes for both men and women. A handful are sympathetic beings and, once again, they're both men and women.
As for gay characters not being present, many characters could be gay for all we know. There haven't been any gay characters whose sexuality is obvious or part of the story, but then, the most generous statistics peg gay people as 10% of the population and I only counted up to 4, before, meaning that they could have more than twice as many straight characters without a gay character before it becomes an issue of representation. It's also worth noting that this show is only 7 episodes into its run which is absolutely nothing. Season 3 is going to consist of 12 episodes, if I recall correctly, and I'd be quite surprised if you don't see at least one gay character in the mix after that.
http://twitter.com/solmaquina -
Better_Call_Saul — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 12:22 AM)
To be fair 'The Entire History of You' has a fairly unlikeable female lead character who is a compulsive liar and cheater.
It actually shares a similar thing with 'White Christmas'. Girlfriend cheater who has someone else's baby (although this is only implied in 'The Entire History of You') and who treats boyfriend like crap and he ends up losing the plot.
A total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through -
Rat_27 — 10 years ago(February 27, 2016 12:21 PM)
I, actually, found it extremely refreshing that it doesn't have the feminist, idiotic spin of shows like
Dark Matter
. It doesn't paint women in the Holy Grail, thou shall worship the ground I walk on, BS light that is mainstream and common now.
For instance:
In Episode 2, the woman who got jealous of Bing did anything come of that?
That isn't standard grrl power fare.
But I am glad that you think that television should cater to your wants, whims and wishes. That says a lot. The problem here isn't that you are gay. It's that you seem to be extremely self-centered. Cheers. -
elcherino — 10 years ago(March 13, 2016 01:26 AM)
Um I havent seen all the episodes, only seen 15 million merits, but trust me the series doesnt have an issue with gays because.the creator himself has a male partner.
As far as the women thing, I'll have to check out the series. I do know in the US, women have quite a bit of power though, its toned down men's masculinity from the John Wayne days. So maybe the creator is making a parable about that? -
solmaquina — 10 years ago(March 13, 2016 10:11 AM)
Charlie Brooker, the creator and writer of all but one and a half episodes, is married to Konnie Huq. It's a conventional man/woman marriage.
http://twitter.com/solmaquina -
elcherino — 10 years ago(March 13, 2016 04:53 PM)
Yup you are right, I had a typo, the director of the episode I watched (15MM) Euros Lynn is the one with the male partner. Now I see that Charlie Brooker is the creator. I think he is pretty open to all kinds of people though minorities, men, women, different sexualities I believe.
SPOILERS BELOW
Just wondering about Entire History of You, why did you think Toby Kebbell's character was utterly loathsome? I believe that yes he did act in extreme ways, he was just looking for the truth. His wife lied to him to the point of where their child might not even be his. And of course the affair in their own bed.I think the majorities of husbands would be livid if they knew a friend who had sex tapes of their wife which they could watch over again. So I think he was right to make that guy erase the tapes and not bother their family. Where he went over the line though was probably talking to his wife at the end. He probably should have forgiven her after all there is a kid involved, but before that last conversation I dont think he was completely despicable. Jonas character I agree was. -
solmaquina — 10 years ago(March 14, 2016 07:39 AM)
He acted in extreme ways that weren't justified by his search for "the truth". This is set in a society where the sex-tapes in question are par for the course and it's heavily implied that even Toby is guilty of maintaining memories from previous relationships, himself. Maybe "utterly loathsome" was too strong in his case, but he's, at best, a mixed bag.
http://twitter.com/solmaquina -
elcherino — 10 years ago(March 15, 2016 03:00 AM)
Yea I saw a bit of OCD and self-destructiveness. What makes the character so interesting is to think how anyone would act in that situation. I mean if I had a friend do that to me and openly mock me I probably wouldn't handle it very well. If he didnt play investigator, who's to say his wife wouldn't continue cheating on him, and Jonas making fun of him (without him knowing it) at every single dinner meeting. Hence the search for the truth, and I think he would have been okay once he got Jonas to delete the video. That way they all go their separate ways and the marriage can be saved or preserved. I think he still could have worked it out with Ffion and raised the child, who's ever it may be.
If however he was doing the same as Jonas (which I didnt catch but it could have been a poor viewing), and kept and rewatched previous relationships for pleasure and would go openly mock others. Then yes I would agree with you utterly loathsome. A man must stand for a principle, but if he disobeys his own principle, well then -
Meldove — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 01:33 PM)
Just wondering about Entire History of You, why did you think Toby Kebbell's character was utterly loathsome? I believe that yes he did act in extreme ways, he was just looking for the truth. His wife lied to him to the point of where their child might not even be his. And of course the affair in their own bed.I think the majorities of husbands would be livid if they knew a friend who had sex tapes of their wife which they could watch over again. So I think he was right to make that guy erase the tapes and not bother their family. Where he went over the line though was probably talking to his wife at the end. He probably should have forgiven her after all there is a kid involved, but before that last conversation I dont think he was completely despicable. Jonas character I agree was.
He did become an obsessed man, however I think his obsession in knowing his wife was lying to him and she was. What started as a week long fling, turned into a six month relationship. It just seemed like lie after lie and then he found out she had sex with him in their bed. They may have been going through a bad time in their marriage, however there is no excuse to bring another to the bed she shares with her husband. What spouse wouldn't be infuriated? The worse part was she lied repeatedly and kept getting caught in her lies. So, yes I consider her pretty despicable and I see him as man that became overly obsessed and saw his world fall apart because of it. To the point that he cut the device out at the end, I think that was the smartest move he made. -
Feigenbaum-attractor — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 08:10 PM)
Personally I saw him as much much worse than she.
I saw her initial lie as her trying to not make him jealous, it's common in new relationships to play down past relationships.
Her subsequent lies I saw as her trying to downplay the whole situation as her husband began to get obsessed. His obsession and subsequent behaviour was way over the top. You have to let the past stay in the past. If she didn't want to tell him then thats her business.
She is of course guilty of cheating but she did say she did that while they were on a break and he had been gone a few days.
On the other hand he stayed up all night replaying the dinner party and getting drunk before going out and assaulting the ex. He should have been locked up imo. -
mimosveta — 9 years ago(May 08, 2016 02:46 PM)
I cannot think of one female character who was wholly sympathetic except for maybe Abi at first and then I guess Jem.
There was literally nothing wrong with Princess Susannah, and F and Gwendolyn Harris were both decent humans and actual characters.
On a side note, which male character was a nice guy?
Anyone who has ever read any spoilers,
knows that
Winter Is Coming -
facherz — 9 years ago(May 13, 2016 09:41 PM)
Why do shows have to reflect society? Well if we put in a gay character, then we have to put in a transgender character, but then we would have to put in a Native American character because everything has to be fair and equal and politically correct.
Why can't it just be a TV show? If there is a gay character in the new season, good, fine, who cares. If there isn't, also who cares. Why does it really matter, it is just a tv show. If you don't like it, don't watch it. -
skillz4realz — 9 years ago(October 31, 2016 03:16 AM)
The title of the series is Black Mirror. I take that as it's a dark reflection of what we can be or become. No episode is a happy, fun time. They're all dark representations of our potential future.
So I don't think it's an issue that men or women are presented darkly.