Brothers. It's a word.

[johnnypurple]

I was writing a comment to thimpressionist and thought maybe I'd make a post about this because I've been thinking about it a bit and was wondering what anyone else's thoughts were on the matter. (Also, I should be doing the dishes and also my bit for the tg-crack round robin, but instead I'm doing this. Anything to procrastinate!)

Brothers. A discussion in which I

Comments

[elfwhistletree]

Much thinking in this post - so you get some waffle back - see icon ;-)

I think an awful lot of stories/films/TV shows are about male bonding - I'm not sure I can see very clear boundaries between buddy movies/odd couple/brother themes. A lot of them are about blokes who are together to do an exciting job, because that makes for a dramatic story - cops, space ship pilots, demon hunters, doctors, firemen, vets etc etc. For other examples I give you Kirk/Spock Starsky/Hutch Sharpe/Harper Maturin/Aubrey Robin Hood/Little John etc etc - and if you stretch the paradigm a bit you can fit in Xena/Gabrielle, the Three/Four Musketeers, Skywalker/Solo and even Apollo/Starbuck or Buffy/Xander?

[elfwhistletree]

I think a lot of us are romantic at heart and crave this sort of intense relationship - in real life things are not so simple - you never find a perfect soulmate, and never in a life or death situation where you have to rely on them completely. Instead we muddle along with family and friends, sharing different things with different people and hopefully appreciating the good parts and tolerating their imperfections. This is frankly a lot more sensible, but makes for a less good story.

And those of us who have slash goggles like to take the emotional intensity and make it sexual as well - this seems entirely reasonable to me ;-)

Some pairs of real life siblings are very close, I'm sure, but in practice you get to choose your friends but not your family, so I think a lot of people distance themselves from their siblings somewhat, either by accident or design, as part of the process of becoming adult.

[elfwhistletree]

I think one of the reasons that Sam and Dean are brothers is because the show is about their relationship with their father, and seeking revenge for their mother - they are equal in this cause. But I suspect there is also an attempt to distance them from a gay subtext - doesn't work very well ;-)

I'm not qualified to comment on BDS, but again their relationship with their parents might be important here.

In Dukes of Hazzard the main characters are cousins - as are the title characters in "Alas Smith and Jones" - not sure how relevant this is?

[elfwhistletree]

I think there is an avoidance of showing same sex relationships in main stream media, and this is just starting to crack - see Russell T Davies for more details. Bit Jack/Ianto and Willow/Tara is just about all the examples I can think of at the moment.

And I think writers need an excuse to force stereotypically macho blokes together so they can show their feelings in a manly way - probably mostly for the benefit of a female audience.

And I think men (now speaking from experience) do have feelings, and do care about each other, but the cliche that they show it by drinking beer and bonding over sports is not entirely untrue, at least in my experience. *shrug*

[uk_sef]

One early example of homosexuality on TV was a character in Soap - but I don't recall them including much relationship stuff as such.

[johnnypurple]

Do you think it is just for the benefit of a female audience? Do men not want to see these kind of relationships reflected back at them? Maybe you're right about the beer and sport thing - I work with two cousins and they sure do talk about sport more than anything else.

Hooray for Rusty and Joss! But there needs to be more. It needs to just be there, no need to comment on it. And I kinda wish Jack lived up to his 'omnisexual' tag - he seems to be mostly gay, the way he is depicted in Torchwood. *le sigh*

[johnnypurple]

I wonder how much of the intensity of Sam & Dean's relationship is because of the circumstances they are in that makes it that way, or if that's just what their relationship is like. Some of the stuff that's in there - well, if they weren't brothers (and even when they are brothers), it's pretty easy to see something else going on there too.

The premise of BDS is less rooted in family than SPN, though their dad does come into it eventually. But this one too, I wonder why they could just be very close friends, co-dependents as they are - but there is perhaps a bit too much touching between brothers and nakedness there. And again it's probably an attempt (a failed attempt IMO) to distance themselves from the gay subtext.

I don't know Dukes of Hazzard or Alas Smith and Jones (that title just makes me think of Dr Who!) - but cousins seems to blur the line a little, possibly. Because to hang out a whole heap with your cousin, you presumably choose it, you do it because you're friends as well, no?

[uk_sef]

I don't know Dukes of Hazzard or Alas Smith and Jones
It would have helped a bit if EWT had typed "Alias Smith and Jones" rather than "Alas Smith and Jones"! The latter being a joke title based upon the former show's title.

[johnnypurple]

Ah, see, after a bit of a look see on Wiki, I realise that 'Alas Smith and Jones' is the one with Griff Rhys Jones in it and thus the one I'm more likely to watch. I do love me some Griff action. *le sigh* I was trying to work a screencap of him (semi-naked incidentally) into my bit for the tg-crack round robin, but could I even mind such a screencap? No. *single emo tear*