May 16, 2003 11:06
So I just watched this Young Americans vid and it got me thinking about the show (shitty Dawson's Creek rip-off, I was bored and the boys were pretty) and one plot in particular.
It's an all-boy school. Though it has a sister school just across the way. But anyway...
Jake is a girl who disguises herself as a boy to attend said school (don't ask). Hamilton is actually a boy. They become friends. Eventually Jake kisses Hamilton, then runs away, then later Hamilton kisses Jake and promptly freaks out about being gay, at which point Jake reveals her femininity. And in the last ep we have "they're together!" "It's OK, Jake's a girl." Implying that it wouldn't be OK if Jake was actually a boy.
It's not simply the implied homophobia that annoys me about that, but also the fact that it would be a far stronger storyline if they were both boys. True, it would invalidate a large portion of Jake's generic angst, but surely the angst of battling against ingrained self-perception etc - though that would be more H than J. But they could really have made it an issue. Not to mention the fact that H just looks gay.
Of course, if I'd written it, H would be gay and thus end up not actually wanting J when it turned out she was a girl.
And I really need to stop procrastinating.
reaction: other tv,
ranting blah