While I agree with a considerable amount of your post, I was not quite as disheartened as you. However, my biggest issue is that Cowlip neglected to keep their stories (whether of a political agenda or not) character driven. They lost me by placing the political agenda first and the characters second. Trying to force characters into stories in which they don't fit is ridiculous and obviously manipulative. They did this throughout S4 & S5.
The sad truth is that if they reflected back to S1 - S3 TPTB would have seen that they brought many significant issues to light through the lives of their wonderful characters. HIV/AIDS was brought out through the characters of Vic, Ben and, later, Hunter. Gay bashing and its human and judicial aftermath were dealt with through Justin's experience--and Brian's by his involvement in the entire situation. Self-esteem and self-loathing issues were brought out through Ted and conversion groups were tackled by Emmett.
As soon as the style of writing switched from character driven to politically driven the tone of the entire show changed significantly.
As soon as the style of writing switched from character driven to politically driven the tone of the entire show changed significantly.
I agree. I actually think that this happened more and more frequently from the end of S1 onwards (and directly led to the "pod Justin" syndrome of the last half of S2).
And ITA that it's not my preferred way of approaching developing story lines. I infinitely prefer character driven drama, and I believe that high quality drama virtually always comes from that approach. But, IMO, what went really wrong in S5, and what highlighted how impoverished the writing was, was that they did it so poorly.
If you're going sacrifice character, not even to plot, but to issues, then you'd better damned well have something interesting and insightful to say about the issues.
C/L, IMO, didn't. They trotted out a whole heap of pathetically whiny cliches about how dreadful the whole situation was, without anything fresh to add.
And, IMO, that's the unforgivable sin. As long as your focus is on interesting characters, you can get away not having anything particularly novel to say about them, because the audience's attention is on the characters, and they are drawn into even silly story lines through them. But once your focus changes from the characters to the issues, you can't rely on the issues alone to engage your audience if you don't have anything new to say about them.
And if you start off with great characters, and, in pursuit of your vision of the issues, you treat them so disrespectfully that they become almost unrecognisable, you've doomed yourself. You don't have anything interesting to say about the focus of the show (issues) and now your characters are disintegrating and they're not holding the interest of your audience either.
What I took away from the end of S5, was that by the time the season finally staggered to an end, I'd lost any liking for Deb, Linds and Melanie; I'd lost all respect for Ben, and I couldn't bear to even look at Michael. The only characters (apart from bj) that I had any time for were Ted, Emmett and Jennifer, and I wasn't really happy with the plot lines they'd given Emmett (I think he is an amazing character, and seriously mis-used).
As for Brian and Justin - don't start me.
And as far as the issues are concerned, I felt that I was being patronised and lectured to a lot of the time. Give me a break! I'm not gay, but I have had gay friends all my life. I've patched them up after bashings, held them while they cried over their family's rejection, been with them to dances that got raided by the police, sat by the bedside of a young man dying of AIDS whose family wouldn't come to visit him, helped another friend pretend to be straight because it was the only way he was going to get a promotion. I've been through all that, seen all the changes, feel the fear that so much of the ground so painfully won is likely to be taken away. I do not need Ron and Dan to tell me about how wrong that is.
I don't think anyone who is gay-friendly enough to be watching QAF needs Ron and Dan to tell them how wrong it is.
I find Ron and Dan's apparent belief that we do need to be told incredibly patronising and astonishingly arrogant.
When it's done at the expense, not just of characters that I've come to love, but at the direct expense of the young actors who've had the courage and the talent to take on these characters and bring them to life, I also find it appallingly self-indulgent.
I guess I've become more and more frustrated with the whole thing while I've been re-watching the episodes in detail to provide the background for Reverberations. Things that I let slide when I watched the first time, become more and more obvious when I'm watching for the third or the fourth. (Unlike the first season, which has episodes that I can watch over and over and still get intense enjoyment from them.)
better have something interesting to say about the issues
Excellent point--Cowlip didn't say or offer any points that their audience wasn't already painfully aware of. They were preaching to the choir.
I guess I've become more and more frustrated with the whole thing while I've been re-watching the episodes in detail...
It's interesting you should say that. I became more critical recently. For awhile I was doing weekly commentaries of each individual show as it appeared during the 5th season. That was fine in isolation. But since I've started my QAF Series Overview, I've been re-watching from the beginning to refamiliarize myself, in detail with the changes over the 5 years, in a variety of different categories.
While I am still grateful and happy that I have grown attached to the show and it's characters, I loved the show, in its entirety more in ep. 314 than I do now.
I am currently writing about Emmett's character development over the years and hope to post within the week.
If you haven't read them, I'll shamelessly pimp my series overviews. They are all listed in my "memories" (if I did put them there correctly).
While I am still grateful and happy that I have grown attached to the show and it's characters, I loved the show, in its entirety more in ep. 314 than I do now.
Yes, I would have to say that I feel the same way.
And I am looking forward to reading your comments on the show, although I suspect that it won't be until the weekend. :)
The sad truth is that if they reflected back to S1 - S3 TPTB would have seen that they brought many significant issues to light through the lives of their wonderful characters. HIV/AIDS was brought out through the characters of Vic, Ben and, later, Hunter. Gay bashing and its human and judicial aftermath were dealt with through Justin's experience--and Brian's by his involvement in the entire situation. Self-esteem and self-loathing issues were brought out through Ted and conversion groups were tackled by Emmett.
As soon as the style of writing switched from character driven to politically driven the tone of the entire show changed significantly.
Reply
I agree. I actually think that this happened more and more frequently from the end of S1 onwards (and directly led to the "pod Justin" syndrome of the last half of S2).
And ITA that it's not my preferred way of approaching developing story lines. I infinitely prefer character driven drama, and I believe that high quality drama virtually always comes from that approach. But, IMO, what went really wrong in S5, and what highlighted how impoverished the writing was, was that they did it so poorly.
If you're going sacrifice character, not even to plot, but to issues, then you'd better damned well have something interesting and insightful to say about the issues.
C/L, IMO, didn't. They trotted out a whole heap of pathetically whiny cliches about how dreadful the whole situation was, without anything fresh to add.
And, IMO, that's the unforgivable sin. As long as your focus is on interesting characters, you can get away not having anything particularly novel to say about them, because the audience's attention is on the characters, and they are drawn into even silly story lines through them. But once your focus changes from the characters to the issues, you can't rely on the issues alone to engage your audience if you don't have anything new to say about them.
And if you start off with great characters, and, in pursuit of your vision of the issues, you treat them so disrespectfully that they become almost unrecognisable, you've doomed yourself. You don't have anything interesting to say about the focus of the show (issues) and now your characters are disintegrating and they're not holding the interest of your audience either.
What I took away from the end of S5, was that by the time the season finally staggered to an end, I'd lost any liking for Deb, Linds and Melanie; I'd lost all respect for Ben, and I couldn't bear to even look at Michael. The only characters (apart from bj) that I had any time for were Ted, Emmett and Jennifer, and I wasn't really happy with the plot lines they'd given Emmett (I think he is an amazing character, and seriously mis-used).
As for Brian and Justin - don't start me.
And as far as the issues are concerned, I felt that I was being patronised and lectured to a lot of the time. Give me a break! I'm not gay, but I have had gay friends all my life. I've patched them up after bashings, held them while they cried over their family's rejection, been with them to dances that got raided by the police, sat by the bedside of a young man dying of AIDS whose family wouldn't come to visit him, helped another friend pretend to be straight because it was the only way he was going to get a promotion. I've been through all that, seen all the changes, feel the fear that so much of the ground so painfully won is likely to be taken away. I do not need Ron and Dan to tell me about how wrong that is.
I don't think anyone who is gay-friendly enough to be watching QAF needs Ron and Dan to tell them how wrong it is.
I find Ron and Dan's apparent belief that we do need to be told incredibly patronising and astonishingly arrogant.
When it's done at the expense, not just of characters that I've come to love, but at the direct expense of the young actors who've had the courage and the talent to take on these characters and bring them to life, I also find it appallingly self-indulgent.
I guess I've become more and more frustrated with the whole thing while I've been re-watching the episodes in detail to provide the background for Reverberations. Things that I let slide when I watched the first time, become more and more obvious when I'm watching for the third or the fourth. (Unlike the first season, which has episodes that I can watch over and over and still get intense enjoyment from them.)
Reply
Excellent point--Cowlip didn't say or offer any points that their audience wasn't already painfully aware of. They were preaching to the choir.
I guess I've become more and more frustrated with the whole thing while I've been re-watching the episodes in detail...
It's interesting you should say that. I became more critical recently. For awhile I was doing weekly commentaries of each individual show as it appeared during the 5th season. That was fine in isolation. But since I've started my QAF Series Overview, I've been re-watching from the beginning to refamiliarize myself, in detail with the changes over the 5 years, in a variety of different categories.
While I am still grateful and happy that I have grown attached to the show and it's characters, I loved the show, in its entirety more in ep. 314 than I do now.
I am currently writing about Emmett's character development over the years and hope to post within the week.
If you haven't read them, I'll shamelessly pimp my series overviews. They are all listed in my "memories" (if I did put them there correctly).
Reply
Yes, I would have to say that I feel the same way.
And I am looking forward to reading your comments on the show, although I suspect that it won't be until the weekend. :)
Reply
Leave a comment