Its been over a month since my last post. Things in my own life have been busy and things in the world of Soaps have been dead, especially when it comes to gay characters.
Things may finally be starting to pick up on As the World Turns, though. Yesterday, Luke began his internship at the local TV station and made friends with Maddie Coleman. Luke has always been more or less isolated from the rest of the characters on the show who are his own age, with the exception of his cousin Jade, so it was really refreshing to see him finally spending time with one of them.
There was also the very first mention of Noah, Luke's potential love interest, who will be an intern at the station with them this summer. On top of that, Luke & Maddie ran into Kevin's girlfriend, Liv, who was full of talk about the upcoming Senior prom.
Luke had mentioned recently, during a conversation with Jade, that he and Kevin are 'sort of' friends again. Yesterday, the mention of Kevin getting fitted for his tux to take Liv to the prom brought a sad look to Luke's face, one that Maddie picked up on. Luke later admitted to Maddie that Kevin still can't really deal with him being gay.
Since Maddie's own boyfriend, Casey, is currently serving time in prison, she's dateless, too, and in the end the two decided to go to the Prom together.
Now, first of all, I'm glad to see Luke & Maddie as friends because they bring out the happy, playful side in each other that we haven't seen in either character for a long time. Secondly, if the show is actually going to show the Prom, that's a good sign, because Luke hasn't been a leading character in the last nine months and this would indicate that the show is ready to commit to giving him a story.
But most of all, I just feel sort of bitter about all the wasted potential. After a fantastic coming out storyline, ATWT had the chance to continue on and show what Luke's life was like as an out gay teen in high school. They also had the chance to build up to a prom storyline in which Luke went with another guy, even if they were just friends.
But Luke's senior year was wasted and you could be forgiven if you forgot for awhile that there even was a character named Luke on the show, because the writers sure did. The show had a popular gay character, played by an actor who'd become a fan favorite, so there was no excuse for them not to keep telling Luke's story. They had the chance to really break some ground and do something special, and they blew it. Typical.
So, now we just have to take what we can get as the show picks back up with Luke. I'm hoping for some good Prom scenes, some closure between Kevin & Luke, and I'm counting the days until the debut of Noah.
Meanwhile, I'm about ready to tear my hair out over Passions and their portrayal of Chad & Vincent. Violence continues to play a part in their affair, with Chad most recently choking Vincent before having sex so rough that the couple in the next room were shown commenting on how violent it sounded before dismissing it as 'passionate'. The encounter ended with Vincent going on and on about how much he loved how screwed up and angry Chad is, and Chad claiming that Vincent is 'making him' sleep with him, before pulling a gun on him.
The most disturbing part is that the victim of this rage and anger, Vincent, is being portrayed as loving it. This is upsetting on so many levels. The message seems to be, first of all, that a relationship between two men is all about sex, and second of all that gay men enjoy being victims.
Furthermore, Chad has been a character on this show for a long time and was always written as straight before this. Since Vincent is written as a character who just won't leave Chad alone, who keeps pushing him and threatening to expose his secret, I'm sure many are taking away the message that Chad is in fact being forced into gay sex with this gay man. The point should be that Chad wants to have sex with other men and can't deal with what that means about him, but it's not playing that way at all.
In short, this story is a disgrace. Why they feel the need to make violence such a part of this relationship between Chad & Vincent is beyond me, but it's sending all the wrong messages. They seem to feel they're pushing the envelope with suggestive talk, scenes of the two men in bed before and after, and loud sex noises heard by other characters in the next room, but it takes a lot more than that to tell a story.
It all brings to mind the expression 'Be careful what you wish for'. I knew this story wouldn't be good, since it's being written by James E. Reilly, but I honestly never expected it to be so troubling.
If there was more representation of gay characters in daytime, one twisted couple like Chad & Vincent wouldn't be so upsetting. There would be other things for viewers to compare it to, to see that it's not at all representational of gay life. But the fact is, Chad & Vincent are the first gay characters on daytime to be at all overtly sexual and it's being written as violent and destructive. What message does that send?
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