Gay kiss on Corrie

LegacyUser

As someone with the lights turned on in the closet, I'm slowly applying oil to the door hinges as soon enough,I'll open it up

Good luck to anyone who gets there before me.

Anyhow this thread is really here to spark a discussion on Gay themes on the TV.

Recently we have had Lesbian and Gay Kisses on the Bill and there have been Gay characters on Eastenders.

But On October 5th ,there will be aGay kiss on Coronation street between Todd Grimshaw and Nick Tilsley, both of whom are very cute

It's good to see to be honest, as role models are hard to come by.

mike65

Corrie late again! Eastenders broke that taboo in 1985 I think then Brookie, as you mentioned the Bill has been hog-wild for gay kissing scenes for a while so it seems strange that anyone is getting excited by the Todd-Nick kiss.

Mike.

claire h

Heh. Even 'Fair City' had a gay kiss, which is saying something.

Do you think shows are more likely to show two guys kissing as opposed to two girls? I know it's theoretically equally 'controversial', but having two girls kissing plays into the whole 'lesbian chic' idea, especially when you have a straight-male-target-audience. Which do you think gets people a little more hot under the collar?

mike65

I think the main Corrie demographic is female in the 20-50s bracket.

Mike.

SweetBirdOfTruth

is unusual that it's guy-on-guy, girl-on-girl is more normal, partic since tatu (have i said that i hate what tatu represent? http://www.loopdiloop.com/fsharp/tATu.asp

how far did eastenders take it? i remember one gay character, years and years and years ago, but don't remember how full on it was (did they get to kiss? i thought it was brookie broke that taboo?).

and fair ****s to fair city for following on, years after (they've even had incest recently, no?) but the fact that one of the gay characters pays teh wages of sin (death) really does rile (didn't the eastenders gay guy die, and then try a life in politics?)

the new film, goldfish memories, should upset an apple cart or two. i might even take to listening to marianne f and the duffy phone in when it's released just to hear what apoplexy sounds like

ixoy

Girl-on-girl seems to be much easier to show stuff happening. Mostly 'coz the straight male audience won't object whereas they might with a guy-guy kiss (ewwww - men kissing - ewwwww).

I mean the US is a joke. It's not like ya see much snoggin in somethin' like "Will & Grace". Even here, in more liberal TV, it's generally still "Ohhh wow - look a gay kiss! GASP! GASP!" There were a number of complaints over the kiss in the Bill for example. I really think guy-with-guy raise the ire more here.

I don't think there's yet to be any decent gay characters on TV with the exception of the Wonderful World of HBO. "Six Feet Under" is a rightly celebrated example because the characters don't fit into any cliched mould and they're excellently written, and not issue-of-the-week as soaps can be. Another one they produced however was in "The Wire". Now generally gay guys in US TV are kinda wimpish but this guy was tough as fuc*ing nails: a drug dealer who went around killing off the rival gangs who shoot his lover :ninja:

Lukin Black

He makes a pass at Nick and leans forward to kiss him but it's not reciprocated.

So it's going to be an almost-kiss, rather than an actual one..

solice

im looking forward to the fall out, and mark my words people, this will not be a good thing for the gay community, just look how the story is going.

todd and sarah lou have shacked up in some rat infested flat. sarah lou has had a major falling out with her mother and she is turning to todd for support. but what does todd do, gets a crush on her brother.
they will prob break up and sarah lou will be left to pick up the pieces as a single mother.

its good to see that corrie is finally advancing to the stage of recognising homosexuality exists but ffs, do they have to do this story line, does it have to be todd.

lets wait for the backlash

mike65

Good point solice when I heard about this "shock" story I was baffled as to why Todd was chosen after all its kind of established he likes wimmin and him becoming bi-curious or even gay just strikes me as lazy writing.

Maybe they should have introduced a fresh character or maybe started a story line with someone like Sarahs' younger brother realising his feeling in a year to two.

Also this means Todd will have to die tragically :rolleyes:

Mike.

LegacyUser

Point taken regarding the "issues" surrounding the story line.
But the way i look at anything on TV like this , is that someone watching who is gay/bi /curious see's their feelings getting an airing and that is good.

claire h

Originally posted by corrie fan
Point taken regarding the "issues" surrounding the story line.
But the way i look at anything on TV like this , is that someone watching who is gay/bi /curious see's their feelings getting an airing and that is good.

But it *does* make a difference how it's handled. There aren't enough gay people on TV, and if you have a storyline like this - if the poor teenage mother is left alone because her boyfriend turns out to be gay - it does send out a bad message. It's saying, "look, kids, this is what gay people do! They explore their feelings for the same sex and hurt the people who care about them! It's bad and wrong!" And, yeah, it'd be unrealistic to have *perfect* gay characters on TV, but because there are so few, the ones that are used in storylines like this become the majority, which kinda sucks. Representation of GLBs on TV is a good thing. Selective representation is not.

Lukin Black

Like the saga that was and is Zoe Tate on Emmerdale..

Mind you, coulda been worse - it could've been Nick decided he's gay and tried to steal Todd. Why are there so many boyfriend-stealing gay people in tv/film. Actually, when I come to think of it, it's more girls stealing bloke's girlfriends. Either way, it's not a great picture.

yellum

In fairness are *any* of the characters in soaps perfect ? Not at all.

Todd is actually a very sweet, caring, intelligent and cute guy. Unless he turns out to be a complete whore I won't have any problems.

solice

i do have a problem with this, introducing a new character who is gay would be better but the one thing that corrie could do is (as stated above) have someone younger, sarahs younger brother dealing with and coming to terms with his sexuality, this would help more people and there would be no comments made of the "evilness" of homosexuality.

they said on the web site that todd has been dealing with his sexuality now for a long time. **** me, am i blind and stupid, i didnt notice any difference. the todd i see when i watch corrie today is the same todd that came into it years ago.
the only reason i wont be surprised when i see it is because i know its going to happen from here and other web forums but my parents are going to be shocked.

if todd starts dealing with his sexuality tonight then that gives him a month before the kiss. for reality purposes that is ridiculous

i believe that granada are making a mistake here that will have repurcussions.

ixoy

Originally posted by solice
if todd starts dealing with his sexuality tonight then that gives him a month before the kiss. for reality purposes that is ridiculous

i believe that granada are making a mistake here that will have repurcussions.

Ah but they can claim he was dealing with it internally. I mean he mightn't have wanted to talk about it with anyone so the kiss is the first outward sign we see. It's all been in his head until then. Least that's what the writers can say. Dunno about everyone else here but I didn't discuss it all that much before I also made a rash silly move back in '95. 1995? Crap I feel old now! :mad:

HerrLipp

Originally posted by solice
i do have a problem with this, introducing a new character who is gay would be better but the one thing that corrie could do is (as stated above) have someone younger, sarahs younger brother dealing with and coming to terms with his sexuality, this would help more people and there would be no comments made of the "evilness" of homosexuality.

they said on the web site that todd has been dealing with his sexuality now for a long time. **** me, am i blind and stupid, i didnt notice any difference. the todd i see when i watch corrie today is the same todd that came into it years ago.
the only reason i wont be surprised when i see it is because i know its going to happen from here and other web forums but my parents are going to be shocked.

if todd starts dealing with his sexuality tonight then that gives him a month before the kiss. for reality purposes that is ridiculous

i believe that granada are making a mistake here that will have repurcussions.

Yeah, it's so obvious that he's madly in love with sarah, so he's definitely way more on the blue side. It's so like they did on Dawson's Creek with Jack. Guy gets one same-sex thought in his head and suddenly it's "okay, no more girls for you". Hope they don't do the same with Todd.

claire h

It's so like they did on Dawson's Creek with Jack. Guy gets one same-sex thought in his head and suddenly it's "okay, no more girls for you".

Yeah, but... I don't know... not sleeping with Joey does say a *lot* about someone's sexuality. (Though I do get what you're saying. It seems like most of the people writing for TV shows have never heard of the word 'bisexual'. Look at Buffy - you had Willow very much attracted to two men, and along comes Tara and suddenly she's describing herself as "gay now!" And while Buffy's done more than any other show in terms of lesbian visibility on TV, I don't think it's fair to invalidate previous relationships like that - it does send out mixed messages about sexuality.)

Y'know, it's insane how there's a whole thread devoted to a gay kiss in a soap an entire month before it happens - I mean, I look forward to the day when no one will bat an eyelid when there's a gay kiss on TV because it happens so often that it's nothing to get excited about.

solice

Originally posted by claire h
I look forward to the day when no one will bat an eyelid when there's a gay kiss on TV because it happens so often that it's nothing to get excited about.

here here (or is it hear hear)

oneweb

Well said Claire, Solice it's the latter

Anyway, it is good to see gay characters on proper TV. Six Feet Under, Bad Girls (both woman gay and man gay, mind you ) and no doubt a few more programs which portray homosexuality as it is. Normal people with normal lives, they simply have same-sex boy/girl friends/partners. IMO, these programs certainly help people to come to grips with the fact that not only are there gay people out there, but they're not all frills and flails.

The problem with Coronation Street is one which most of its storylines suffer from - the birth, development and death of a story is way too fast (The exceptions being the fantastic Richard Hillman storyline , and the bruuutal bigamist bookie effort)

Anyway, my point is that it's prolly going to become a major storyline too fast. I reckon they're only doing it 'cos they felt they had to with other soaps having done it ages ago, plus they could do with some ratings. (But they might just lose some instead)


<edit>oops, the first sentence of my second paragraph implies that Corronation Street is in the 'proper tv' category. I would like to clarify that this was not my intention and apologise for any harm caused while you were splitting your sides

Syth

I read somewhere that the head-writer/creater or something on coronation street is a conservative, and that's why there isn't any black or gay characters (till now)

mike65

Originally posted by Syth
I read somewhere that the head-writer/creater or something on coronation street is a conservative, and that's why there isn't any black or gay characters (till now)

Curly Watts had a black girlfriend many years ago and there had been a couple of other minority charcters before Dev and Sineta (sp)

Mike.

oneweb

Now I know why I was so pissed off with the whole thing. It's 'cos I can't stand the actor who plays Nick :mad: Anyone notice the blushieness of Todd's cheeks the last few days, or am I seeing things?

sceptre

Originally posted by Syth
I read somewhere that the head-writer/creater or something on coronation street is a conservative, and that's why there isn't any black or gay characters (till now)

Heh, definitely not the creator. Gay as parts of San Francisco apparently. Tony something or other.

They've had the occasional black character before. That cute one who used work in the hairdressers and hang out with Maxine and is now on Holby City and the one who works in the factory are two that spring to mind. Still not till relatively recently though - Alf Roberts probably had one of the few corner shops still run by a fat white bloke.

Totally off-topic, as I type this (I'm watching Dilbert on FTN) there's an advert for Will and Grace with the rather yummy Debra Messing snogging that odd woman with the squeaky voice on the series. Oddly enough, Will never seems to go out with anyone either.

claire h

Originally posted by sceptre
Totally off-topic, as I type this (I'm watching Dilbert on FTN) there's an advert for Will and Grace with the rather yummy Debra Messing snogging that odd woman with the squeaky voice on the series. Oddly enough, Will never seems to go out with anyone either.

Megan Mullally. Mmm. She's rather attractive. *cough* Um, she's 40-something... but, yeah. Hotness. It's good that Karen and Grace get to snog, because it's normalising girl/girl kissing on TV. *nods* Yes, my motives in supporting this are completely pure.

And since we're talking about 'Will and Grace', because being OT is fun, for a show in which two of the four main characters are gay men, we see surprisingly little male/male kissing. It's popularised the image of the gay man - ooh, gay men are *cool*! - without letting either of them do much more apart from flirt with guys and talk about previous relationships. It's sort of cutting-edge TV in terms of gay exposure in a very, very safe way.

Erm... yes, Coronation Street. Oooh, they haven't got Adam Rickitt or whatever his name is back as Nick, have they?

LegacyUser

Originally posted by oneweb
Anyone notice the blushieness of Todd's cheeks the last few days, or am I seeing things?

Yeah he's cute isn't he

As for the blushing, thats probably 'cause he's just read the script for what he has to do on October 5th

Annasopra

I read somewhere that the head-writer/creater or something on coronation street is a conservative, and that's why there isn't any black or gay characters (till now)

In fairness to Coronation St. They were the first to soap to have a transsexual (Hayley)

Syth

In fairness to Coronation St. They were the first to soap to have a transsexual (Hayley)

True, but she arrived pre-packaged. You don't really see an boy going throught the steps to becoming a girl... still, kudos

Is it sad that I know about coronation st?

mike65

Did anyone sense a frisson when Todd and Nick were in the same space on tonights episodes?

Mike.

memphis

Wow..... rewind........ rewind........


Seems to me I've been in the States to long. I only discovered the other night whilewatching Corrie, after been away for 3 and a half months that Nick was back.

What is the reason for his return firstly? And how in the F**k can Todd be gay, or even curious? Its obvious that he is mad about Sarah Lou. They are together for ages, have slept together, have a crappy flat together, what am I missing out on here.

How can Todd be gay/bi or even curious about he's sexuality. And as for Nick, isn't he just as straight? I thought he was sent to Canada cos he was such a womaniser??

There's something wrong with this storyline. Granada must be scrapping the barrel. If its contravorsy they're after they'll certainly get it, but its just not a realistic storyline. They should have left the storyline to Sarah Lou's younger brother coming to yerms with the whole thing or something.

Anyway, guess I'll have to watch and see whats going to happen.

solice

the story is that nick isnt even curious, todd kisses him and nick pulls back.

as for todd def not being gay, well you never can be too sure what your sexuality is. but i agree, having todd as the gay character is weak and granada could have done so much better

LegacyUser

There were definite signs in tonights episode that somethings developing.
Todd and Nick were at the bar in the Rovers when Nick was chatting up his ex.

Poor Todd was looking upset.

Sunday october 5th he' slaps the Gob into nick not long to go now...

Yeah it is a hastilly contrived story line but it's going to be interesting to see what they do with it.