queer as folk

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i had entirely forgotten how awesome this first series was! haha even the demolition of the "gay funeral" scene from 4weddings -- which ought to be a one-off gag that doesn't bear repeating -- is great, just cz of the way they all arrive

anyway this is in loneloonies bcz of the way the narrative just GRABS at (often quite bad) pop-o-the-moment and fucks its brains out makes it work suddenly, just for that moment

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I only ever saw bits of it! god...I guess it was because I was still living at home. weird. one scene that really sticks in the mind is the one where Stuart strolls around checking out boys to the soundtrack of 'Sexy Boy' by Air.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

well you've missed half the repeat showing but i'd love to read yr take on it alex

at the time the club stuff seemed the tamest but actually now i slightly suspect i over-idealised "what the wildest clubs are like" (i suspect they're ALL more like poptimism than the think they are!)

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

bah i think *i* will miss tonight's eps -- the very best one as i recall -- unless they are on multiple-repeat

(i never wanted to rewatch em on dvd -- there was something abt the sheer rush of it being NOW TV that "everyone" was watching as it unfolded)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

ironically I gathered that it was a MASSIVE hit in the girls' boarding houses - I remember that sense of NOW TV (but obv none of the boys even acknowledged it and I wasn't out yet!). I'd have to watch it on DVD, I may order some, as I am so rubbish with TV.

the other memory I have is of one of the girls in my English A-level class - very spacey, ostensibly came to England as a specialist musician but quickly devoted herself to developing amazing off-kilter theories about literature and writing abstract poetry, seemed to exist entirely in her own bubble, I recently got back in touch with her on fbook! - writing a lot of v complex, in-depth literary analysis of QAF.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i thought the doctor who stuff would seem laboured (HARTNELL AGENDA) but it's more like the return of a clumsy loved cultural whatever from yr infancy, like old footage of bill and ben!

and haha vince has "the" iconic saville first FACTORY POSTER on his bedroomn wall

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

oh! oh! I remember something else amazing - the boy in QAF has a poster of POST BY BJORK on his wall, and it was really awesome for me at the time (as the number of people who liked bjork at school numbered precisely TWO)

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

yes! signifier = "i am SO GAY but mum will not guess i am if i have a poster of BJORK who obv i do LIKE A LOT so it's not even lying really"

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

yes I had that poster as well! and one of Tori Amos. and this was WAY WAY before I realised that they were both huge gay signifiers!

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

(it's not really a demolition of the 4weddings funeral though is it?)

have you seen the US remake? - they totally flub the guy who dies dying!

this was a big show for me at the time, cos i knew people involved and it was all very exciting when it actually hit the screen as it had been the talk of the 'who scene' for ages before. it was the start of that crowd getting serious telly work

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

it was always referred to as "queer as fuck" and when it came out it i assumed this had been an in-joke, but i've since heard this really was its working title with 'folk' as the 'we know we'll end up calling it this instead *sigh*'. 'queer as folk' is better anyways if you ask me

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

"stop all the clocks" = D.I.S.C.O. is the gag bit i think, and it's kinda heehee but actually the tuff stuff in that whole scene is the sliding between camp silliness and stewart cruising non-stop and the dead guy's mum's genuine (and absolutely justified) anger at the bovvered-level -- reading shallowness as shallowness rather than the self-protective affect it actually (some of it) is -- which again i think is a demolition of 4waf, but maybe not so intentional

folk is def better yes, cz of implied start to phrase = "nowt so" = anti-metropolitan (every planet has a north)

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

most planets have a gay scene

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

And indeed every north has a gay scene, as we'll discover in Last Of The Summer Wine.

THE HACIENDA MUST BE BUILT

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

(the joke must be worn out)

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I loved QAF when it was first on telly - every week I would cross my fingers that Vince would finally get a sh4g, and was so happy when he finally got it on with Shane from Neighbours!