Epiphany

[wren_kt7oz]

This is something that I posted to the bj spoilers board, and now I'm putting it here as well.

It's my interpretation of what I think that last scene in Babylon means.

Open to all comments (even the rude ones).


Was thinking again about what we've been hearing about the
ending and I had an epiphany that I thought I'd share.

It struck me that the problem for me (and I suspect many like me) is
that we've become so bj focused, that the larger issues that C/L
might be trying to address have sort of slipped by.

I asked in an earlier post what the message from the last scene was
meant to be, and totally missed the obvious.

It's not about bj.

It's not even about Brian.

It's about the fact that, despite Stockwell and his ilk, despite
bombs and hatred and violence, Babylon and all it represents are
alive and well.

Brian, from what we have heard, comes close to despair in the final
episode. He considers not rebuilding. He's on the verge of letting
the haters win.

But he doesn't. As once before when he fought Stockwell, he comes
through. He takes up the challenge, and Babylon, his culture, his
way of life, is rebuilt, young and beautiful forever.

I think that's the point that C/L are trying to make with the last
scene.

It's not about Brian being alone and lonely and doomed to permanent
isolation.

It's about Brian (and the unapologetic gay lifestyle he represents)
being triumphant against all the odds.

Did they have to split bj up to do that?

No, of course not.

But, in a sense, that's part of the message too.

Justin is the new generation. He also has survived hatred and
violence, and he's emerged stronger than ever, ready to spread his
wings and take on the world.

He's now "the best homosexual he can be" and he's gone off to live
his life to the full, despite all those who would like to see him
fail, to see him fall, to restrict and reduce him (think the
Hollywood honchos kowtowing to the Bush-ites).

And yes, there are probably ways that all this could have been
achieved without the split.

But I don't think that C/L place the same sort of focus on the bj
relationship that I do.

I think, for them, getting this amazing gay love story to the screen
was almost an end in itself. It doesn't have to have a
conventionally happy ending for them to feel it was all worth it.

For me, looking at it from a character-centric viewpoint, not from a
general, politicised stance, it seems that Brian especially has been
sacrificed. But I suspect that they simply don't see it that way.
That they see both Brian and Justin as representing the triumph over
the forces of bigotry and hatred and Bushism.

I think that's the message we are supposed to get from Brian dancing
alone at a restored Babylon.

Which simply leaves it for us to know the characters well enough to
understand that from here, they can only move on to bigger and better
things. That Brian is no more stuck in limbo in Babylon than Justin
is stuck forever in a garret in the East Village.

And that they are not forever doomed to being apart.

Comments

[elaere.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what that scene means, I haven't seen it. I haven't seen the season. I don't feel any need to interpret something that I don't know the whole of. But something of your assessment rings true to me: you write that Brian represents "the unapologetic gay lifestyle".

I feel that to be true, and, in addition, that all the other characters in the show are representatives of an abstract concept of a similar kind, too. And that is why I don't see the characters changing through all these seasons. There are a lot of features about them that have emerged during the seasons, features that weren't visible in the first season, but I don't feel that they have been changes; instead I have interpreted them to be features that have been there all the time but have been let to surface when the situation has changed, not the characters.

Let's take a closer look on Michael. In the first season Michael was "the boy next door" kind of a character. Did he not, back then, dream of love and suburban life with a hubby? His relationship with David failed. Did it fail because of Brian? I don't think so. To succeed with David, Michael would have needed to change: a boy-next-door didn't sit well in David's sophisticated life. But the CL didn't change Michael, instead he came back the same from Portland(?). Soon after he was paired with Ben, and what change has happened in the character in that relationship? Nothing dramatic, as would be likely in a drama. Michael has matured and taken more responsibilities, but I don't see any changes that aren't just responses to the changing situations in his life. The character is still the same. To me Michael represents one possible lifestyle a gay couple can lead, to me Michael is a concept: unchangeable, whole, defined.

Unfortunately that makes it easy to predict what the characters will do in situations. The drama has lost much because there can be no surprising changes in the characters. Has any of the characters behaved against his or her "nature"? I can't remember one such event. But I remember the to-buy-or-not-to-buy-roses scene of Brian. Did it surprise anyone that Brian didn't buy the flowers?

The actors have done one hell of a job in giving a resemblance of a life to these concepts. Randy and Gale have succeeded with their characters very well; Hal did not. His Michael is not a gay guy I would like to know, even if that is the basic idea of the character: a gay guy that is acceptable to everyone.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Ela - this was really interesting. I didn't get a chance to respond yesterday when I first read it, but I've been thinking and thinking about it, and I think that in many ways you are right.

I think that very often the writing does force the characters into boxes so that the writers can use them to represent different facets of "gay life".

Gale and Randy, as you say, can often work past that to the heart of the characters. And Hal has not. I have no idea what the heart of the Michael character is.

So often we're told that he's the sweet one, the "everyman", the boy next door. But I find him almost totally unpleasant.

But that's another story. ::g::

[elaere.livejournal.com]

You write that you "have no idea what the heart of the Michael character is." I agree. Perhaps that is what is so annoying about Michael. He is like an empty box: all the facets are there, but why? Michael has all the features the boy next door should have, but has nothing else. He doesn't have anything real inside of that package. I blame Hal for that emptiness; I don't see him loving the character. He doesn't give a part of himself to Michael. Is it because Hal can't identify with a gay character? I choose to believe so. He has been the only one of the grew that has repeatedly pointed out his heterosexuality. Why does he think that it is necessary when he is acting in this show? He is afraid of something, and I think we know what it is.

BTW: If you want to laugh at Michael, my story Beery Busy Night on Liberty Avenue might give you a chance. http://www.livejournal.com/users/elaere/8559.html

If we take the characters as different facets of gay life, the Michael and Brian - relationship becomes even more complicated. Michael is attracted to Brian, but Brian is not attracted to Michael. So, does that mean that the lifestyle Michael represents has a yearning in it for something wilder? And at the same time that the lifestyle Brian represents does not have similar feelings towards the other lifestyle. Brian's attitude towards Michael - "you are so pathetic" - gets quite a different interpretation if that is true.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I simply can't stand Hal. It started with merely disliking Mikey, but now I can't even stand to look at photos of the man.

I have a theory that we're just allergic to some people, and I think I'm allergic to Hal.

As for his constant "I'm straight" ... he just drives me nuts. I can't tell whether he's closeted, extremely homophobic or both.

But what did it for me as far as Hal was concerned was the comment he made about only dating slim women, because women who weren't slim were in some way spiritually impaired. I've forgotten the exact quote, but that was the gist of it. Honestly! Of all the ignorant unenlightened garbage. And in a country where women and young girls die of annorexia and other eating disorders, it's downright wicked to be putting stuff like that out there IMO.

Yuck!

I did read the story. I laughed out loud as soon as Guinness was mentioned. I'm of Irish descent, and I can't drink the stuff myself, so I really felt for poor Mikey. But I also had to laugh.

What you say about the characters is interesting, isn't it? But maybe the fact that Brian has let Mikey hang around all this time does mean that the wild side (if you like) still likes to know that there's something more settled around to fall back on sometimes. I'll have to think more about that.

As for now - it's Monday morning and I'm off to work.

Have a good one.

W

[elaere.livejournal.com]

I also started out hating the character Michael, from the hospital roof in 101. Then I noticed that Hal could act about as much as my left boot. Then I watched my first and last interview of his, both at the same time. And the latest addition to my disgust of both is this:

Question: If there was a Queer as Folk reunion in 10 years, what would we see?
Hal's answer: Well, Melanie and Lindsay would still look terrific, Bobby Gant would still have giant pecs, and a different actor would be playing Brian. [Laughs.]

http://64.78.33.181/features/index.cfm?id=2434&cat=1&page=features&sub_page=weekly

Whatever is the reason for that kind of thought is irrelevant here. That he says something like that in an interview where Gale is not interviewed with him is enough to show what kind of a man Hal Sparks is. Despicable.

I'm glad I could make you laugh! Thanks! I felt for Ted as I wrote, but I didn't feel any qualms about torturing Michael. He is my favorite victim for ridicule: always has, always will.

Ela

[sandid.livejournal.com]

Wren, long time. Hope all is well.

It was interesting reading your assessment of the end of my dream. lol

True, I did not consider the ending from that angle. I missed it. And like so much else that CL didn't say and I missed. Other's will miss it too. Still it was somehow soothing to me.

I'm going to go read SF, the BJ/LJ and then read your comments again. A little digestion is in order.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Hi Sandi!

To be honest, I missed it totally myself.

And then I found myself thinking about the scene where Babylon is magically restored, and it occurred to me to start thinking about why it needed to be restored. (I know ... duh!)

And that made me think about the whole thing from a totally different angle.

I mean ... it's so easy (especially not having seen the episodes) to focus in, even in the bombing, to what it meant for bj.

But people died in that bomb blast. In a bomb blast that targeted a fund raiser for fighting the anti-gay marriage lobby.

That's a huge thing to have happened.

We saw celebrating in the streets when the gay community were saved from Stockwell, who was benign compared to this.

I think people just aren't getting it.

But I'm hopeful that more will when they see the whole of the episodes, and not just focus in discussions on the details of the bj stuff.

We'll see.

I might feel totally diffent about it myself when I actually see the episodes.

[sandid.livejournal.com]

It gave me hope when I felt like I had none. I've been giving it a lot of thought since then.

Yes, it will still be a huge disappointment not to have big lovey scenes with my favorite boys. But, I'll live as long as I feel they could still be together. I think? lol

Rebuilding- I guess that's what everyone has to do every time we are knocked down.

I've always had a hard time with gay bashing. How someone can so easily cross that line and hate enough to become a criminal themselves? Hate is awful. Mini rant....sorry

Still thanks for the differing assessment. It helped ease my upset stomach.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Yes, it will still be a huge disappointment not to have big lovey scenes with my favorite boys. But, I'll live as long as I feel they could still be together. I think?

I think this is how I feel about it too.

(Although, I have to admit, I'm still relieved about the wedding being called off. I was never comfortable with that.)

But the way I look at it is that if I feel that it's all over because Justin is going to be a few hours drive away, then I don't have a lot of faith in them at all, really.

So either they have this great enduring love, or they don't.

Who was it said that "absence to love is like wind to a flame. It extinguishes the small and enkindles the great".

Maybe that's what we have to remember.

Damn! And now I've had another "Danny" moment where I'm seeing all sorts of symbolism ...

Remember when Justin got back from Harrisburg? Remember him sitting at the bar watching that tiny flame? That was when he "lost" Ethan. That flame was extinguished. Well, this time round, Brian and Justin found each other again in the huge flames that engulfed Babylon. So the large flame, the great, represents ...

Oh no! I am thinking about this stuff way too much. lol.

Off to have breakfast now.

Hugs

[elaere.livejournal.com]

Sorry to put in, but I just need to say this:

What you write here is true:

"if I feel that it's all over because Justin is going to be a few hours drive away, then I don't have a lot of faith in them at all, really."

I lived for five years like that. My husband had a job in our home town, I had a job 800 km away. Sunday nights I travelled to work and back again Friday afternoons, ten hours each trip. We love each other. We lived through it because there was no option.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Yes - exactly. I had a relationship for a few months with someone who lived over 600 miles away. One weekend I would bus up to see him in Canberra, and bus back on Sunday night (then go straight to work on Monday - yugh!), and then next weekend he would come down to see me.

We did break up, but it wasn't the distance thing. (It was to do with the fact that he actually liked boys more than girls, but that's another story lol.)

As you say, you live through it.

I'm sort of bemused by the anti-Justin stuff that's floating around.

I just don't see that in the ending, not at all.

Mind you, I don't LIKE the ending. I'd write it completely differently.

But then, the only season that had an ending that was even vaguely enjoyable for me was S3, and even then Brian had lost almost everything, so it wasn't exactly unalloyed joy.

I actually found the ending of S5 less objectionable than S4, because at least this time round it's something they have decided together. Not something that Justin just leaps into without, apparently, a single thought for his partner.

PS Will try to respond to your other posts tomorrow. At the moment I need to go cook some dinner and feed the cat or we might both collapse from low blood sugar. lol

[elaere.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the season finales of QAF. They are never easy to digest, but you end up remembering them. I think there is something good about the writing that you don't forget right away.

Season 1 finale made me anxious. Finale of the second made me mad. The third finale made me triumphant. The fourth made me sick. Strong emotions. The fourth is the interesting one: in every other finale I remember the last picture, but in this case I had to really think to remember those stupid hands with rings. I saw Brian's struggle to finish that stupid race. That is what made me sick. The sweet real end was totally forgettable.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

It was Brian opening his heart to Justin, who already knew he was going to California, and just hadn't got around to mentioning it to his partner yet, that I remember.

I hated it.

Deeply.

That was a Justin I didn't like much at all.

[budboi.livejournal.com]

Hi there Wren.
I was really interested to read about your epiphany. I had a similar one earlier on this year. I wrote to a friend a while ago that perhaps we are missing the wood (!) for the trees. C/L wrote the screenplay (or Russell Davies wrote the early ones) to get a series of stories/points of view about the gay world across, and the way they do that is by having a character play those story lines.
We watched the story but got distracted by the characters, and they became the whole story to us. Anything which interfered with their love story (you can tell that to me QAF=B/J) was an interruption to us, while to C/L, B/J and all the others were a way to get a story across. I think that is what drama is about.
And although I definitely got sidetracked by the B/J love story (and I *choose* to believe they will be together again and soon in NY) I have to admire C/L for putting together the whole fabulous 5 series. Drag queens & twinks, gay bars, dance parties, drugs, sex, love and friendships spill out of every episode. I know this place and these people.
So many times when I rewatch, I skip through to the B/J scenes, but every now and then I’m in a mood to watch a whole bunch of episodes all the way through, and I am amazed every time by how much I love this show, in its entirety.
I am *so* hanging for S5!
I’m off now to read your further thoughts on 513.
Bud

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. I agree.

I mean, for me, from episode one, it was Brian and Justin who hooked me in. But the show ... having this show, getting it on screen and keeping it there for 5 seasons ... that's huge. Simply huge.

And although there have been bits along the way that I simply hated (end S2, for one) and some that I didn't think were very good (end S4), there have been so many wonderful moment in there that to carp on those seems petty.

All that being said, I don't think that C/L are the greatest writers in the world, and I think sometimes, when they sacrifice character to plot they undermine the show. And sometimes they are so heavy handed in making their points, that even I, who agree with them, feel irritated by the way they do it (Deb and the border guard in S4).

But overall, the show still stands as an amazing achievement.

So ... guess we just have to enjoy the last season, and, as for bj, like you I also

*choose* to believe they will be together again and soon in NY.

Sigh.