Torchwood
When I was a young lad, I was a huge fan of the original Doctor Who (At least all of them including and after Jon Pertwee). When the series was brought back to life, I thought great, I’ll give that a go, and surprisingly enough they’ve really made it work, especially since David Tennant took over the role. Having said that, some people find Doctor Who just abit much and that’s where Torchwood came in.
Torchwood was a spin-off of one of the Doctors companions, a Captain Jack Harkness. Now the guy is cool, suave and in control, and initially I thought wow, this is like the Xfiles without the questions about what the government is hiding. Then came the rampant gayness of the main character.
I’m not homophobic, but Captain Jack now feels the need to snog just about every guy he comes across, including at least one of his own staff. The guy was supposed to go for a bit of anything (as he was depicted in Doctor Who), but now that he is on Earth, it seems he only goes for the guys, and personally I got sick really fast of the fact that they insisted on them dwelling on these long guy on guy snogging sessions which don’t actually add anything to the plot.
I know it’s all very PC to be accepting of that sort of thing, and as far as I am concerned what people do in their own time is their own business. But this is supposed to be an sci-fi/adventure show, not gay soft porn. Like I said, I’m not a homophobe, but I don’t know any straight guys, that are not put off by closeups of gay guys snogging. That might end up killing the show as I think the people made uncomfortable by it will probably outnumber those unaffected.
The funny thing is that I didn’t care when told that Captain Jack was sexually ambiguous, I only started caring when they started rubbing my nose in it. I’m sorry but I don’t need closeups of men snogging. It doesn’t add anything to the story and I’d rather not see it. It’s gotten to the point where Jack only chases guys now, so while I know it’s very PC to be seen supporting this sort of stuff. Just remember that balance is the key to everything. The show will not survive if no straight guys want to watch it, because from my own observations most sci-fi geeks are weird, but straight. The fact that Jack only really chases guys now is probably because his alta ego John Barrowman is gay, but his sexuality is not the story, Torchwood is the story. I really don’t give a rats behind if Jack is straight, gay, bi, or has an animal fetish, it doesn’t need to be forced onto the viewing public for no good purpose.
Reading a recent Who article John talks about how he considers it detrimental that people should hide their sexuality. I ask why? It’s nobodies business but their own what their sexuality is. Sure, you don’t have to hide it if you don’t want to, but that doesn’t mean you have to go around making sure absolutly everyone knows you are gay like it is the one thing that defines who you are. If you really feel the need to make sure the entire world knows your sexuality, then move to Hollywood, you’ll no doubt fit right in.
Rubbing peoples noses in man on man kissing action isn’t going to make people more accepting of Homosexuality. In fact I’d say the complete lack of tact and subtlety will have the opposite effect. This is sort of like the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras here in Australia. If the straight community decided to have our own parade and marched down the street in the same sort of clothing (or lack thereof) that the gay community wear, we’d all get arrested for lewd behavior, not exactly a fair and even playing field is it? Regardless, none of this stuff really has any place in a sci-fi series which people watch for a big of pleasant escapism. (I don’t really want to see any snogging, gay or otherwise on Torchwood, we can see that on just about any show on telly, Torchwood is about adventure and aliens and stuff like that.)
When will people realize that you can take Political Correctness too far? We are lucky that Star Trek ended when it did. Had it kept going for a couple more series, we’d have had shows where everyone was black, gay, a woman or of a minority group. Worse, we may have had a show where everyone was a black gay woman with some sort of disability. Moderation please people. Not everything has to be a PC public announcement.