Topic: Brian and Justin from Queer As Folk versus Jack and Ennis from BBM?

[PeterPiperBoy]

...I've been hearing alot of debate from bloggers saying they prefer Brian and Justin from Queer As Folk over Jack and Ennis? 

...Most of them are saying...that Brian and Justin best represent gay life instead of Jack and Ennis? 

...I thought...well, yeah...if you're living a very 'slutty life'!  Don't get me wrong..."Queer As Folk" was a very ground-breaking show!  But seriously, I doubt that it should ever be compared to 'Brokeback Mountain'? 

...Oh, well...to each its own!

...My fellow "Brokies"...what do you think?   

[Rosie]

Hi, PeterPiperBoy,
 
I don't think that Jack and Ennis are meant to represent gay life. Theirs is a tragic love story and I agree with YOU, it can't be compared to Queer as Folk.  Hell, in my opinion BBM shouldn't be compared with ANYTHING! It's just too GOOD! It's just too SAD! It's just too REAL! It is truly a ONE OFF. 
Just had to come back and say that BBM actually brings up many serious issues, a lot of which are on this forum. Although I'm lighthearted in my response, I actually Love this movie.

[Rønnaug]

What is gay life then? queer as folk might represent some gay men living in a big city but there are gay men elsewhere too...

[tpe]

Who has a monopoly on the definition of gay life? 

To each his own.  There is enough in all these characters to go around.

[EnnisTwist]

All four characters have some depth to them. Of course you can't compare BBM with QAF since pretty much everythings different bout them (time and age, the social level, the undertones etc) but if you skip the sex in QAF you can find some similarities too. Brian had a f###ed up home life just like Ennis and Jack did. They're both not capable of commiting themselves to the ones they love for one reason or the other. Another thing I find striking it that (though being very optimistic / hopeful in the beginning) Justin / Jack adapt themselves to the other instead of getting to open up Brian / Ennis and are therefore unhappy with the situation without doing much to change it.

[carbyville]

Wow, I cannot even imagine comparing the two couples, at all. As EnnisTwist said they are two totally different couples and in two totally different social situations and times. If you try you can most certainly compare the characters and find qualities that are similar, but can't we all do that if we really took the time to think about it? To me, it's really not even worth comparing, both couples are incredible and entrancing for reasons that are all their own.

[LadybugLara]

i think both couples represent different parts of gay life. I came out in a town of 5,000 people 2hours south of Pittsburgh. On the weekend Pittsburg was were my partner and I would go to "just be happy". Then it was back to the life where i hated to walk across campus alone (for fear of being bashed). So i feel ther equal in that they are doing what they feel safe doing in there respective environments.

[myprivatejack]

As you have already said very well,they show completely different environments;to compare these two couples is like comparing the ones from "The bridges of Madison County" and the ones from "Bones"...
The almost only similarity between both of them is that are a gay couple and,in this sense,I wonder why we always insist on separate people into boxes with a tag at the top,defining specially our sexual tendences.Is not more fair to say that it´s a couple in an urban environment with all the problems that this can carry,than put these constant tags:they´re gay,bi,straight or two pink elephants?
Sometimes I think that we are who put ourselves in a kind of ghetto,separating our shops,restaurants,magazines,etc.,it´s to say,all the aspects of our life from the ones of "normal" people.What´s your opinion?.

[tpe]

I think it's a natural reaction, especially in cities where individual and group identities emerge because of the bewildering mix.  There is always that tug between being "just like everybody else" and being set apart.  We see this not just in the GLB context, but also among almost all ethnic/racial/cultural/economic lines.  It's part of human nature.  So I don't see the conflicting tendencies as a bad thing, necessarily. 

As I had mentioned before, a label is what you make of it.  The label by itself is without meaning -- if divorced from the context.

Nationalities are labels -- you can look at it as bad for global consciousness, or good in keeping a distinct culture or way of life alive.  "Nationalism" can be a dirty word for some, depending on the context.