Queer Corrie

[angel clare]

Well I do aim to please. It could be that the famous August 23rd. 2004 scene in which Todd offers Karl a brew may well be a reference to Boy George's legendary comment that he preferred a cup of tea to sex. Despite the erotic attraction between the two men, Bruno may have been signalling that he preferred a cup of tea to sex on that occasion, as he did not want to get back involved with his first gay love. <B)

Kev

 

[Strawbs]

Again...

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...continue until bored.

Strawbs

 

[Cop]

As ridiculous as it may seem Strawbs, Angel Clare might not be too far away from the truth.

I'm no expert - like Angel Clare claims, but film-makers, writers and directors look at things like that, admittedly, the jury is still out on the cup of tea theory for me, but the white t-shirt / gay / Marlon Brando might hold water.

Writers want the audience to engage and recognise gay characters by putting them in costume like that so the audience will identify with them immediately... without dressing them as Daffyd (The only gay in the village.)

This has come up in Bar Stewards, our Director of Photography (Paul Gordon) asked Birty to throw a towel over his shoulder when shooting a scene behind the bar...

Now barmen these days never have a towel over there shoulder, and you never see them drying a glass behind the bar - industrial glass washers have done this job for years, - but when you watch EastEnders or Corrie - you still see characters (normally men) working behind a bar with a towel over their shoulder.

So people who have never seen the character before will know instantly - he works behind a bar.

Also have you noticed, builders in soap opera's normally have a pencil behind their ear...

 

[Birty]

As ridiculous as it may seem Strawbs, Angel Clare might not be too far away from the truth.
I'm no expert - like Angel Clare claims, but film-makers, writers and directors look at things like that, admittedly, the jury is still out on the cup of tea theory for me, but the white t-shirt / gay / Marlon Brando might hold water.

Writers want the audience to engage and recognise gay characters by putting them in costume like that so the audience will identify with them immediately... without dressing them as Daffyd (The only gay in the village.)

This has come up in Bar Stewards, our Director of Photography (Paul Gordon) asked Birty to throw a towel over his shoulder when shooting a scene behind the bar...

Now barmen these days never have a towel over there shoulder, and you never see them drying a glass behind the bar - industrial glass washers have done this job for years, - but when you watch EastEnders or Corrie - you still see characters (normally men) working behind a bar with a towel over their shoulder.

So people who have never seen the character before will know instantly - he works behind a bar.

Also have you noticed, builders in soap opera's normally have a pencil behind their ear...

I think what may also give the game away for people will be seeing me BEHIND a bar pulling PINTS for CUSTOMERS Cop. Although I think only the most savvy of viewers may suss that one out. I did campaign for that t-shirt that read 'I'm a barman' on it but we thought a little mystery would add to the film as a whole.

Goober. Quite the gay hornets nest we have here.

 

[wiggy]

when i first watched little britain and i saw davif for the very first time i thought... oooh he's gay.

 

[Cop]

I think TV show makers treat the audience as stupid people - If it were up to me, I would have characters like Keven Webster wearing his Mechanics uniform all the time!

You never really see Postman Pat, Bob the Builder or Fireman Sam putting on their Ben Sherman's ready for a night out... Soaps should learn from these people - legends!

 

[Strawbs]

As ridiculous as it may seem Strawbs, Angel Clare might not be too far away from the truth.
I'm no expert - like Angel Clare claims, but film-makers, writers and directors look at things like that, admittedly, the jury is still out on the cup of tea theory for me, but the white t-shirt / gay / Marlon Brando might hold water.

Writers want the audience to engage and recognise gay characters by putting them in costume like that so the audience will identify with them immediately... without dressing them as Daffyd (The only gay in the village.)

This has come up in Bar Stewards, our Director of Photography (Paul Gordon) asked Birty to throw a towel over his shoulder when shooting a scene behind the bar...

Now barmen these days never have a towel over there shoulder, and you never see them drying a glass behind the bar - industrial glass washers have done this job for years, - but when you watch EastEnders or Corrie - you still see characters (normally men) working behind a bar with a towel over their shoulder.

So people who have never seen the character before will know instantly - he works behind a bar.

Also have you noticed, builders in soap opera's normally have a pencil behind their ear...

My laughter was actually carrying on from my previous post.

I know writers and directors use imagery and dialogue from previous works to indentify certain characteristics or give homage (Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz are prime examples) but I was actually laughing at Kevin completely invalidating his own original point, which I had mocked, with his own counterpoint. I was just suggesting that mundane everyday details - like wearing a t-shirt, talking on the phone, having a cup of tea - does not a Todd and Karl reference make. Kevin then said the white t-shirt thing dates back to Marlon Brando in 1946. That may very well be the case, but that blows his original claim that the Hollyoaks storyline was specifically referencing the Todd and Karl storyline in Corrie. That's why I laughed so hard.

Oh, and that he felt the need to point out what a vest is.

Oh, and that he's completely missed that the white t-shirts Todd and Karl were wearing were actually part of their porter and nurse uniform - it's called 'costume continuity'.

Oh, and that he thinks the tea thing has anything remotely to do with Boy George.

Oh, and that he refers to Bruno rather than the character name Todd because distinguishing between fiction and reality has never been his strong point.

Strawbs

 

[angel clare]

What a pity that on a nice thread like this I should have to put up with a personal insult like the above one. I think it is not appropriate that Strawbs should suggest that I cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality. I am offended by this, so I shan't be coming on here anymore. I did not come on here for personal attacks, just for a bit of fun. What a pity. How dare she make such a comment.

Kev

 

[Booth]

I am offended by this, so I shan't be coming on here anymore.

It's purely her opinion, and you did call Todd "Bruno" after all leaving yourself a bit open to a counter-attack. To then say you won't come on here is then a bit of a slap in the face to all of us, and we haven't done anything

By all means be offended with her, but not the rest of us.

 

[Cop]

Yeah come on Kev, I'm sure you are better than that - we all know what Strawbs is like - she has even admitted it on a previous thread.

We like your contribution to the board

 

[LovelyLaura]

There's an interesting write-up about what happened at the Queer Corrie debate here

It sounds like it was a really good and interesting evening. So wish I could have gone!

 

[Joanna]

Yeah, thanks, Laura. That made for an interesting read. Particularly interesting to hear a little of Tony Warren's experiences as a gay man at Granada, of Tony's putting in some 'gay village' language into Elsie Tanner's dialogue and about Violet being considered as the Street's first lesbian character.

Can't say I agree with the start/end of this from Tony, though, in answer to whether Corrie is now the queerest soap of them all.....“Maybe now, yes. But we lagged disgracefully behind for a long time. But now, we’re hopefully queer enough.”

Well, for a start, when your one gay character finally gets a kissing scene and it is then completely faked, to then say that you're 'queer enough' doesn't exactly bode well for how any future gay characters/relationships will be handled. And then add to this, Damon Rochefort's 'lesbian question' and Tony's "We’ve come this far, anything is now possible", it really seems as if any kind of gay/straight equality within Corrie is going to stay in some Corrie parallel world for a very very long time to come. It's as if they're saying that Corrie is primarily a show of 'norms' and the 'safe' and so anything that they see as outside of this, you'll only get to see on the show if you're really lucky indeed.

xx Joanna xx

 

[Strawbs]

I watched some of the Todd and Karl storyline from 2004 last night. It's been an age since I last watched any of it properly. It reminded me just how distinctive this storyline was in comparison to the rest of Corrie, not just that year but all round. It was something I noticed at the time but watching it in isolation and with some distance now you do need to be reminded that it was Coronation Street at all, there's such an air of naturalism that you rarely get in soap. The writing and acting are just so completely separate to the rest of the show, especially so in the scenes specifically centred on either Todd and Karl or the pair of them together alone. This really could've been a great British film in a parallel world.

I did actually give the Hollyoaks' Craig and JP storyline a fair go as I was informed there were many similarities with the T&K storyline and it was supposedly brilliant. I figured I should at least see if my ignorance was justified.

Dear me it was.

The only connections between the two storylines I could see were that one had a girlfriend called Sarah and the two main protagonists were male. They must've played out the same scene with only slight variations about 5 or 6 times and don't get me started on the endless bloody sob-talk-emotional-speaking stuff. It bored me to tears and I got very tired very quickly just waiting for Craig to either f*ck or f*ck off. I finally gave up the ghost last week so whatever happens - one of them will die in a freak accident no doubt (probably Craig) - I really don't care as it isn't a patch on Todd and Karl.

Strawbs

 

[Cop]

"I watched some of the Todd and Karl storyline from 2004 last night. It's been an age since I last watched any of it properly."

Is it being repeated on one of the Sky Channels or something?

It's strange, I am frequently working with Chris "Fridge" a lot these days and when I see old clips of him on Corrie, he doesn't seems like the same guy, in fact he looks older.

He will never be able to shake that character off- he will always be The Washed-Up Corrie Star

 

[Strawbs]

Is it being repeated on one of the Sky Channels or something?

No, it was an old vhs (< yeah, check me out...I'm old skool!) I stuck on to pass the time in my insomniatic haze.

It's strange, I am frequently working with Chris "Fridge" a lot these days and when I see old clips of him on Corrie, he doesn't seems like the same guy, in fact he looks older.

He will never be able to shake that character off- he will always be The Washed-Up Corrie Star

Seriously Chris...smack 'im!

Strawbs