Year: 2002
Type: editorial
Abstract: Russell T Davies was the creator, and sole writer, of Queer as Folk. This television program became a phenomenon on its first broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK in 1999; indeed, it was 'seminal', according to queer magazine Attitude, in its frank portrayal of a queer community that included recreational drug use, intergenerational sex, and a complex amorality which did not offer any obvious solutions to questions of queer politics and representation. It quickly became a central part of the queer mediasphere - in its cover story on the program, Gay Times claimed that the program was so important because it played this complex queer world as 'just so goddam normal'. It also became a part of wider public debate in the UK about the Labour government's plans to equalise the age of consent for queer and straight sex. In other markets, none of Australia's terrestrial channels would play the program, fearing its representation of a fifteen year old man having gay sex would be seen as child pornography. When it was eventually shown by Pay TV providers Foxtel, a separate channel had to be created solely for the program, in order to ensure no children would accidentally see this tale of queer community. In America, the program was retooled in a US version, which is now the highest rating program on the Showtime channel, and has 'shaken up the way we're portrayed in the media', according to queer magazine Out. In the USA, it has expanded from the two short mini-series shown in the UK to become a full-blown drama series that has already broadcast more than forty episodes. This discussion of Queer as Folk is based on the UK version of the program. Characters were renamed for the US version.
Source: Continuum
Author: Alan McKee
Language: English
Topic: Gender and Feminist Studies
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W106418985