Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
"If love is true it will stand against all tests of time and adversity, no manner of insignificant details such as the person's beauty fading could alter or dissolve 'the marriage of two minds'"
The creators of the then groundbreaking (in my opinion still groundbreaking) TV show Queer as Folk, Daniel Lipman and Ron Cowan referenced Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 when talking about their show in 2010, five years after the final episode aired. They said that the purpose of their show was to show the world that love transcended many things, even time. To tell the world that love would go on despite the characters, the creators and the audience all changing and growing up. I can't confirm that all love will be timeless, but I can definitely say that the show's appeal hasn't faded in 16 years.
When it comes to movies and TV shows I'm always the one to be intensely critical, even judgemental, and I never expected I would fall so deeply in love with a show to binge 83 of those 50 minute episodes in a little more than a week. I never expected the tears, the laughter and the excitement a show about the LGBT* community in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania set around the time I was born would bring me. I also never expected how much something that some people would (incorrectly! in my opinion) describe as 'gay soap opera' would teach me.
As a cisgender and heterosexual person I would never understand the struggles and pain experienced by the characters in TV shows such as QAF, nor the sometimes much greater struggles and pain experienced by those in the LBGT* community around me. However, this show not only taught me a lot about the issues relevant to the community then and now, it also taught me a great deal about love and how it is the universal language between people no matter who they are. QAF is about the growth and evolution of both the individual and society, about boys becoming men, girls becoming women, people becoming mature and the society becoming better. I can see that our society in certain ways is already better than that society from 16 years ago, and in many ways it shocked me to see that our society hasn't changed a bit since 2000.
Not only did the show give me one of my best any-kind-of-fiction binging experiences (I legitimately laughed my head off and cried bucket loads about three times in the same day), it also reaffirmed my stance as a person who wants to hear about many more, real stories from LGBT* people and not be any of the two kinds of 'straight' people Brian hates.
I don't want to hate anybody in their faces or behind their backs.
To me QAF was not only a worthwhile way to spend my time instead of studying or doing some other productive thing, it was a f*cking brilliant show that I am sure I will revisit sometime soon.
Meanwhile, I'm sure Melanie, Lindsay, Gus and JR are safe and happy in Toronto, Michael, Ben and HNB are still listening to Debbie's rants, Ted and Blake are finally making the most of the right time, and Emmett is still holding out for his true love. As for Brian and Justin? Whether they see each other next week, next month, never again, it doesn't matter. It's only time. And I'm sure one day they would find their happiness, and their love, no excuses, no apologies, no regrets.
"If love is true it will stand against all tests of time and adversity, no manner of insignificant details such as the person's beauty fading could alter or dissolve 'the marriage of two minds'"
The creators of the then groundbreaking (in my opinion still groundbreaking) TV show Queer as Folk, Daniel Lipman and Ron Cowan referenced Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 when talking about their show in 2010, five years after the final episode aired. They said that the purpose of their show was to show the world that love transcended many things, even time. To tell the world that love would go on despite the characters, the creators and the audience all changing and growing up. I can't confirm that all love will be timeless, but I can definitely say that the show's appeal hasn't faded in 16 years.
When it comes to movies and TV shows I'm always the one to be intensely critical, even judgemental, and I never expected I would fall so deeply in love with a show to binge 83 of those 50 minute episodes in a little more than a week. I never expected the tears, the laughter and the excitement a show about the LGBT* community in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania set around the time I was born would bring me. I also never expected how much something that some people would (incorrectly! in my opinion) describe as 'gay soap opera' would teach me.
As a cisgender and heterosexual person I would never understand the struggles and pain experienced by the characters in TV shows such as QAF, nor the sometimes much greater struggles and pain experienced by those in the LBGT* community around me. However, this show not only taught me a lot about the issues relevant to the community then and now, it also taught me a great deal about love and how it is the universal language between people no matter who they are. QAF is about the growth and evolution of both the individual and society, about boys becoming men, girls becoming women, people becoming mature and the society becoming better. I can see that our society in certain ways is already better than that society from 16 years ago, and in many ways it shocked me to see that our society hasn't changed a bit since 2000.
Not only did the show give me one of my best any-kind-of-fiction binging experiences (I legitimately laughed my head off and cried bucket loads about three times in the same day), it also reaffirmed my stance as a person who wants to hear about many more, real stories from LGBT* people and not be any of the two kinds of 'straight' people Brian hates.
I don't want to hate anybody in their faces or behind their backs.
To me QAF was not only a worthwhile way to spend my time instead of studying or doing some other productive thing, it was a f*cking brilliant show that I am sure I will revisit sometime soon.
Meanwhile, I'm sure Melanie, Lindsay, Gus and JR are safe and happy in Toronto, Michael, Ben and HNB are still listening to Debbie's rants, Ted and Blake are finally making the most of the right time, and Emmett is still holding out for his true love. As for Brian and Justin? Whether they see each other next week, next month, never again, it doesn't matter. It's only time. And I'm sure one day they would find their happiness, and their love, no excuses, no apologies, no regrets.