The Portrayal Homosexuality in Torchwood

[mllelaurel]

lostfrontier's comment has got me thinking. For a show that purports to openly and consistently deal with homosexual and bisexual characters, Torchwood hasn't really delivered the goods, so far.

At first glance, things seem ok. Jack flirts briefly with Ianto, and doesn't appear to have gotten over his love for the Doctor, as evidenced by lines such as the one about his "looking for a specific doctor," and his protectiveness/obsession toward Ten's hand. But let's take another look at the latter two instances. As a Doctor Who fan, I pick up on them as a matter of course. But what about viewers who barely know what DW is, other than that it deals with a time traveller who wears a long scarf? Would they get the references? Not really. As far as a newbie is concerned, Jack is looking for a medical specialist (Dr. House, maybe?), and the hand is just another one of those weird things about Jack you're not supposed to understand.

The content is there, but so subtle as to become invisible to a whole branch of the audience. Contrast it with Jack's first appearance in "The Empty Child", where he gives his buddy a playful bumsmack and comments on the niceness of said arse. I'm going to assume that didn't go over too many of the audience's heads.

As for the other characters, we have no concrete evidence regarding Ianto's or Toshiko's sexuality. Sure, Ianto spends an awful lot of time looking longingly at Jack (and calls him 'Sir'!), and Toshiko seems as interested as Jack and Owen in the sight of Gwen kissing Carys, but concrete evidence? None. As a slash fan, I enjoy my little hints. As a fan who was promised more, I get impatient.

Both Gwen and Owen get on-screen instances of same-sex contact, but there, we hit another major problem. Both instances are based on characters being under the influence, rather than anything resembling a mutual attraction. I get the impression Owen only uses the pheromone spray on the boyfriend of the girl he's trying to seduce in order to avoid getting beat up. The guy in question is, of course, under the spray's influence, when he kisses Owen. As for Gwen and Carys, different people, same story. Carys is possessed by a sex energy-guzzling alien, and Gwen is pheromoned into submission. Considering how the kiss was played up in the trailers, I, for one, felt rather cheated.

Once again, let's contrast this to Doctor Who - "The Parting of the Ways," to be more specific. Here, Jack, who knows he is going to die, kisses Rose and the Doctor goodbye with equal tenderness and passion. The love shared by the three of them is clear, even without anyone saying the dreaded three words. Much better, I say.

The heterosexual content in Torchwood, on the other hand, is dealt in a shall we say somewhat more graphic manner. While Jack's kissing Carys was necessary to save her life, he clearly enjoys it a great deal, regardless. Gwen's in a long-term relationship with Rhys, kisses Jack as a 'thank you', and appears to be straight overall, pheromone-based dalliances aside. Owen uses the pheromone spray on the woman with unabashed enthusiasm. And don't even get me started on the gratuitous smut in "Day One."

I'll state here for the record that I have no problem with het. Actually, a part of me appreciates the fact that both Torchwood and Doctor Who show Jack flirting with women, since so many people assume that 'bisexual' is a coded reference for 'gay' (a rant for another entry). It's only when a show promises something other than the straight norm and fails to deliver that I get annoyed.

And to anyone who tries to suggest that maybe the Torchwood writers' heterosexuality gets in the way of them writing consistent gay content, I say this: I can't speak for Chris Chibnall's or Helen Raynor's sexuality, but I'm pretty sure that Russel T. Davies, Torchwood producer and writer of the pilot is, indeed, gay. And on the other end of the scale, I'm equally certain that Steven Moffatt (writer of "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances") is straight. There appears to be no correllation between the writer's sexuality and the quality of the episode's queer content. Nor should there be, as far as I'm concerned.

Add to this the determined lack of Jack naked, and I, for one, am left frustrated. Still, ten episodes remain. Here's hoping.

Comments

[yoritomo-reiko.livejournal.com]

So is John Barrowman. Well, I'm not entirely sure he's gay. At the very least, he's bi. His partner is named Scott and they live in London, if I remember the interview I read right.

I think it's still a bit early to give them too much trouble about the GLBT themes because there just hasn't been enough time, I don't think. Establish the characters first and foremost, then worry about the rest of it. I have confidence in RTD and his people that they'll get it in there properly. :)

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Yep, he's gay, from what I can tell. He's an actor, though, so he doesn't get to actually write the series.

Normally, that'd be my attitude as well, but the first two major instances shown have been offensive rather than productive, which leads to concern on my part. Once, I'd dismiss. Twice? Less so. Also, we can't forget that this is short series. With ten episodes left, there's certainly hope, but it's not as sure a thing as it would have been if there were, say, twenty-two episodes per season. The less time you have, the less you can afford on what I like to call 'pre-story'.

[amet.livejournal.com]

Torchwood is gay lite, which is pissing me off. Like all those movies where Hollywood pretends to celebrate the tragic beauty of gay love by killing their protagonists in the end... it sends the wrong kind of message. In all those crappy movies it's 'you should be free to love who you want', but there's a side order of 'but look what happens when you go against society's prescription of what's right'. It makes it safe. Torchwood makes it safe by either making the gay content funny (E.G. Owen and his love juice) or heteronormatizing the characters we're most likely to identify with. Jack? Is not acting like the pansexual, slightly amoral jerk we know and love. Because he's the main character, and he's wounded now, and the insinuation I can see working into the show that the love of a good, caring woman (dear God, can they BE more heavy handed with Gwen?) is going to fix his every problem... can we just not? Not just because she's a woman, but because she's somehow supposed to make him better by getting him to settle down and accept the idea of true love. Jack was a perfectly viable, enjoyable character before he got cleaned up to make him an acceptable lead. I don't get it, and with a backdrop like Torchwood I just want to know why everyone is oversexed and carefree but him.

...and I will not even touch the disappointingly lackluster plotting.

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Ah, the 'being gay is about as fun as eating nails' genre of moviemaking. Gotta love it. And by 'love', I mean 'throw popcorn'.

God, yes, on all counts. You've also just described why I hate the idea of Jack/Gwen. We like Jack as he is. He. Does. Not. Need. To. Change. I hold out hope for the fact that he's returning to DW after this, so they can't really tie him down. I hope.