JABBERWOCK ONLINE
THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE ENGLISH LITERARY ASSOCIATION OF LADY SHRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
The Vanishing Inheritance
Source: http://thealagaesiaguide.tumblr.com/post/55545793783/saphira-x-thorn-requested-by-zommmie-cat-and
You have a Sherlock fandom, you have a Potter fandom. There is Supernatural, Doctor Who, Divergent, LOTR, The Hunger Games, John Green and also hotch potch medleys like SuperWhoLock.
The fandom missing in action is the fandom of Eragon.
The Dragon Riders, the Inheritance fans, the Eragonians, the dragons, Du Weldervarden.
Where are they, where are they?
Did they lose their way in the enchanting lanes of Du Weldervarden? Or were they taken in by Galbatorix?
Did the Dwarves lose them in their stone passages or the were-cats meddle with their brains?
Are they living beyond the Fandom Milieu?
In a land of mysterious magic and creatures so bewitching, the land of knights and caverns and Enigmas beyond the ken of the human understanding, what about the Inheritance Cycle failed to enrapture the minds of the populace that consist of the fandoms that spout fanfics, cannons and exercise their imagination to the fullest?
Opening my wings I'd like to fly away with Saphira. To lands beyond the Hadarac Desert and seas beyond Vroengard.In a land of premonitions preposterous possibilities,deities and athiests, a struggle of power and the power of fate.
Come, come, lose yourself.
Fly away to the moon.
Atra esterní ono thelduin. Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr. Un du evarínya ono varda.
(May good fortune rule over you. Peace live in your heart. And the stars watch over you.)
~PRERNA PRAKASH
VOICES AND AGENCY
Books all around, books galore.
So many books with the female characters having no agency.
But, have you read the Inheritance Cycle?
The women are strong, the women are independent.
They have power, agency and a certain prowess.
Take any female in the series.
Nasuada. Led the Varden against an empire, subdued the men who wanted her position and had the courage and capacity to say "in your face" to those men who thought that she couldn't lead the Rebellion because she was a woman. Integrity and skill and dedication and will.
Arya. A princess who left her post to wander- to work for what she believes to be true. Better than any man, stronger than any man. Physical, mental, emotional prowess. Tragic in her own character.
Katrina. Bound by her love to Roran, but free in a sense that none could fathom. She had the audacity to go against the wishes of society, and the will to live through hell for what she loved. The capacity to decline what she felt was wrong, to stand up against someone who she thought was wrong- even her beloved.
Elva. Scarcely a child and yet so powerful. Manipulating everyone on her fingertips. She knew her power and she did not hesitate to use it. Brave enough to go against the leaders of the highest post and wilful enough to get what she coveted.
Angela. The magician, the witch, the eccentric sorceress. Belonged to no man, belonged to no place. On top of things and amongst all things. No place was outside her ken of understanding. Chirly and convoluted, she pulled the strings- Her own mistress.
These women control their own lives and of those around them. Interesting and intriguing, they add a different charm tobooks that might have been all about war or victory of good over evil. A questioning of moralities, a probe into the accepted and believed.
~PRERNA PRAKASH
Election by Adoration - A Recipe for the Perfect Regeneration
In light of Matt Smith’s recent departure from the British television series, Doctor Who, and the arrival of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, we thought it necessary to give our readers a space to grieve the passage of the one, and speculate upon the reign of the other. (Mild spoilers below)
‘David Tennant is my Doctor, and Tom Baker was the best Doctor, but Matt Smith is my favourite Doctor.’ A line, with variations of the actors involved, otherwise known as the most common line in the Whovian fandom.
What’s incredible about the Doctor Who canon is that its rhetoric is constantly changing, evolving, shaping, and re-shaping itself, and yet it does so along the polarity of a single character’s neutron flow. From the beginning of the title theme, to the end of time as it were, the TARDIS light will flash on and off; Gallifreyan signals that build up to the ultimate golden explosion of time energy and the ever dreaded regeneration – otherwise known as aggressive fandom sobbing, and a year’s worth of denial on losing your Doctor.
Your Doctor.
We are collectively, perhaps, the only fandom that can truly lay claim to our actors in such a personal manner. Every actor brings to Doctor Who his own interpretation of not only the script, but also of the Doctor himself (and maybe, someday, herself). The most incredible part of Whovianism, then, becomes this intermingling of the actor and the character, a total lack of distance between the Doctor and the actor. The show may change in its cast and crew, in its attitude and in its implementation – as it has, over the last fifty years – yet it remains the very same. From William Hartnell’s first inquisitive ‘What are you doing here?’ to David Tennant’s dynamic ‘Allons-y, Alonso!’ to Matt Smith’s poignant, tear-jerking final lines, to Peter Capaldi’s rather sneezy arrival, the Doctor has remained the very same and yet it remains also impossible to not grieve his every passing. Your Doctor is the Doctor no longer. And you don’t know how to cope with it. Quite possibly, you never will. Take it from a veteran, I went through the ‘No, David Tennant is still the Doctor’ era, and am currently onto the phase where I obsessively re-watch series five, and it remains entirely the same thing. The coping mechanism remains the same, as do the feelings. The Doctor is still the Doctor, and regeneration only makes the show a more beautiful experience than any other televised celebration of the infinite wonder that is the universe.
The brilliance of regeneration, without indulging in too many spoilers, lies also in the fact that the Doctor’s whole life – as we term ‘life’ – circles around his experiences of regeneration. Be they forced or cyclical, the ramifications are both physical and psychological, and are what affects the entire series arch, along with the tone of the narrative. Regenerations come in many shapes and sizes, and the fandom – in equal measure – has a vastness to it when it comes to the diversity of opinions on the matter. The critique ranges from the choice of final words to the Doctor’s demeanour on the verge of regeneration (Here’s looking at you, all you vehement critics of Ten’s depressing, ‘I could do so much more.’) to even entire fan movements (‘Have you ever sneezed so hard that you became Peter Capaldi?’) and sometimes go even as far as critiquing the quality of the sneeze (‘M’dear, it could’ve been a far better sneeze. In my time as a ‘Classic’ Whovian, I have seen many a better instance of sneezing!’)
But the true lynchpin, the thing that really pulls this recipe together, is the companion’s reaction to the doctor. Put aside your Doctor’s first words and his hunt for ginger hair or fish fingers and custard – What does the companion have to say on the matter? It is ultimately the witnessing of this immense and total, but never yet final, change that cements the bond between the Doctor and the companion: be that Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart’s covert chessboard and whiskey companionship, Rose Tyler’s intensely romantic affliction for the Doctor, Captain Jack Harkness’ constant pursuit of answers and the Doctor constantly fleeing from sight, Martha Jones’ development from a girl chasing an unrequited love to The Woman Who Walked The Earth, Sarah Jane Smith’s incredibly deep relationship with the Doctor, Donna Noble’s furious friendship, Amelia Pond’s love for the Raggedy Man, River Song’s mad, profoundly knowledgeable relationship, or Clara Oswald’s eccentric fascination. Sometimes the Doctor saves the companions, but mostly, the companion saves the Doctor. It is up to the viewer to identify and define where and why the saving is being done. (On that note, here’s a friendly neighbourhood reminder that Ten died alone with only the song of the Ood to keep him company.)
It’s easy to claim that the sheer brilliance of Doctor Who lies completely with the concept of regeneration, but the truth is that it is the way the show engages with the idea of the Doctor’s relationships. In all their forms and functions, it is the Doctor’s special relationship with every companion – and thereon, the relationships amongst the companions, using the Doctor as the singular force of unification – that provides the true joy of being a Whovian, and is what contributes to both the temerity and the incredibly long tenure of the show. It is, again, unique to Doctor Who – this melting pot of human relationships and dynamics. Ebbing and flowing, it is a tide that consumes every inch of the show, permeating through the Doctor’s singularly plural set of lives, and constantly opening the viewership to new ideas. The dynamic between the Doctor and the companion is pivotal to regeneration, and often becomes a major point of influence upon the nature of the relationship between the show and the fandom in the upcoming seasons.
Keeping that in mind, here’s a simple recipe for the perfect regeneration.
Note: This recipe is best when all the dry ingredients (mentioned below) are combined with a hint of angst, and left to marinade for the better part of a couple of seasons, so as to really pull together the flavours involved. At the end of this, they should be tossed into the oven with a healthy helping of the following:
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Equal parts: Devastation and Celebration.You will be completely devastated at losing your Doctor, yet completely intrigued at the outset of another one. It is best to leave the ‘Devastation’ mode on at a 4:1 ratio to the ‘Revelry/Celebratory/Intrigued’ mode while in the oven.
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One part of: Utter confusion. Here, we come to understand that as close as the Doctor may be to universal omniscience... Well, we’ll probably never figure out how Captain Jack turned into a giant floating face. No, really. We need answers.
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Two parts of: Danger.
A planet in peril and all of humankind at risk, just to establish the Raggedy Man’s unending fondness for humanity. -
Three parts of: Companionship.
A companion in grievous danger, the Doctor’s futile attempts to protect those closest to him, and him ultimately giving in to the inevitability that he is loved – by so many, and so much. -
A slow, but steady, peppering of: Music from the entire season.
Preferably building up to a crescendo as we get closer to regeneration, and quite possibly with a new song featuring alongside the event. An elegy, as they call it, for the Doctor. More importantly, an elegy for the actor. The music of Doctor Who plays a monumental role in the culmination of the show’s message, paving the road for both: the final goodbye, and the first hello. It is always the same goodbye. Never quite the same hello.
‘I just wanted to say... Hello. Hello, Doctor. It is so very, very nice to meet you.’ -
A dash of: Iconic costuming. And the removal thereof.
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Add also an optional teaspoon of: Allusions.
References to past episodes where various combinations of the Doctor’s speeches and Murray Gold’s haunting choruses have brought you incrementally closer to this story than you ever have been before. -
A splash of: Raw pain, hissing and spitting at the universe for all the knowledge it has heaped on shoulders so tired of bearing a constant weight. On shoulders periodically armoured in tweed and leather and 14 foot-long scarves, constantly under the protection of the very weaves of time and space, yet so incapable of shrugging with nonchalance.
To sum it all up, Tumblr.com’s mixed response to Peter Capaldi’s appearance as the Doctor makes perfect sense. One section is lamenting Eleven leaving and startled with Twelve’s face, while another is immediately overwhelmed with everything new that this regeneration brings; often, both these responses come from the same person. And that is the witchcraft of regeneration. Doctor Who will never allow you to leave the premises in sadness after a goodbye. It is simply not in its nature. The arrival of a new Doctor can only mean one true thing in all the hopeful excitement involved in this heralding: ‘An awful lot of running.’
(And if you find yourself weeping too much for Eleven’s big sad eyes, just remember that Sarah Jane Smith practically witnessed two regenerations, encountered nine of the Doctor’s incarnations, and promptly went on to be the most badass woman in the Whoniverse.)
~DIPANJALI ROY
I DO BELIEVE IN FAIRYTALES, I DO, I DO...
“I do believe in fairies, I do, I do...” Peter Pan and his Lost Boys, who chanted passionately in unison to save Tinker Bell, would be proud to find that generations of children echo the same sentiment aeons later, the power of believing being still the magic in the world.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a kingdom of blossoms, sunshine and gold, there lived a princess whose sparkle of a smile, a hop of her tiny feet and a swirl of her silky, long hair could entrance anyone. She lived in a golden castle complete with turrets and towers, set amidst orchards of cherries and apples and gardens, fragrant with flowers...a bubbling brook somewhere, hills in the outskirts and a sun that never sets....
And thus started one of the many fairy tale fantasies which would consume every waking and dreaming and otherwise moment of a little girl of seven summers. Yeah, that would be me! And I believe generations of the multitude of children all over the world. Across the seas, beyond the borders, over the mountains and glades; going through the fairy tale phase is something that most would admit to, and those who don't, well, don't we know better? Despite my exposition and inclination, this piece is not a defence of fairy tales or the fairy tale phase. This is about the greatest challenge that we face in life that fairy tales, in all their sincerity, espouse; the challenge of believing.
Growing up with fairy tales, in the world of Anderson, the Grimm brothers, Perault and Disney, even a butterfly fluttering around a flower would seem like an enchanted fairy princess under the curse of the Wicked Witch. Aurora came to mean more than just a Disney name for me; it became a magical word that opened worlds of wonder. To get me to do something or to not do something, Ma had just to play her “good fairy, bad witch” trump card. My seven years of vocabulary thrived on wicked, once upon a time, Charming and of course, happily ever after.
G K Chesterton had once said, “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. They tell that dragons can be killed.” In retrospect, I realise the wisdom behind these words. For one, I remember that ever since I had sense, I believed in fairies, dragons, trolls and witches. Nothing and no one had ever been able to shake my belief when I was a kid: maybe because of Grandma's stories or Ma's 'the black ghost wizard will eat you up if you do not eat your dinner' warnings or maybe, just maybe, an inherent kid horse sense. What fairy tales did tell me was that good triumphs over bad, always, irrevocably. In my defence, let me remind all of you Liberal Arts educated peers that yonder was the time when I believed in the clear stratification of good and bad, not being acquainted with the grey. However, more than the 'good wins over bad' concept, what had really taken hold of my mind was the belief that dragons can be killed, that happy endings do happen.
When the blind belief phase passed over, and the tween me started to, well, question, wonder and dig deep into the aphorisms of childhood, I initiated my examination and dissection with fairy tales.
Question No.1: When Cinderella ran away at midnight and her gown, carriage and shoes changed back into their original forms, why did the shoe left behind did not make the transition?
Question No.2: Why are Beauty's sisters wicked just because they like jewellery, clothes and nice things? (This question stemmed from a growing attraction to expensive coats on my part!)
Question No.3: Why does Sleeping Beauty sleep the whole time? Why does a boy need to come rescue her? (If you must know, this was my tween “just discovered boys are aliens” phase!)
Since no one really had the time to indulge in passionate debates about supposedly nonsensical questions, I resorted to answer them myself in my own 'happily ever after' way.
Answer No.1: Good people always leave behind a trace of themselves which does not let anyone they meet forget them and their memory never fades. (Deep, right?)
Answer No. 2: Wicked because they only liked jewellery, clothes and luxury stuff. Pray understand that only is the operative word here. I, on the contrary, like books too apart from coats, don't I?
Answer No.3: Why, don't you know, in her sleep, Sleeping Beauty communicated with the Prince and told him the direction, the plan and strategised the rescue herself? Fairy Merrywheather made her body sleep, not her mind. Prince could have done nothing without Beauty's help! (Self-satisfied grin.)
Around this stage, I fell into the enduring love affair with the world of the written word, and through it, was acquainted with the wider, more complex world of fantasy than fairy tales had led me to believe. Starting off with Enid Blyton's The Wishing Chair and The Enchanted Woods series, I romanced the world of Narnia and Middle-Earth and Alagaesia and of course, Hogwarts. Encountering the ambivalent, complex, real characters of these tales, I gradually shed the stereotypical fairy tale good and wicked concept.
Nevertheless, the dreamer instilled in me by the phase of stars, goose girls and happy endings refused to back down. In Frodo, the Pevensie children, Eragon and my personal hero (swoon!) Harry, I located and identified the ability of faith and of believing and the fact that in this ability they found their strength. Just like the good old pink and blue books had told me!
College life. A liberal Arts education. You can imagine what happened next. Fairy tales never felt innocent ever again. (Any book or poem or whatever literary work, for that matter!) We dissected them, ripped them apart, divested them of innocence, sunniness and light; not to mention the heated debates on the hegemony of the terms 'virtue' and 'happily ever after.' And when I say 'we', I do include myself as an active participant (albeit with a very heavy heart).
Game of Thrones happened. With it came a shattering exposure to, well, everything! Complex became complex-er. Grey became grey-er. And I became more critical, questioning, challenging and rebelling, facing the world with all claws drawn out!
Bye-bye Birdie, Bye-bye Fairy!
Or not.
I discovered a TV series that goes by the very tempting name of Once upon a Time. Childhood demons, fairies, witches alike groped at me, luring me with nostalgic dreamer memories. I gave in. I revisited the fairy tale phase in a 'complex meets simple' grey premise of the familiar fairy tales. Where Snow White's stepmother is given a voice, Beauty is not just a prisoner, Peter Pan is shaded grey and Captain Hook too has a story to tell, Once upon a Time, though overtly dramatized, humanises the far-fetched black and white fairy tale space. However, despite the complicated, interlinked storylines and characterisation, the heart and spirit of fairy tales was not compromised and each episode brought home the point that believing in oneself, in others and in life is what sets everything in motion.
Looking back to the very beginning of college, amidst new friends, new city, new attitudes, realising that you might not be the very special, the very best that you had always thought yourself to be, a continued belief and faith might very well be what makes you tick. Never back down. Chase your dreams. Do what you want to do in life. Be yourself always and you will shine. To think of it, in all the advice and the aphorisms and the one-liners, the essence is the same; believe in yourself.
Last Diwali, when I visited my uncle's place, I felt a warm pleasure, of the like that you feel when hot chocolate runs down your throat in the winters, when I saw in their bookcase pink and blue giant books of Fairy Tales for Girls and Fairy Tales for Boys. I agree that there is a lot to debate about fairy tales; their origin, their intent, their hidden meanings and their effect on minds. But behind all the scholastic and esoteric disputes, the simple fact is that this tradition is inevitably, inextricably and inexplicably linked with childhood. Despite popular criticisms, the one thing that stands is that any child in whose lives fairy tales were that big a part as they were in mine, that person will carry with him/her forever the inane, unfathomable power of believing and at the end of the day, believing is what helps us face the world.
Somehow, that argument makes my sprawling piece of ridiculousness almost sensible.
James Barrie's Tinker Bell had said, “When you say I don't believe in fairies, a fairy somewhere drops dead.” Now, you wouldn't want any fairy dead on your account, would you?
~CHANDRICA BARUA
A DATE WITH ‘THE OTHER’
Year 2012, when thousands of people around the globe were predicting the demise of the planet that we inhabit, I discovered a new world, where crisp Urdu flowed tinged by a pinch of Punjabi accent. I sat glued to my laptop screen refusing to part with it at any cost; my tryst with Pakistani drama had just begun. Brought up on a heavy dose of the extremely popular “k- dramas” which completely ruined my childhood with the zooming in and zooming out images of the ever faithful, ever enduring, headache inducing ‘bahus’ and not to forget, ‘the vamp’ who apparently didn’t have a motive in life except to destroy our constantly sobbing heroine’s happiness. To put it simply, as a consequence of what I had endured in my childhood and proving Freud’s theory correct, I had lost my faith in the Indian television industry and started exploring western sitcoms.
But soon I started looking for love in new places and found my Mr. Darcy in the subtle, sophisticated yet deeply moving Pakistani drama.
Initially it seemed to me that it would be very much like the dreaded things I mentioned above, but I was pleasantly surprised by my rendezvous with Pakistani sitcoms. What really hooked me were the impeccably written dialogues. Dealing with a variety of issues that can promptly be placed under the umbrella of women empowerment, Pakistani dramas for me were a breath of fresh air. I was enraptured by the subtlety of everything, right from the costumes to the characterization. These serials have an air of sophistication about them and at no point do they get bland. With Pakistani serials, there is no going over the top. The best part is that their aim is not to complete a thousand-episode run; at the maximum a Pakistani serial would have a run of 25 to 30 episodes and no second seasons (which is depressing though). I was still getting accustomed to it. Where was the flying ‘dupatta’? And what happened to the cameras? Why did they not dramatically zoom in and out after every single punch line? Most importantly what about the heroine falling from a stool, a staircase or a plane for that matter right into the outstretched arms of her male saviour?
Talking of male saviors, there is no dearth of substantial male characters in Pakistani dramas . What are T.V sitcoms without heartthrobs? I mean how many of us watched one tree hill for basketball? I watch these shows for one particular Fawad Afzal Khan. I mean he is not the sole reason, but say 99.9% of it. His best performances so far are in ‘numm’, ‘humsafar’ and ‘zindagi gulzaar hai’. ‘Dastaan’ another drama starring him, is a gripping modern day ode to the simplicity of pre- partition life and depicts a romance that is shred to pieces by the gruesome and gory violence that ensued during partition.
What really interests me is how we see some things as ‘the other’ and they turn out to be very much a part of our own cultural identity, I find Pakistani sitcoms quite relatable in the sense that they deal with the same kind of issues that we encounter in our daily lives and don’t get larger than life at any point. By doing so, they give us a concrete sense of reality, trying to coax the harsh edges to give in and bring out something that aesthetically appeals to our senses. It is a world where the old and the new, the real and the unreal co-exist, an amalgamation of different facets of life where none has been ignored.
I was completely mesmerized by how these shows capture deep rooted prejudices and stereotypes that need to be tackled and showcase them in a perfect blend of reality and entertainment. For lack of a better phrase, it conquers all!
~ANAM SIDDIQUI
A PRINCESS? I WANT TO BE A WINCHESTER!
I had a normal life until a fandom broke into my house and said, “Dad is on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home in a few days.”
The black ’67 Chevy Impala became my baby, Dean Winchester became my eternal crush, Castiel became my guardian angel, I developed caring little brother feelings for Sam (which is weird) and I finally joined the league of crazy fangirls.
Supernatural, the only horror show that did not scare me even a bit, but made me a kind of freak who wasn’t afraid of dark and eerie places, who gave too much thought to the flickering of lights and who thought that when it was unusually cold it meant a spirit was around. Obviously none of it was actually true but hey, I’m a fangirl!
My fanaticism didn’t just end at watching the show on the day it was aired, talking about it with friends and anticipating what would happen further; it went way beyond. The show made me a theologian. I researched about the different lore and legends that were shown in different episodes and as it covered the culture and mythologies of many areas and people, I acquired a lot of cultural knowledge across the globe. Moreover, I understood the basis of Christianity through Season 5 that involved angels and the mighty devil, Lucifer. Fortunately, all of it was of great help when I studied British Poetry and Prose as an English Honours student. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe became a rather easy and comprehensible piece of work as I knew the entire Manichean belief system of God and Devil and Devil’s dealings of the soul because of my OSD (Obsessive Supernatural Disorder). I knew the entire background of the book because of just one episode, “Crossroad Blues”. Who says fandoms are a waste of time?
Moreover, I am emotionally connected to Supernatural as it was the first television show I watched with my elder sister and we called ourselves Dean and Sam. It was a show that strengthened our bond in a way.
It is a show that is far away from the real world and I guess that is its beauty. Who wants to live a constricted and regular life when you can save people, hunt things and join the Winchesters’ family business? The most bizarre and whacky thing I have done so far is imagine myself in the show with the Winchesters wherein I become the child of the God whom the Winchesters protect and keep with them from the start (Yes, I keep the limelight for myself), I help them in all their hunts, I have powers (because I don’t want Sam to be a freak alone), I have kickass fighting skills and I date Dean Winchester. Well I also plan to get the devil’s trap tattooed on my neck as it is cool and well I remember the exorcism spell by heart, but that’s just a regular fan thing (I guess!).
People who have watched the show will understand all of this. And relax, I don’t need a shrink!
~DEVIKA SINHA
MEET THE NEW BOSS:
THE TREATMENT OF THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN GOD AND OTHER CHRISTIAN ELEMENTS IN SUPERNATURAL.
“Carry on my wayward son,
There’ll be peace when you are done,
Lay your weary head to rest,
Don’t you cry no more.”
-Kansas, Carry On Wayward Son
Be it the blaring music of the radio in their ’67 Impala, the advice of their father, John Winchester, or the divine instructions of God himself, these words could arguably be thought of as the resounding motto of the lives of Sam and Dean Winchester, as well as the rest of humankind, whom Christianity perceives as the sons (or daughters) of God. Unfortunately or fortunately for the Supernatural universe, it remains unfulfilled, for this is a world where God is “just another deadbeat dad with a bunch of excuses”, where an Angel of the Lord calls his Father a “son of a bitch”, and where God shall not make the effort to wipe away the tears of his “wayward son” or even grant him the eternal respite that comes with death. The Supernatural God is an entity unlike what has been seen or what we want to see and with this distortion (if that’s what we should call it) comes an alteration or an inversion of Judeo-Christian theology which forms the overarching theme of the cult CW show, Supernatural.
It is through the Winchesters’ eyes that the show establishes its perspective on God and Christianity in general, and with every new season their viewpoint is either altered or developed further. Season one, for instance, doesn’t have much to do with God. It does, however, bring up the question of faith. Sam believes in God, while his older brother, Dean believes only in evil. One must consider the fact that Sam’s faith, like most of ours, may just be a matter of convenience- in the face of vampires and werewolves, wendigos and shapeshifters, ghosts and demons, a twenty two year old with nothing called family has to believe in something good to keep him sane. Moreover, in 1.12, “Faith”, when Dean is on his deathbed, it is a faith healer and consequently God’s grace that Sam resorts to so as to save his brother. However, the healing powers of the blind Reverend are revealed to be a sham- his wife literally puts a Grim Reaper on leash and exchanges one death for another. Although Dean is saved, the belief or at least faith in God is negated. At least the Grim Reaper is just- he takes one life only when he is denied another.
Season two treats God just as the real world does. His presence or absence doesn’t matter much; an abstract belief in God is enough to sustain faith in the faithful. There does come a time in 2.13, ‘Houses of the Holy’, when Sam is confronted by the possibility of the existence of Angels, of “God’s will”. However, the angel turns out to be the ghost of a dead priest who thought he was protecting the townspeople by instigating not-so-pious folk to kill people whom he believed to be evil. Can Dean’s words really be countered when he says, “There’s no higher power. There’s no God. There’s just chaos and violence and random, unpredictable evil that comes out of nowhere and rips you to shreds.”; unless it is through his selfsame acceptance of the possibility that “God’s will” may as well be real, not unlike the beliefs of just another ordinary and confused person? The Devil, on the other hand, surely exists- the Faustian deal that Dean makes in order to bring Sam back to life ensures that we believe in him. Season three is much the same...
~SNIGDHA TALAPATRA
Queer as Folk
US television series on Showtime,
2000-2005.
The title is the first thing that strikes you, or rather doesn’t, especially if you say it out loud. The only thing that leaves an impression is the word ‘queer’ and then everything that comes after that goes through the coloured lens. Also the “queer ass fuck” innuendo is hardly subtle. And that is exactly the point. Queer as Folk makes no apologies, no disclaimers and displays no inhibitions about what it promises and delivers. The story traces the life of a group of homosexual friends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania amidst the backdrop of the gay life of Liberty Avenue. The trailer says, it goes “where no other show has ever gone before” and it does. Usually, shows addressing controversial issues tend to be wary about their content and even if they follow the adage of ‘sex sells’ the appeal is to the more heterosexual of the audience. There is hardly any portrayal of heterosexual sex on the show, though a major chunk of the audience is heterosexual women, and believe me, I can relate. But more importantly, the show creates awareness about issues ranging from drug abuse, safe sex, sexually transmitted diseases, gay marriage, adoption issues, hustling to queer bashing, gay pride and politics.
The series does get clichéd and melodramatic at certain points like when the relationships of the protagonists are being explored. But that’s when you realize, gay or straight, you have the same problems because essentially we’re all the same. So the hottest couple on the show, Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor, have the commonest relationship issue – commitment. Also, now that I have mentioned them I can’t keep silent on them. Let’s face it, they are the reason you will be hooked to the show. Anyway, I love unconventional relationships, and no, male/male isn’t enough. Brian is a 29-year old ad executive and Justin is a 17-year old high school student (in the beginning). It is one of the most unlikely romances ever. Yay! Since I’m a romantic at heart, when Brian declares his motto: “I don’t believe in love, I believe in fucking”, I know what I am thinking (“He is so gonna fall in love!”). So, yeah the show might be a little predictable but if I wanted mystery I would be watching a cop show (which I do, we have versatile tastes, don’t we?). But honestly, if you think it is going in the direction you think it is, it might seriously surprise you. And QAF shatters any assumptions that you have, so just when you think you know everything, be prepared to be proven wrong.
Justin’s coming-of-age is adorable and inspiring. His introduction into the Kinney lifestyle to become the “best homosexual [he] could possibly be” starts with the master himself. Brian fucks everything that moves. And has a penis, of course. He is also a brilliant businessman but he is like the hero with a thousand faces, a true gay man at heart. Justin’s time in school is the best part of the series for me. Homophobia is very much present. Also, the context of a Catholic school is very well brought out, as seen in the homophobia and lack of support exhibited by the faculty as well. Justin is bullied pretty aggressively especially by the football jock Chris Hobbes (the eternal hate-hate relationship of football and homosexuality). Then there’s also the apathetic behaviour of the school teacher and principal. There’s this epic moment where Justin’s teacher refuses to acknowledge the name, calling him queer in his class, Justin walks up to the teacher, extends his middle fingers (he did mention he was ambidextrous), and says loudly to the teacher, “This queer says, ‘fuck you’!” while all the students cheer and you are like, oh-my-god! Absolute perfection, you know you can identify with that fantasy even if you are straight, there’s one teacher we all wish we could have done that to.
The series does immense justice to the role of media in education of the masses and in great degree of awareness its influence causes on its viewers. I’ll take one simple instance to illustrate this point. In an episode (2x07), Brian (the lead character) refuses to have sex with Justin without a condom even though Justin iterates how both of them are negative and Brian “isn’t just anyone”. Safe sex is one of the points that has been diligently emphasized throughout the series. Also, one of the main characters has an HIV-positive partner; this dispels the myths, notions and fears regarding the acceptance of a positive partner.
The only straight person among the protagonists is Debbie, Michael’s mother, who is as gay as there can be. She introduces her son as “my gay son, Michael” to Justin’s mom. This line of the story also addresses the way parents should react and respond to the coming-out of their children. The characters also embody the stock types – Brian, the man-slut, the homosexual with the belief that there are two types of straight people in the world: those who hate you to your face and those who hate you behind your back; Michael, the boy-next-door type; Emmett, the effeminate flamboyant guy whose “flame burns bright”; Ted, the accountant who can pass off for straight, Melanie, the lawyer with the ‘balls’ and Lindsay, the stay-at-home new mother. The point, I believe, is that gay people are neither purely stereotypical nor are they not non-stereotypical in the limiting way.
A whole politics of gender can be analysed through the show. Why is it that the show’s major audience is not a gay male audience but straight women, not only because women enjoy watching two men making out but also because women identify with the characters and the problems. The exploration of sexuality, the display of masculinity and femininity complicated in the behaviour and orientation of the individuals, which is portrayed through unconventional roles. The fact that straight actors play gay roles also goes to show how gender is not restrictive to sex. The identification also stems from associating with the marginalised or the ‘other’. Though within the show itself, the reverse othering process takes place to make heterosexuality the other. Hence, multiple viewpoints allow you to identify, to connect. The main story line is that of “boys becoming men” (and in Mel and Lindsey’s case, “girls becoming “women”) so essentially the concept follows the general life line.
It might be argued that Queer as Folk does enforce heteronormative ideas onto its homosexual life (husband-wife metaphors, kids and tradition of the need to define by heterosexual institutions) but there are certain story arcs which subvert this, involving the main couple itself (anything more and I’ll have to add a spoiler warning). Kyra Hunting mentions an interesting point about the difference between homosexuality and queerness in her essay where she explains that homosexuality is to express desires associated with traditional monogamous heterosexuality while queerness is the deviation from heteronormativity (which involves marriage, reproductivity, monogamy and traditional sex), and hence queerness can also be seen in the subversion of heterosexuality as well. It is therefore significant that the show uses ‘queer’ more than the word ‘homosexual’ or ‘gay’. It constantly brings the image of queer individuals engaging in queer acts, particularly in the lead character of Brian Kinney. As I mentioned earlier, what makes Queer as Folk different from similar shows (like Will and Grace, Ellen and Modern Family) is this tension of queerness with homosexuality. Also, I would like to mention one very important, very unique point that the show makes you think about: that marriage and monogamy do not necessarily mean love and happiness. Brian’s take on it is the overriding voice of the show that relationships don’t have to be “hetero” to be real. Hence, not only does Queer as Folk challenge the ideas of heteronormativity but it takes you one level higher to question those norms and to think about what we expect to result from those norms.
I suggest watching Queer as Folk because it will challenge your notions of sex, sexuality, gender, marriage, love, identity and happiness. It will make you think but only if you allow yourself to think and go beyond the visual splendour and the obvious overtones of Americanised television viewing. “QAF was designed to shake people up, get them talking. We tried to show the truth, blemishes and all” – Daniel Lipman, writer and co-producer. Queer as Folk is not for the faint hearted but if you can hear Barney Stinson’s voice in your head (“challenge accepted!”) then I’d like to see you try.
~DIVYA GARG
JABBERWOCKY TUNES
