That’s a Wrap Folks!
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This is probably one of the hardest articles I’ve ever written because it isn’t just about the end of a TV show. It’s about the end of something special that has had a profound effect on society and the people that welcomed these characters into their living rooms every Sunday night for five years. If you weren’t glued to your TV last night watching the series finale of ‘Queer As Folk,’ you’ll need a box of tissues to get through the half hour special and the hour-long episode. No guys, not for the same reason that you needed tissues for the first episode! I went in knowing I would be teary-eyed at the end but I had to get up twice to get tissues as I kept bawling every few minutes. It’s weird. It’s just a TV show. Why such fuss? That’s what I keep telling myself every time I’ve had to blink back tears of sadness and of joy since seeing the finale and listening to the soundtracks today as different songs bring to mind clear and vivid memories of the show. Something very unique happened that I’ve never seen happen before. This show evolved into something bigger – something with a life of its own. It became a cultural statement populated with friends that you’ve grown to love and have thought of as your own friends. It has resonated so deep within a culture that has been marginalized in contemporary society, raising strong emotions that run the scale from adoration to loathing. Despite ending positively, there is an enormous sense of loss felt throughout the community because there was never anything of its kind before and there never will be again. The sentiment is echoed in every chat room and message board on the Internet. Maybe it’s the ending of an era, or the dim political climate, or each person’s own personal circumstances in which ‘Queer As Folk’ filled a void in their lives that grew because of out casting and isolation. Perhaps it is a mix of all of the above. I remember Dolly Parton once saying that when she was first starting out someone told her for a successful performance you need to make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, scare the hell out of ‘em and go home. ‘Queer As Folk’ certainly has done that and more. The finale to the series was fitting and brought the entire story of these boys becoming men full circle. Being the same age as our boys of Babylon, my first reaction was holy shit, I can hardly believe it! Here’s a show about guys my own age – gay guys my own age, something I never imagined I would see. I feel I’ve grown up with them and at the same time vicariously experienced a youth that I was never able to. When the episode opens we hear ‘Sleep’ by The Dandy Warhols that was also played at the end of the premier episode (but technically episode two), when Justin told Brian he wanted him, and Brain said it’s not possible because he only believed in fucking and not in love. You instantly felt for Justin and could feel his pain from Brian’s bluntness. The opening of the final episode with Brian and Justin trying on clothes for their wedding, show’s Brian’s overwhelming love in the act of ultimate sacrifice for love – trying to change to be everything Justin always wanted. But ultimately you cannot change for someone else and when you do it goes awry. In the end it was Justin who changed and grew and realized he loved Brian just the way he was and that they didn’t need rings or a ceremony to prove their love for one another. Their first time together was sex, but their last was love. The rooftop scene where Brian reaches out for Michael’s hand in the premier was one of the most powerful scenes that said more in one small gesture than could ever have been said with words. As the cirlce is completed, now it’s Michael reaching out for Brian and reminding him who he is – who they are – as their song ‘Proud’ by Heather Small plays, just as before. I’ve always had a difficult time deciding whether I identified more with Michael or Justin, but in the case of the final episode, I think we all can see ourselves in Justin’s shoes. Five years ago he was a frightened boy alone and lost in a strange but familiar world. He met a group of boys outside of Babylon that were unusual and fabulous at the same time. He latched onto them and they eventually took him under their wings and together they grew and experienced the ways of the world, both the joys and the sorrows. And when the time came to fly on his own, he flew away leaving them but knowing they will always be there, continuing the vibrant dance of life as was echoed in the final scene with Michael, Brian, Ben, Emmett, and Ted at Babylon, just as the series started. The show did end in a way that has always aggravated me. It’s not unique to ‘Queer As Folk’ and I suppose fickle as I am, I really wouldn’t want it any other way because it does open up the field of imagination to ponder and daydream about what happens next? Where do these people’s paths take them and what do they experience along the way? It tantalizes you without absolute finality. The story that ‘Queer As Folk’ was meant to tell did end but in a way that leaves you hanging on every word, every flashing light, every thumpa thumpa beat of music, wanting to be folked more and more. This is where the inconsolable emotion bubbles to the surface because, boys and girls… that’s all they wrote. The rest is for us to… see in our dreams. |
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