Reviews

A friend of mine got me into SOA as it isn't anything likely to hit our screens here in Oz. Ironically enough the theme of the show is not that far removed from a lot of the bike gangs we have here and hear about but i digress.

It took me a few episodes to get hooked on SOA as i can honestly say it is unlike any American show i have watched. Its grainy and raw and even the actors are people who you'd see in your everyday life and not the glam and glitter that Hollywood or the like fobs off.

For that i ended up loving SOA. A lot. I like also that there are a lot of "known" but not blown up actors. You know their faces but you don't have them seared into your mind from over exposure so you can suspend judgment and believe these characters exist. And the characters drive this series. It isn't the most polished TV series but its edgy and if you are looking for something you can sink your teeth into and not get sick from the saccharine then bite into this show.

You will invest and you will care about these people even if they are the "kind" of people we normally fear and shun. And that is not to say the writers glamorize or sympathise, they just offer a different view point. Something we don't normally see.

That is the hook and the viewing pleasure of Sons of Anarchy.

It has been 4 years since Queer as Folk filmed its fifth and final season and due to Australia always being slightly behind when it comes to American shows i have only just managed to finish watching the whole show.

The one thing that strikes me the most about QAF is how, no matter what year you watch it, or where you are watching it it remains poignantly contemporary. The sad part of that is, it means that a lot of the themes in this show (gay rights to marriage, rights to children, acceptance etc) are still resonating in the political and cultural landscapes of many countries.

Yet another thing and probably the most important thing about this show, is that its not just about "queers" for "queers". Its a show about friendship, change, acceptance, growing old and growing painfully wise and most of all it is about the journey we all take with the self.

You don't have to be "queer" to love this show but you do have to be open. Open to a great show that is superbly written and acted, a show that confronts its audience head on with issues many of us never consider in our secular lives and forces us to wake up to the fact that the same sh** in life is felt by everyone from all walks and the same joys are fought for and sometimes won.

If you're considering getting this one off the shelves and hesitating, don't. You wont regret it.

I'm starting to think it was timely i couldn't watch this show when it originally aired because in my early twenties i'm not so sure i would have embraced it or learnt much from it. I'm starting to believe i finished watching it in my late twenties for a reason. Because so much of life is embedded in these characters. And not a life that so many shows fail to reflect. The life of average people doing the best they can with what they have. In a landscape of so many movies and TV shows that are fake and farcical, Queer as Folk shines a light back on what matters.

What more could you want from art?