Why is he talking like he's gay if he's not? Dating for two months? How old is he?

Sheila

Don't think he's talking like he's gay, more eccentric! He's only 21, studying politics at university. George Formby in a teenage body!
Susiex

Well, I'm from Lancashire and the men I know don't talk like George Formby - unless they're gay. Maybe Luke hasn't made his mind up yet, if he's only 21.

Sheila

Well I'm gay and I don't sound like George Formby or even Graeme Norton. BB trades in stereotypes as it assumes that's all the British public can handle, and with that comment, you have subscribed to it. It gleefully reinforces stereotypes, in fact, but in truth, there are plenty of gay men who you'd be hard pressed to detect just by talking to them or even knowing them. Gay is a lifestyle, camp is an affectation, and doesn't bear much in common with homosexuality, as it happens. We're not all screaming. We're not all objects of fun. Some of us actually lead relatively normal lives and have more to say about stuff than just how fabulous Madonna looks at 50.

Sorry, just wanted to chip in there.

I've watched one episode of BB this year and that was enough. Increasingly, I lament for the children growing up watching this rubbish.

JB

BB trades in stereotypes as it assumes that's all the British public can handle,

Yeah, BB trades in extremes. Though I think it's less about what the British public can handle - more that Channel 4 needs ratings and the shock-value.
Susiex

<Added>

PS - nice to see you back, JB.

Thanks susie

Yes, I agree, but it does make me mad, particularly the gay thing. Why can't they just have a gay man on there whose sexuality does not define them? Why do they always plumb for the screaming idiot? The affected one? The one who thinks expressing themselves like a panto character or someone spoon fed a diet of ABBA and Graham Norton as a boy, is actually constructive to the worldwide cause of acceptance?

These jokers do not represent me.

Sorry, it's a personal gripe. I'll let you get on with discussing the show.

JB

Yes, it must be really irritating and frustrating. I s'pose they do the same thing with whoever they pick - they'll go for the extravert end of the population. Look at Mikey (the blind guy)- very loud, quite extreme in his manner. With the men, they seem to pick anyone who's over-the-top: Luke is extreme in his thinness, Darnell is an albino, and the good-looking ones tend to be muscle-bound gods, while the women are either model-lookalikes or 'eccentrics'. And remember Leah: cosmetic surgery taken to its extreme?
Susiex

BB trades in stereotypes

Not sure I agree with this. None of these characters are stereotypical of nay group of people I've never met. We've just established Luke's not gay.

...deciding so on the basis of his voice, yes.

Isn't it funny how some people are up in arms when a pin drops on their sensitivites, but when it happens to others, they are quick to deny any such offense?

BB trades in stereoptypes. It likes big breasted bimbos and screaming queens. It turns stereotypes into entertainment and thereby reinforces those sterotypes. I'm not talking about people you meet in the street. People on the whole are not stereotypes. I'm talking about people who wilfully adopt a stereotype in order to seek fame or notoriety on programs like BB which trade in stereoptypes.

JB

Camp, yes, that's what I meant.

Sheila

George Formby wasn't gay though.

JB

JB, did you watch the show, "Playing it Straight" on Channel 4 a few years back. The bloke who won was only there to dispel the myth that people could spot who and who isn't gay. The girl was convinced he was straight. Likewise, there's many a straight man that acts effeminate, some by choice and some by nature.

On a different subject, I'm wearing a pink shirt for an interview tomorrow. Hope the panel doesn't have colour predjudice.

Colin M

I remeber you and i chatting last year, Colin, about BB's Nicki, and saying that if we created such a character she would be dismissed by an agent for being unrealistic!

That's what frustrates me sometimes about writing. An agent recently dissed my storyline where a woman is pregnant but doesn't realize it until right til the end - but these things do happen! Only in the paper yesterday, a woman disguised her whole pregnancy by telling her family she was bloated due to a wheat allergy! If i wrote that, i'd be told it was unbelievable.

I suppose it depends on how you draw the character. To be pregnant and to not even suspect suggests a level of educational need, but to be pregnant and deny the possibility is something else entirely, and if this avenue was explored - ie, why the woman would be in such a level of denial that she believed it - it probably would come across as convincing. How did you justify it in your version?

Well, it was linked up with dieting (the character decides to halt a lifetime of dieting) and a family history of inconspicious pregancies. Because her periods had always been irregular due to silly dieting, she didn't suspect that. And because she decided to start eating proper food like fats etc, she blamed her nausea on that. Same for the weight gain. Same for the indigestion.

Sadly the agent decided that, not to notice, she must be 'retarded'. Ahem. I think my main mistake was giving away too many clues to the reader who - according to the agent - would end up screaming at the MC to open her eyes. Maybe i should have kept the reader in the dark a bit more.