The United States of Tara

[Luckers]

To be fair i love everything Toni Collette does, but i love this show more. It is the story of a woman with multiple personalities, and her family as they deal with it. There is her loving husband, Max, who despite insane patience slowly finds the situation harder and harder, her daughter, Kate, who is more or less living without parents. Her son, Marshall. who is forced to act like a parent, and is the single most honest gay character to be shown on tv. Her sister, Charmaine, who is self-absorbed and believes Tara is making it up. And of course there is the alters, T, a teenager, Buck, male vietnam vet, and Alice, a 1950's housewife. (which sounds lame i know, but remember they are done by Toni Collette).

 

If you havn't seen it, watch it, if you have--well, what do you think?

[Kaznen]

My room mate is into it.

 

*shrugs*

 

I think the family is a bit to passive about the whole thing.  And I think Diablo Cody made Marshall gay to be "edgy" and what not. 

 

I believe if it was created by anyone other then the person who wrote Juno it would have been canned.

[Luckers]

Which is funny--because i think Marshall's subtlety in playing the roll is what makes his character work--far from edgy, i find it refreshingly honest.

[Kaznen]

Which is funny--because i think Marshall's subtlety in playing the roll is what makes his character work--far from edgy, i find it refreshingly honest.

 

The actor palying him is doing good, don't me wrong, but whole purpose of having a gay son in the series, so far, seems to have been so T could hone in on his bf and create friction between Marshall and Tara.

 

And I don't understand the whole "stuck in the 50s" thing with him and his female friend.

 

While Marshall may be the big dork of the series and as unedgy as can get, the reason they had him as gay was because gay characters are "cool."

 

Given the family situtation there is a whole host of personal problems he could have had and made a lot more sense.

[Luckers]

That was in the eleventh of twelve episodes--that seems a bit of an excessive generalisation given the degree of the character arc.

 

And in truth it made sense--Tara's alters exist to protect her. Tara was concerned about Jason breaking Marshal's heart, and as a result of that concern T acted.

 

While Marshall may be the big dork of the series and as unedgy as can get, the reason they had him as gay was because gay characters are "cool."

 

Firstly, is there a problem with that? Tv Shows by there nature are supposed to appeal, thats how they get ratings. Is there any difference between them having a gay character to Gossip Girl having a stunning blonde-haired socialite character. By what sense is that argument in any way valid--why should TV shows not try to win viewership over with gay characters?

 

The point is in the realism of their writing. Were they to introduce a gay character as a gimic i would agree with you--in fact, in reference to my earlier comment, Gossip Girl did exactly that. Eric was totted out as gay, made to vanish into the closet, and brought out only again so that an episode in which Serena was enraged at her step fathers hiding of his boyfriend.

 

I get that i sound like an enraged gay activist here--thats not my point. My point is there is a distinction between having a gay character, and having a gay puppet to induce ratings because its a current fad. I mean, i get your point, i do--but the honesty with which they've played Marshall destroys it. He might have been included for ratings, but he was included as an honest three-dimensional character. You admitted as much yourself.

 

As a gay man, i have no more problem with them doing that then having super-hot chicks play housemums. If they do it decently, if the character they make is genuine, then the rest is fluff.

 

Given the family situtation there is a whole host of personal problems he could have had and made a lot more sense.

 

Yes, because homosexuality results from sense?

 

As opposed to the above, that was meant to be snippy. Gays are born into messed up families as often as straight people. That is, with respect and honesty, a tiny bit offensive. I mean if the current American state were a tv show, and someone said 'well, given the current political situation, there is a whole host of personal problems the president could have that would make sense other than being black' it'd be an issue, don't you think?