Okay, I’ll admit it. I frigging love All My Children. I started watching it when I was a toddler and my Nana took care of me—we had to watch her stories all afternoon long. For some reason, AMC stuck.
It was fab enough when the soap featured the first-ever lesbian smooch on a daytime drama, now they’re going to introduce a transgendered character. Nice.
The character, a flamboyant rock star known as Zarf, kisses the lesbian character Bianca and much drama ensues. The storyline begins with Thursday's episode of the daytime drama.…The show wasn't interested in doing something just to be sensational, she said. GLAAD and some transgenders were brought in as consultants in shaping the character, teaching the producers when it is appropriate to call a character "she" even before surgery, she said.
Damon Romine, a spokesman for GLAAD, said he hasn't seen the show yet but feels people involved were genuinely interested in telling the story with dignity.
…"I think it's groundbreaking and breakthrough television for daytime to put a spotlight on transgender people and tell their story," he said.
It’s just too bad that my beloved soap is slipping ratings-wise. Boo.
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Zarf?
I'm not terribly optimistic about this storyline, since I remember when they raped the lesbian and "killed" her baby so she would never date again (god forbid). Just because they showed the first lesbo kiss in daytime, that doesn't forgive the rape, pregnancy, and subsequent baby-switch storylines that followed. They turned the only lesbian asexual! It was a slap in the face, for many (queer) people.
Still, I will be watching, because even though the writing tends to be awful, I love that the lesbian is back, and that sometimes she even mentions it.
Zarf? Barf!
To me, the name of the character says all: make fun of the whole idea of transsexualism. Coupled with a dose of the usual, "I knew when I was 5 that I was a girl/boy." It would be more interesting to investigate how transpersons came about by age. By that I mean, over the past 50 years one sees more transgendered recognizing themselves at puberty. However, there is still quite a population of men and women, who at mid-life, recognize for the first time, their problem--transsexualism. I continue to be bothered by the concept of knowing at 40 that you were a girl/boy of 5, when at that age you could not define what it means to be either.
Petra
10yr post
Just me thinking the name/flamboyant rockstar thing was a Bowie shout out? Does that mean I'm old or just hopelessly out of touch?
Wasn't Zarf one of the Thundercats? Hey, that reminds me. When are The Furries gonna get some daytime love?
And wasn't there a transgendered character on 3-2-1 Contact?
Just me thinking the name/flamboyant rockstar thing was a Bowie shout out? Does that mean I'm old or just hopelessly out of touch?
That's what I thought too.
One or another British soap (EastEnders I think, but I could be wrong) covered the oh-shit-a-tranny angle a while ago. I don't recall how it played out over there.
I don't know what the storyline will be, but I applaud them for consulting a transgendered organization before creating a transgendered character.