My .2 cents about the Heroes flip-flop

I was thinking about this whole Heroes "Is Zach gay?" for a bit. I like Zach a lot, whether he's a gay or straight character. I'll admit, my first interpretation of him was that he was just a standard geek sort with a crush on Claire. Then I read the interview with one of the producers which stated he was gay.

My first reaction was "Really, well...huh." The more I thought about it, the more I liked it though. It's so rare to see a gay character on television that's not really defined by his sexuality. People are more than their sexual partners, after all. Besides, genuine platonic male-female friendships tend to be incredibly rare on television and I was looking forward to the idea that Zach and Claire were definitely not going to hook up, at least unless she found a secondary mutation that turned her into a guy.

That said, I'm not at all surprised that the character was rewritten as straight. I'm ignoring all the background gossip and explanations offered, really, as I have my own theory for why Zach's concept changed.

Peter Petrelli.

Ever since Peter came to rescue Claire and had that impossibly cute "It gets better" scene in the high school, it seems like a lot of people have started picking up on a chemistry between the two characters. It's to the point that it even comes up in interviews. Personally, I don't see the couple at all (the chemistry feels platonic to me) but I can see where others would start to pick up on it. Heck, it wasn't THAT long ago that Milo Ventimiglia was still playing high school students himself.

So far, there's no sign that the creators are going to make it a romantic pairing. Every interview question I've seen answers with a sharp "Not going to happen". Still, the idea is very popular. The problem is though that previous roles aside, Peter Petrelli is definitely not a teenager. Claire, and more importantly, her actress IS. I think, even if a romantic pairing is on the horizon in the future, they would certainly shy away from it until the character is at least out of high school. (Not to mention, Peter is set up as one of the moral cornerstones of the show. Someone who believes in being good and helping other people for its own sake. It would look very strange for a character like that to turn around and date a young girl still in high school.)

What's the alternative though? People are always going to push for romantic hints and sappy idiotic teenage emotions are pretty much inevitable. And Heroes's pace and structure doesn't really allow for brand new characters to be introduced at the drop of the hat. And Peter is possibly the youngest male of the main cast, so there isn't really any help there.

But there is another option. Zach (who I doubt is gone for good...yet anyway) is witty, appealing, faithful and a very good friend. She can trust him and she interacts well with him. And really, for all the little hints about his sexuality, nothing's been confirmed. The hints can be read different ways, after all. And suddenly Claire has a possible relationship with someone her own age.

I'm sure the behind the scenes stuff is the real reason for the change over, but I wouldn't be surprised if this did end up factoring in on the decision. I'm hoping it is, actually, because that would mean there's a higher possibility of introducing a new, confirmed gay character in time.

How about the new character that apparently Christopher Eccleston is going to play? That'd be really neat!

Reactions on Young Avengers/Runaways

I'm pretty badly behind on my comics this week, but one comic I had to read was the Runaways/Young Avengers crossover.

I had to read it ever since Dorian pointed out the unpleasant implications of the fact that it was the gay characters targetted in the torture scenes combined with the relatively recent death of Freedom Ring. I wanted to read it for myself to see what I thought about this story.

As I expected really, I didn't catch any overt/conscious message of homophobia. The characters' homosexuality did not seem to be a motivating issue for their torture (at least from the evil doctor guy's point of view). The obvious story motivation seems to hold up. They might be the gay members, but they're also the alien members. And it's the alienness that is the motivation for the trauma.

Which makes sense.

Except I can't help but wonder why Billy was included. Billy Kaplan isn't an alien. Oddities of parentage aside, he's a perfectly normal mutant kid. The storyline reason for him being in that situation was, quite honestly, incredibly weak.

The "they're chosen as victims because they're aliens" excuse only works when the victims are in fact aliens.

Billy didn't need to be there. And honestly, he didn't serve any role in the plot that really warranted him being there. (Not to mention the inaccuracy of Billy needing to hear his spells to cast them...that wasn't the case in the Young Avengers I read...I can understand messing up some details of characters with years and years of continuity under their belts, but YA is a pretty short series.)

Karolina could have served the same role. The same sensitive character driven to the point of wishing death on someone role. It's not like she had much to do during that scene either. The only one who really got to do anything was Xavin. With Teddy then talking him down.

On one level, I understand the desire to use Billy there. Having loved ones present for a victim's suffering makes for some nice evocative scenes. But again, Karolina was there too and could have served much the same role. As an alien, her presence also has the distinct advantage of making sense.

I don't think there was any sort of conscious homophobia here, but the timing was definitely unfortunate. What with Freedom Ring's death, the Northstar mess, and other debacles in this area, it was probably a bad idea to have the four gay characters (or three gay characters with one straight man living as a woman) placed in this situation in this manner.

I wonder if it would be quite so...uncomfortable if they had gone for just targeting the actual aliens. Teddy, Xavin and Karolina remaining victims, with Billy instead fighting alongside the other Avengers and Runaways. It'd definitely make more sense to me and it might not seem quite as questionably motivated. Maybe.

Also, I concur with Sims, "run away" is the verb, "runaway" is not. Nincompoop.