Apocalypse gay show

I cried in the middle of the day while I was watching it, making this maybe the third or fourth cultural artefact to manage the feat of pushing through my toxic masculinity and inherent stoicness. I thought it was a sensitive and nuanced story, gorgeously acted, and which provided great depth and thematic weight to the show.

It was not only an extremely emotionally affective story, all the beats and sad piano soundtracks and tender kisses and acts of strawberry service — it was a defined narrative choice, which a lot of people seem to be missing.

What is the point of a gay love story in the middle of a fungus zombie apocalypse?

I read one article which equated this episode as being an unearned and cynical play for prestige television status — essentially reading the choice to depart from the main plot and explore this gay love story as something quite cheap and manipulative. I think this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the narrative purpose of this episode.

Thematically, this show is very much about hope - Ellie represents a kind of hope that Joel in particular finds hard to reconcile with his wounded view of the world. Can she really cure the zombie apocalypse? Is it worth putting yourself into the physical and emotional danger that having hope causes?

That is going to be a massive theme moving forward - apocalypse gay show one intricately linked to character advancement. Why do we humanity keep going? But also specifically, why does Joel keep going? Every step is defined by small goals for him — surviving, getting a car battery, finding his brother.

Unfortunately, as the homophobic reaction proves, simply choosing to depict gay relationships is still a political act in itself. We are given a window into their privacy, their intimacy, and the cogs and wheels of their affection for each other. This kind of intimacy is still not something we see apocalypse gay show lot of when it comes to gay men, and other queer relationships on screen.

But more than that, queer relationships of every type are scrutinised. Often this leads to expectations of what queer relationships should look like - and also a performative component to just being in a queer relationship. What this means is that just existing, just being outside and living your life, and in a queer relationship, means that you are always aware of being watched.

It means you control how you represent yourself to the outside world. Later, outside that same bar with a different guy slut era! Because of this, a queer relationship does become performative, and often straight audiences expect palatable versions of that performativity when those relationships are depicted on screen.

So what this leads to is the beauty and intimacy of private queer relationships. The way I found with some of the boys I dated that physical affection, and emotional intimacy only happened inside, away from other eyes, is heartbreaking. Openly to who? To all the beady eyes of society.

Getting a depiction of the private, inner working of a queer relationship - away from scrutiny because of the apocalypsetenderly and beautifully told, was a very special form of storytelling. There was something so intimate and truthful about this depiction. Something special about how we got to see the unique way these two people loved each other.

What better way to foreshadow the relationships that are going to bind and propel the rest of this show. With Patrick Lentona fortnightly newsletter exploring the intersection of pop-culture, comedy, and queer stuff. Please subscribe if you liked it, and please share!

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