Post by jaylondon on Jan 5, 2010 14:18:15 GMT
Who watched Eastenders over Christmas and New Year in the UK?
For people outside of the UK, Eastenders is one of the 2 most watched soaps in the country and it has recently had a story involving a Pakistani Muslim family where the oldest son is gay and has had a relationship with a White English man (appropriately named Christian). The gay son married a Muslim girl on New Years Day. He had maintained the facade of a straight relationship with his girlfriend because he felt it was the best thing to do in the circumstances, despite the fact that he was definitely gay.
I was watching it with my extended family as we had gathered for a family birthday. It was the first ever Punjabi wedding shown in a British soap opera, but it was also the first MOC on TV. My mum knows that I am gay, and she was in tears during the show whilst other members of my extended family were laughing at the fact that there was a gay Asian character in the show. The difference in the ways that the storyline was viewed by members of my own family was stark and reflected their own attitudes towards homosexuality - either something to regret and feel sorrow for or something to ridicule and laugh over.
The character (Syed) gave a good explanation to his boyfriend for why he was getting married to a woman. Although he loved his boyfriend, his family and his religious beliefs came before everything else and his own happiness could be sacrificed for the sake of his family. When his mother discovers that he is gay just moments before the Nikah, she tells him that he has the choice between living a perverse lifestyle or going down the route of Allah's love.
Whilst I appreciate that the storyline involved a Muslim family, it could so easily have been substituted for a Sikh family in the circumstances. The cultural aspects of the dhol drummers, the mendhi, the wedding pagri, the white horse with the groom, the saagan, the baraat and the doli were all Punjabi - the only thing missing was a Gurdwara and an Anand Karaj.
Another reason why I found it emotional is because I believed that I would be getting married to a woman for the sake of my family by the time I was 30, and I turn 30 this year. I'm now in a long-term same-sex relationship and the prospect of a heterosexual marriage is non-existent, but I felt as though I was watching what my life could have been like had I not been strong enough to stand up for my own happiness.
What did other people think about it?
For people outside of the UK, Eastenders is one of the 2 most watched soaps in the country and it has recently had a story involving a Pakistani Muslim family where the oldest son is gay and has had a relationship with a White English man (appropriately named Christian). The gay son married a Muslim girl on New Years Day. He had maintained the facade of a straight relationship with his girlfriend because he felt it was the best thing to do in the circumstances, despite the fact that he was definitely gay.
I was watching it with my extended family as we had gathered for a family birthday. It was the first ever Punjabi wedding shown in a British soap opera, but it was also the first MOC on TV. My mum knows that I am gay, and she was in tears during the show whilst other members of my extended family were laughing at the fact that there was a gay Asian character in the show. The difference in the ways that the storyline was viewed by members of my own family was stark and reflected their own attitudes towards homosexuality - either something to regret and feel sorrow for or something to ridicule and laugh over.
The character (Syed) gave a good explanation to his boyfriend for why he was getting married to a woman. Although he loved his boyfriend, his family and his religious beliefs came before everything else and his own happiness could be sacrificed for the sake of his family. When his mother discovers that he is gay just moments before the Nikah, she tells him that he has the choice between living a perverse lifestyle or going down the route of Allah's love.
Whilst I appreciate that the storyline involved a Muslim family, it could so easily have been substituted for a Sikh family in the circumstances. The cultural aspects of the dhol drummers, the mendhi, the wedding pagri, the white horse with the groom, the saagan, the baraat and the doli were all Punjabi - the only thing missing was a Gurdwara and an Anand Karaj.
Another reason why I found it emotional is because I believed that I would be getting married to a woman for the sake of my family by the time I was 30, and I turn 30 this year. I'm now in a long-term same-sex relationship and the prospect of a heterosexual marriage is non-existent, but I felt as though I was watching what my life could have been like had I not been strong enough to stand up for my own happiness.
What did other people think about it?