Lafayette and Jesus continue to depress me
Sep. 9th, 2011 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparkindarknessI've complained before that I just can't agree with the idea of True Blood being as pro-gay as everyone likes to celebrate
But I'm going to go further in a little rant because I am getting really sick of Lafayette and Jesus and their complete and utter lack of intimacy.
I think this season has really hit hard at how sanitised and cold Lafayette and Jesus' relationship is. It's now so glaring that the characters now irritate me immensely and I'm begging to want to skip past their precious little sanitised platonic, don't-put-off-the-straighties 'relationship'.
The most glaring example of it is the lack of any kind of sex or physical contact between them. True Blood is very free with displaying sex and nudity and it’s a very sexually charged show. In this series we've seen Sookie, Jason, Alcide, Eric, Bill and Sam naked. We have seen Sookie straddle Bill repeatedly, Jason spent pretty much the entire first season naked and having sex from numerous angles – and I'm sure we all remember Eric's bondage session in the basement (I know I do). Sex and nudity is extremely common on this show. But not just sex and sexuality, couples, coupling, kissing, intimacy – it's there.
Now look at Lafayette and Jesus. They have yet to share even a serious kiss. Most of the time they don't even touch. Even Arlene, Terry and Andy Bellefleur have all had more action than Lafayette and Jesus. Contrast that with Tara and Naomi - we have gratuitous sex displayed instantly with the same-sex female couple (almost before we knew Naomi's name or any kind of relationship was established). We rarely see them together in a scene when they are NOT kissing, having sex and happily naked – happily pandering to to the straight male gaze.
Someone coming to this season without seeing the previous seasons would be forgiven for thinking they were friends or room-mates. There’s no sense of them actually having any kind of relationship, it’s rare you see anything from either of them that indicates they have anything other than a platonic friendship - even less! Friends generally have a greater sense of connection between them than this supposedly year-old couple. Even beyond the physical distance, there’s just no rapport between them. No pet names, no internal references, no in-jokes, no body language communication - there’s no connection between them, no sense of unspoken understanding. Where’s the eye-contact? Where’s the facial expressions that communicate a whole conversation? Where is the connection, the relationship, the sense that they are actually a couple. Look at Arlene & Terry - they look at each other, they are connected, they react together, the communicate non-verbally, they seek closeness together. Even Sookie and Eric/Bill communicate a lot with eye contact - in fact that was a major part of the conclusion of the last episode when Sookie made dramatic eye-contact with the vampires. And this is very glaringly missing from Lafayette and Jesus’ relationship, beyond the physical distance and lack of intimacy.
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But I'm going to go further in a little rant because I am getting really sick of Lafayette and Jesus and their complete and utter lack of intimacy.
I think this season has really hit hard at how sanitised and cold Lafayette and Jesus' relationship is. It's now so glaring that the characters now irritate me immensely and I'm begging to want to skip past their precious little sanitised platonic, don't-put-off-the-straighties 'relationship'.
The most glaring example of it is the lack of any kind of sex or physical contact between them. True Blood is very free with displaying sex and nudity and it’s a very sexually charged show. In this series we've seen Sookie, Jason, Alcide, Eric, Bill and Sam naked. We have seen Sookie straddle Bill repeatedly, Jason spent pretty much the entire first season naked and having sex from numerous angles – and I'm sure we all remember Eric's bondage session in the basement (I know I do). Sex and nudity is extremely common on this show. But not just sex and sexuality, couples, coupling, kissing, intimacy – it's there.
Now look at Lafayette and Jesus. They have yet to share even a serious kiss. Most of the time they don't even touch. Even Arlene, Terry and Andy Bellefleur have all had more action than Lafayette and Jesus. Contrast that with Tara and Naomi - we have gratuitous sex displayed instantly with the same-sex female couple (almost before we knew Naomi's name or any kind of relationship was established). We rarely see them together in a scene when they are NOT kissing, having sex and happily naked – happily pandering to to the straight male gaze.
Someone coming to this season without seeing the previous seasons would be forgiven for thinking they were friends or room-mates. There’s no sense of them actually having any kind of relationship, it’s rare you see anything from either of them that indicates they have anything other than a platonic friendship - even less! Friends generally have a greater sense of connection between them than this supposedly year-old couple. Even beyond the physical distance, there’s just no rapport between them. No pet names, no internal references, no in-jokes, no body language communication - there’s no connection between them, no sense of unspoken understanding. Where’s the eye-contact? Where’s the facial expressions that communicate a whole conversation? Where is the connection, the relationship, the sense that they are actually a couple. Look at Arlene & Terry - they look at each other, they are connected, they react together, the communicate non-verbally, they seek closeness together. Even Sookie and Eric/Bill communicate a lot with eye contact - in fact that was a major part of the conclusion of the last episode when Sookie made dramatic eye-contact with the vampires. And this is very glaringly missing from Lafayette and Jesus’ relationship, beyond the physical distance and lack of intimacy.
Read More