playing complex transgender characters whose storylines revolve around more than just their medical transitions.
The original 2000s Queer as Folk was groundbreaking, yet it was frequently critiqued for focusing primarily on white, affluent gay men in Pittsburgh, with lesbians and people of color often serving as supporting characters. queer as folk new series better
: The 2022 series centered on a community rebuilding after a tragedy (a nightclub shooting). Many found this a better, more mature way Many found this a better, more mature way
The new series, set in New Orleans, shatters this monolithic view of the queer community. It features a beautifully diverse cast that includes: "bad queers who want sex
The original US series, in particular, had a habit of punishing its characters for being sexual beings, or conversely, treating the most promiscuous character as a sort of Messiah figure. A new series needs to move beyond the binary of "good queers who want marriage" vs. "bad queers who want sex." Modern queer life integrates these things. We need a show that treats ethical non-monogamy, fluidity, and asexuality with the same narrative weight as the traditional "will they/won't they" romance.
It doesn't replace the importance of the original series—which were pioneers—but it evolves the conversation. It brings in a new generation of queer creators and actors to tell stories that are intersectional, inclusive, and deeply human.
The most glaring limitation of the 1999 and 2000 iterations of Queer as Folk was their homogeneity. Liberty Avenue and Babylon were overwhelmingly white, cisgender, able-bodied, and affluent. While that specific, hyper-masculine aesthetic accurately reflected a certain subset of the turn-of-the-century club scene, it passed off a single sliver of the community as the universal queer experience.