Gay and Streaming

[HoldenIsHere]

I'm wondering if there are any series that present sexual intercourse between male same-sex partners with the realistic awkwardness and clumsiness that often accompanies sexual activities even between partners in ongoing relationships.
The series GIRLS (2012-2017) did a good job with its frank and realistic portrayal of sex between members of the opposite sex.
But, even though the show featured gay male characters (notably the character of Elijah played by Andrew Rannells), I don't recall any depictions of male same-sex shagging.

On the subject of Elijah, the character was a great addition to GIRLS, but I admit that perhaps I enjoyed the character more when he was recurring rather than a regular character on the series.
His introduction was one of the best TV series character introductions of all-time.
When lead character Hannah (played by series creator Lena Dunham) meets with ex-boyfriend from college Elijah to confront him with her suspicion that he gave her HPV, Elijah reveals that he is gay.

ELIJAH You're asking did I always want to have sex with men? Yes. Are you asking did I think about it when we were together? Yes.
HANNAH So then how were you able to have sex with me?
ELIJAH Well, there’s a, there’s a, a handsomess to you . . .

[CinemaInternational]

Moving back toward my original thoughts: we just watched episode 6 of FELLOW TRAVELERS, where once again the sexual acts showed the status of the relationship between Hawk, now married with children, and Tim, now a seminary student. Hawk realizes that Tim would not be willing to engage in anal sex, but the guys get in bed naked and both men satisfy themselves. This is shown waist up and accurately simulated. As you might expect, Tim feels guilty about this, too.

We also have a scene where Hawk's wife Lucy insists that her husband make love to her. She lowers her panties (this is shot from a sideways angle) and her husband gets on top of her. What we mainly see in the simulated sex is Hawk's bare buttocks. I couldn't help chuckling at the thought that this is how you film heterosexual sex for a mostly gay audience: no breasts, and concentrate on Matt Bomer's posterior.

This reminds me of Franco Zeffirelli's treatment of nudity in his adaptation of ROMEO ABD JULIET.
There's a quite brief shot of Olivia Hussey's bare breasts but a lingering shot of Leonard Whiting's bare tushie.

Bare behinds seemed to be a trend for Zeffirelli. A few years later, he made the film about St. Francis of Assisi, Brother Sun Sister Moon (1972). Now, if one is Catholic, one is familiar with how Francis renounced all of his worldly goods to become a religious..... And that included removing all of his clothing and handing it back to his father.....in front of the bishop in public, no less. Zefferelli did indeed stage that scene in the movie, and there were many lingering shots of the lead's behind and chest. And actually, the original theatrical poster for the film showed Francis fully nude from behind.

[HoldenIsHere]

I'm wondering if there are any series that present sexual intercourse between male same-sex partners with the realistic awkwardness and clumsiness that often accompanies sexual activities even between partners in ongoing relationships.
The series GIRLS (2012-2017) did a good job with its frank and realistic portrayal of sex between members of the opposite sex.
But, even though the show featured gay male characters (notably the character of Elijah played by Andrew Rannells), I don't recall any depictions of male same-sex shagging.

On the subject of Elijah, the character was a great addition to GIRLS, but I admit that perhaps I enjoyed the character more when he was recurring rather than a regular character on the series.
His introduction was one of the best TV series character introductions of all-time.
When lead character Hannah (played by series creator Lena Dunham) meets with ex-boyfriend from college Elijah to confront him with her suspicion that he gave her HPV, Elijah reveals that he is gay.

ELIJAH You're asking did I always want to have sex with men? Yes. Are you asking did I think about it when we were together? Yes.
HANNAH So then how were you able to have sex with me?
ELIJAH Well, there’s a, there’s a, a handsomess to you . . .

I've never seen GIRLS. Elijah seems like a nasty piece of work in that scene. Lena Dunham is definitely onto something when Hannah tells Elijah how "gay" he's become after he came out. When he says he's now "his authentic self," that's patently untrue. Instead of acting the way he thinks he's expected to act as a straight man, he's now acting the way he thinks he's expected to act as a gay man.

That reminds me of the documentary DO I SOUND GAY? The filmmaker--who, oh yeah, really sounds gay--touches on the subject of what this means. One of his women friends tells him that his friends all knew when he had come out because of the changes in his behavior. Although he hadn't yet told them he was gay, they knew because of the different ways he sounded and acted.

The character of Elijah in GIRLS was indeed a piece of work. He was like the Sue Ann Nivens of the show (there were a lot THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW parallels including at least one direct reference).

One of my favorite Elijah quotes:
"If you could maybe give me an introduction to the Broadway world, that'd be great. You know, the closest I've gotten is, you know, a hand job from a guy from PIPPIN."

[I Love Melvin]

Only one more episode of FELLOW TRAVELERS, the show which started this thread. Episode 7 features the aftermath of Harvey Milk's murder and a summer on the gay section of Fire Island. A fair amount of male nudity, include a brief frontal shot, and once again Matt Bomer's derriere is on display. The weakness of the show continues to be that the actors simply don't age as they would in real life. The great strength is that Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey, even with their clothes on, give marvelous performances. Hawk and Tim can't help loving each other, and this warps their lives.

I agree about the strength of the acting, on all levels; even someone who basically only appeared once, Hawk's mother, made her scene memorable as she followed her son outside to the driveway after he'd fallen out yet again with his dying and still disapproving father. And I also agree about the unrealistic aging process, particularly with Bomer's character, who had obviously been abusing alcohol since the get-go but somehow managed to keep that buff body into the 1970's, which I believe is the last time we saw him naked. They gave him a slight belly roll for the 80's scenes and tinges of gray at the temples, but what the hey? You mentioned Milk's murder and Fire Island and that gets to the heart of one of my big objections, that the original story of the purge of gays in government in the 50's was expanded so far outward that the core of the novel receded so far into the distance as to be almost forgotten. I understand (somewhat) the impulse to tell the "whole" story of mid-century gay history since there were such compelling characters with which to do it, but between Hawk and Tim and the journalist Marcus and his partner they all seemed to be popping up, Forrest Gump-like, at key moments and in key places. Nobody threw a brick at Stonewall or installed the first disco ball, but otherwise they came pretty close to touching all the bases. Back in the 1990's (I think.) one of the networks tried a series of Movie-of-the-Week things, each centering on a decade, beginning with the 1960's, with a limited cast of characters telling the story of an entire decade. It resulted in a lot of jerry-rigged history and garbled narrative. That's not really what happened in Fellow Travelers, but it came close. But still, if I had the choice of seeing the original story told in four episodes or this expanded story told over eight, I'd definitely go for the fuller version. And if you're going for iconic moments, they couldn't have done better than to end it with the Quilt on the National Mall, the single most stirring moment many have ever experienced.

[HoldenIsHere]

I just learned that Jonathan Bailey from FELLOW TRAVELERS is playing Fiyero in the WICKED movie that opens in November.

[HoldenIsHere]

This is peripherally related to this topic, so I will post it here.

Bowen Yang's "Oh yeah, I'm full hetero" ---- Love it!