miracle (miracle) wrote in luke_noah, @ 2007-11-27 13:14:00 |
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Current mood: | contemplative |
Luke and Noah Meta
Original poster: chelseafrew
I wanted to write a little about my Nuke Love, and figured you guys were the right people to inflict my meta on.
I began watching ATWT (again; I watched on and off all through high school, but that was over 20! years ago) in September when someone on my flist (I believe it was bigboobedcanuck, if memory serves) posted that first kiss the boys shared. I was intrigued and made my way to You Tube to hunt down the other parts of the story. Not long after, I started TiVoing the show every day so I could zip through everything but Nuke when they were on. And not long after that I read the spoilers about the Fishing Trip of Doom and how Luke was going to end up in a wheelchair.
For as long as I can remember, disability in all media (books, tv, movies; I’ll take it anywhere I can get it) has been a fascination for me. And there is almost nothing that can set me off on a rant like a story in which someone is disabled then receives a miracle cure. I have written many a story (original and fanfic) in which characters are disabled, and I can promise you, none of them have been miraculously healed. Drives me crazy. So you can imagine my simultaneous joy and horror at the news of this storyline. I was excited that they were going to do a storyline in which someone is faced with a disability, but this is a soap, so I knew that somewhere down the line (within a matter of months, in all likelihood), Luke would be up and walking again.
So, the way this storyline has progressed should have me bald by now, every hair on my head torn out in frustration. Luke never had to go to rehab. He was sent home from the hospital within, like, a week, to be given occasional therapy by an actual physical therapist, but more often by his parents and Noah. He falls at the street fair (less than a month after his injury) and needs no help getting up. I’ll give them a pass on his first little standing stunt, since I can tell myself he was merely holding himself up with his arms, and that’s kinda sorta believable. But that bit at the police station? Where he just stood when he was yelling at Col. Mayer? “I forgot I was in the wheelchair.” Please! If that worked, there would be many, many less disabled people around. I am glad, though, that he’s not quite yet walking around, though I sense that is not too far around the corner. All of that, though, and I am not bald. Still have plenty of hair on my head. And I am intrigued by why that is.
I cannot stress how much the Miracle Fix It bothers me. When they did that on Dark Angel back in 2000, I didn’t enjoy the show nearly half as much as I had and was really happy when it was cancelled. I check the backs of books in which there are disabled characters so I’ll know if they’re healed by the end of the book. Chances are fair that I won’t even read it if they are. So this storyline should have sent me running. This is a soap opera. I have been watching soap operas on and off for well over 20 years. I know how it works. A character is disabled long enough for there to be angst and despair, then they are healed. All better. And it’s like it never happened. As I said, makes me crazy.
But I have been relatively sanguine throughout this storyline, occasionally horrible execution and all. And I think it’s because I have just, in such a short time, really come to love both Luke and Noah. And Van and Jake, too, for that matter. I am so happy that daytime tv has taken on a gay couple, and overall, I think they’ve done a pretty good job (although the recent lack of touching has been worrisome; hope they aren’t chickening out). They’re both so young and awkward and it’s been interested watching them move slowly toward each other and having to work together through all their issues (Noah’s dad, Luke’s paralysis, Noah only recently accepting that he’s gay). First love can be difficult, and the show is most certainly not trying to contradict that.
It helps, too, that going into the storyline, I knew exactly what would happen. Maybe not how, but I knew what. I knew that by Christmas, if not Thanksgiving, Luke would be walking again. I never for a single, solitary millisecond thought the paralysis would be permanent. And while I will not lie and say I am completely okay with that (they could use a few more disabled people on the soaps; ones that stay that way, too), I am mostly okay with that.
I am looking forward to seeing what’s in store for the boys, beyond Luke getting better. I am really hoping the writers’ strike doesn’t affect their storyline too much. I want to watch them build up to real “I love you”s and maybe (gasp!) even some sex. I’m invested. I’m invested in ways that are probably sad and disproportionate, but that’s the way it is. I guess that’s the bottom line. I love Luke, and I love Noah, and I love Luke and Noah, so I’m willing to forgive just about anything to be able to have them on my TV once or twice a week. Keep it coming!
Thank you to all who have managed to read thus far, and I would love any comments you may have to share.