Reacting to Fellow Travelers - Episode 2
Added 2023-11-08 06:00:02 +0000 UTCGoooood morning beautiful Patreon family and sending a huge hello from Paris!
Today we are jumping back into Fellow Travelers which will be our main focus for the next 6 weeks! I love this show so, so much and I am very much looking forward to having my heart torn into a million pieces each week ♥️
Love, always ♥️
Comments
Hands down this is one of the best and most important chronicles of our history and the unfiltered queer experience. Kudos to you for recognizing that.
John Tucker
2024-06-18 21:56:35 +0000 UTCIt took me a while to finish this episode because it hit too close to home. Obviously I wasn‘t alive back in the 1950‘s but what my grandad had to endure still affects my family today. My grandma told me that there was no sexual education back then, when she met my grandad she had never even heard the word „Gay“ before. When friends asked her if she knew that her husband was gay she had no idea what they where talking about. But after some time she realised that their relationship was different from others and she started having an affair. My grandad felt trapped and miserable and in 1972 when my mum was 11 years old and her sisters where 10 and 14 years old, he took a gun and shot himself. My mum and her sisters where so deeply traumatised that my mum‘s younger sister commited suicide in 1983 and my mum‘s older sister exactly 1 year ago. My mum has been in therapy all her life. It‘s been 51 years since my grandad died but we are still coping with the aftereffects. It‘s not just horrible for the people who had to live in that time it destroys whole families for generations. Watching Heartstopper always makes me think about my grandad. I wish he could have had that eventhough I wouldn‘t exist if he had.
Wiebke Kempa
2023-12-11 12:39:51 +0000 UTCI just started watching your reactions to Fellow Travellers because I needed to be in a good place to watch this and now I hear that you speak about my comment 🥰 that was so unexpected 🥲
Wiebke Kempa
2023-11-28 12:29:29 +0000 UTCI highly recommend reading The Devient’s War by Eric Cervini. It covers a great deal of queer history in the USA during the 40’s - 80’s. There is lots of crossover with this series. They really did their research.
Michael Cox
2023-11-28 01:40:45 +0000 UTCIt occurs to me that sex-repulsed asexuals would not be immune from suspicion. It's one thing to be caught engaging in deviant acts, but if all it takes to draw suspicion is saying "no" to dates or not marrying someone, then asexuals were not protected, either. It angers me that some people in the LGBT community feel like asexuals and aromantics don't belong under its umbrella because they haven't had to face the same kind of persecution that trauma-bonds allosexuals deviating from the heteronormative societal mandate. I call BS. The pressure to marry and produce children has been enormous throughout history, and those who choose not to are "othered" in every time period. Sometimes they are pathologized, sometimes they are demonized, and sometimes they are mistaken for a different kind of deviant, but declining to produce heirs has been seen as such a monstrous problem for communities that unless you are born into incredible privilege, then you are under suspicion whether the prevailing rumor about the cause of your failure is true or not.
Kt B
2023-11-12 06:56:05 +0000 UTCThis is so sad and we are definitely seeing how real all this was for them all, my heart broke for Mary when she gave up Caroline to save herself knowing how much she loved her and also again when Hawke just said ‘I’m home now’ So so hard to watch but definitely need to be seen.
Audrey Gunn
2023-11-11 10:46:32 +0000 UTCThank you for this video Jackie, it is a hard watch but I think it is important that it is seen.
Erin
2023-11-11 09:17:21 +0000 UTCJackie, watch this interview with the creator of the show (it's not spoilery if you've watched the first two episodes). He mentions the history and the reason for this show and I think this speaks to the content you want to create that engages with the lgbtqia+ history portrayed here. https://www.youtube.com/live/zR08hTxLFdQ?si=xVmJNbmiMdJM1K1L
Dionne Lakey
2023-11-09 12:07:06 +0000 UTCRewatched Episode 2. Hawk Fuller is the gay brother we never knew Don Draper had. When he played back the film of the Rosenberg protests it immediately called to mind the Kodak carousel episode of “Mad Men.”
dgmcbride
2023-11-09 03:16:54 +0000 UTCIf you noticed Hawke made the same choice that his mother did. She wanted a certain type of life and his father could give that to her even though she didn't love (or like) him. Hawke wants a certain type of life and he is willing to marry Lucy to get it. I found that parallel quite sad.
Rosie Dickinson
2023-11-09 00:02:36 +0000 UTCI’m so sorry for all of the loss and anguish you’ve experienced.
Diane Furlong
2023-11-08 22:12:49 +0000 UTCYou are right that the show it’s not easy to watch, which is one reason I’m not watching the show before I watch your reaction – I’m not sure I could watch each episode twice without a good bit of time in between. And this is from someone who has read a fair amount about the history of this time period. Part of what is fascinating is that Tim is such a sympathetic character, and yet he is working for one of the most evil figures in 20th century American history, Joseph McCarthy. The David Schine and Roy Cohn parts of the story really underline the hypocrisy that existed at the time (and for Cohn continued for many years, as is made clear in “Angels in America”). It has to have been a terrifying time for many people, including people, who were LGBTQ+. And as disturbing as it is to read the history, seeing it reflected in these characters lives makes it even more horrific.
Lane Wright
2023-11-08 21:58:13 +0000 UTCThis show is intense and as you said very difficult to watch. Quite honestly ,I started to watch it the first night it aired and I turned it off after 15 minutes. I did not want to see another gay tragedy especially about AIDS. I lived through it and lost all of my friends who were my chosen family. I was so traumatized by it I I didn’t have sex for 10 years and suffered from PTSD most of my adult life. It wasn’t until I saw your reaction on YouTube that I was convinced to watch the whole episode. I’m happy I did. I believe it is a show that needs to be seen. The acting, the historical context and character development are incredible. So far the ratings have been disappointing. Thank you for advocating for it to be seen and encouraging people to watch it.
Jon Anthony Carsello
2023-11-08 17:52:55 +0000 UTCOoh, I heard him say the name of the hotel but I didn’t make the connection.
Diane Furlong
2023-11-08 16:26:01 +0000 UTCAnyone spot the historical “Easter Egg?” When Marcus hands Robert Kennedy the paperwork about David Schine’s 4-F status (4-F meant you weren’t physically fit for military service) he mentions the Schine family owns the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Ambassador Hotel was where RFK was assassinated in 1968. Great writing to work in that little bit of historical trivia.
dgmcbride
2023-11-08 15:40:35 +0000 UTCYou raise an interesting point about the characters’ age in the series. I, too, noticed a slight disconnect especially with Hawk’s age. If Hawk fought during WWII, he was a member of what was referred to as the “Greatest Generation.” This generation was born between 1901-1927. In the scene at his parents’ house the trophy Hawk retrieves from the closet appears to be from a doubles championship he won with Kenny. The date, best I could tell, was from 1935. In Episode 1 Hawk mentions his first liaison with Kenny in 11th grade. So that would make Hawk probably 17 in 1935, giving him a birth year of 1918. That would make him 68 in 1986 when he finally gets posted overseas to Italy. That was retirement age. So you’re exactly right: the writers took a little “poetic license” with Hawk’s age. Still a great show, obviously.
dgmcbride
2023-11-08 15:34:00 +0000 UTCSuch a powerful episode! It breaks my heart that people had to and often still have to live in secret lives! Thank you Jackie!
Diane Furlong
2023-11-08 14:40:03 +0000 UTCOh things start getting real in this episode. It’s still quite early here. I’ll be back to watch in a bit. Thanks Jackie
Diane Furlong
2023-11-08 10:53:07 +0000 UTCNot to get too personal, but when my family first found out I was dating a girl, it was a big, horrible mess, and a bit like an interrogation around the table and everything. I remember curling in a ball just like Mary when it was over and crying so hard that I made myself sick, so that scene gave me all kinds of triggers that I was not expecting. I was so proud of Hawk for not apologizing to his father. When he said “watch her” though, I gasped. And knew she would because what other choice was given?
Jamie
2023-11-08 08:09:13 +0000 UTChawk letting out his true feelings towards tim by getting him to write the note to mary and making himself clean instead of being able to say it to tim’s face really broke my heart - the “im home now” line also broke me 😭 this whole show is just gonna break me😭❤️
Olivia
2023-11-08 06:59:41 +0000 UTC
