taylor dinty Agreed. I hope Damian finds out about her fake illness and drops her like a hot potato, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out Maxine.
Damon is just such a sweetheart And while I dislike Maxine for what she's done I will give her props. It is THEIR wedding day. Not hers. A wedding involves two people. Both people should get to be happy
Starting not to like Maxine. Everything in the wedding is what she wants. There’s nothing that Damon has chosen. Grace has money. She can lay for the dream dress
Having seen how disappointed and sad a keen uploader and maker of Jarry videos have been with some of the developments in the Jarry storyline of late, it made me realize that to many viewers these characters represents more than just words on a paper and twists and turns to create maximum drama - or to inform and educate about real issues in life - which then are performed by cast member, filmed and edited together. For them certain characters and storylines represent something more, bigger and more profound than that. Since I myself have been very pleased with how excellently and true to real life James` paranoid obsession and doubts have been done - both by the writers, directors and the four main characters of that SL: Gregory Finnegan, Parry Glasspool, Lyssette Anthony and Kieron Richardson - it saddens me to see so many people - instead of being informed, and allow to see from the inside (of James) how characters like Laurie is being formed from the acts of others which has given them doubts and feelings of inferiority in themselves they feel they have to compensate for, and therefore wants to prove themselves to be powerful and in control - have been hurt by this development. Even to the point where they feel like giving up the show, or claim James never would have done what he has done. To those I would like to say this (and this is a copy and paste of what I wrote on the thread in question): But I hope now, after Marnie`s intervention and James determined to change for the better, most of your disappointment will have eased - and you will have gotten back the same good feelings and hopes you had for the pairing. I have honestly given up making sense of Hollyoaks character developments, cause they frankly are too inconsistent to be believable, with too abrupt changes both for good and bad. As much as I both prefer the Marnie we have today, and, unlike many others here, think James finally displayed his true colors - based on previous actions of his, his need for control, his narcissistic and sadistic tendencies (and not the least his paranoid traits) - fact of the matter is that Marnie, not James, was the one who had a history of mental challenges. When she and James first arrived, James was worried if she took her medication. That he had been stalking a previous boyfriend was not directly revealed back then. His only ex was the one he and JP had lunch with so James could meet his ex` new fiance. But just like Mac was turned into a monster with creative additions to his backstory, so now James has the same. Even though I have to say that in James` case - again because of what he has done previously - such a background have more solid credibility, than it did with Mac, when you compare what he had said and done prior to his transformation into Monster Mac. Having said that, you should not look at what James has been doing from a purely moral point of view, cause there is mental health reasons which dictated James` doubts about Harry and their relationship. Partly because James is a type of person who is obsessed with having control, and partly because (since Mac now is being painted out to have abused James physically and mentally during James` youth - despite not having shown any signs of having done so in the storylines before) he is scared of feeling as unloved and exposed as his father`s actions made him feel. So his need for control over Harry is part self-defense, to protect himself from being hurt emotionally, like he was when his father abused him - but also pride, he doesn`t want to be made a fool of. The latter comes from his mother, who all her life has been in the shadows of her domineering mother - and as a result Marnie has developed a need, which has been transferred to James, of always needing to be in the center of attention, and to feel special - even superior to others. What Marnie has been doing of late, however, is totally opposite to the self centered and selfish arrogance of looking down on others, she used to display. Now she is not only trying to look after her own son, and save his relationship, but she is also paying equal attention to Harry, and his needs. So Marnie is being quite extraordinary in this SL, and because of that her love and concern could be enough for James to not wanting to disappoint her, and as a consequence of that be able to actively work to change his interaction with Harry. Which again can make Harry feel less stressed, and to be walking on glass around James of what he could tell him, or who he could allow himself to see or talk to, allowing him to be more open and honest with James about what he is doing and who he is meeting. Which again will make James trust him more, they will repair the cracks in their relationship and turn over a new leaf. Thanks to Marnie`s masterful intervention, all the arrows are pointing in the right direction now - provided James think of looking for other alibis for Harry, than Sadie. Cause Sadie, being the mother of Harry`s child to be, would not automatically be believed, and since James knows that fact about Sadie - and since it can be claimed to be of importance - he would violate the law by not divulging as much to the prosecution and the court. But Harry took the bus to town the day when Grace was rund down. Breda saw him leave for it, and also knows he had to take the bus cause his car had been taken. Plus there more than likely would have been CCTV on board the bus, or close to the bus stop where he stepped of when the bus got into town, proving Harry could not have been driving the car as the same time as he was elsewhere in town walking on a pavement, or on board a bus. And therefore his statement of having left his phone in the car would have been true, and totally sunk the police`s claim that Harry`s phone placed him in the car at the time Grace was run down. So with all the Harry issues out of his head, James will hopefully start to think a like a lawyer for once, and ask Harry if he told anyone about the car being missing, when he first discovered it - and also how he got to his meeting with Sadie without his car. So don`t give up on Jarry yet. Who knows? The best might still be yet to come?
Will reply to your last post, just making a reasoned reply has been challenging. With regards to this I really like the new improved Marnie. I think there is so much scope for a double act with Juliet. She sees her as being able to rectify her mistakes with her children. I like the dynamic there. I agree the characters have indeed been implausible, with the exception of James, due to Greg Finnegan's performances. I think relationships are put together, with little regard to the story, because there has always been a strong ethos of the plot getting an emotional attachment to viewers. I remember John Paul coming out as being a massive story.I also remember Hannah's anorexia story being the reason I watched because it was the only soap to get to me emotionally. So as it appears Breda has knowledge Harry could not have caused the crash, why is there no mention she is vital to his case ?? I actually am not sure Jarry must be allowed to continue. Surely James has gone too far by drugging him because of his paranoia. Not that Harry is innocent but how could he cone back from that and trust James won't do to the same again ? As ever a good analysis. I see the emotional attachment is not the characters it is the way the story gives so much investment to difficult subjects.
@@susanjewitt8783 Breda at least know Harry`s car was missing long BEFORE Grace was run over, and also that Harry himself went to catch a bus immediately after having discovered his car was gone. But that is all what is required. Cause not only is Breda not related or closely connected to Harry in anyway - and therefore would more easily have been seen as a neutral witness, than Sadie, whose interest it would not be to have her baby`s father convicted of a crime - possibly even sent to jail. But the facts both the car having been taken long before Grace was run over, and that Harry took the bus, would have substantiated the fact that he had left his phone in the car, more than it would have suggested he reported the car stolen after the fact, to cover up that he had ran over Grace. So this case should be reasonably straight forward from now on for James. It beggars belief he hasn`t thought of asking Harry how he got into town, with his car being gone - and from there on secured definite proof Harry could not have been in the car, cause he was on a bus at the same time as the car drove into town. Most people seems to dislike James behaving outright like a psychopath - I am more frustrated with him constantly to be such a pathetic excuse of a lawyer, incapable of even the most straight forward and simpler cases. In regard to Marnie, I more think she connects with Juliet so well - not because she feels a need to compensate for her own children - but simply because she recognize herself very much in Juliet. She has said as much herself, and where Juliet came second to drugs, Marnie felt to come second to her mother`s many new husbands.But I agree the combo works well, and can have potential in a way non of the other mother figure & daughter figure pairings on Hollyoaks have. From Cindy and Holly, to Leela and Peri, Myra and her daughters, Diane and Lily, Diane and Sinead, Sienna and Nico, Simone & Lisa - they all have been more opposites which occasionally share the same objectives, than a well functioning team. But both Marnie and Juliet and Martine and Lisa have more a pally relationship, than a motherly one - but yet there is a mutual love and respect between them which is just as great as towards their real mothers. So yes, it is definitely and interesting combo. In regard to James and Harry I am conflicted, since I on one side find the entire pairing so out there because of their previous past on the show, my first thought was that whoever thought pairing up those two to be a good idea, should have his/her head examined. But with so many viewers so invested in them as has proven a fact, I think we have to recognize that the support and loyalty for these, and some other characters, comes closer to that of groupies for certain boy bands and supporters of football teams, than to simply watching a show and it`s developments. Prestige and inclusion into the group of supporters is secured from showing loyalty and devotion to the Jarry pairing, same way as Directioners showed their loyalty - and was accepted and included - through loyally supporting the view that One Direction was the best music group ever - or fans of Liverpool, ManU and more believe their club to be the best in the world (at least that is the front they present to the world), and that people who claim differently doesn`t know anything about football. So when into this a twist so inflammatory to the image of the key character, for many, of that pairing is thrown, they don`t know how to react, poor things. What they have loyally shipped and supported for months, and years some of them, has proven to not have been like that at all. But something they cannot support at all, and wouldn`t have supported at all, had they known. As a storyline I think it is absolutely blinding, since it by fooling the viewers (with the exception of the two of us, and some others, who were not at all surprised to see the shocking twist: that what was presented as love, more was a need for control), illustrates why real life victims of domestic abuse can both fall for the abusers in the first place, but also stay with them over time, since they usually don`t discover how damaged and dangerous their spouse is - until it is too late to escape. The same trap the poor Jarry fans has fallen in, thanks to how clever this storyline has been put together. They feel betrayed and deceived, but worse of all, is shocked to have discovered the character they felt represented them has proven to have been the total opposite - and their worse nightmare. It is easy to claim that it is only a tv show, and doesn`t matter. But no one likes to be taken for a ride. And when they on top of it discover they have been tricked into supporting a type of personality James had become their hero cause he had been able to free himself from, that can have been a shock to tough for them to being ready to accept, and as a result they either feel ready to give up on Hollyoaks or conclude the storyline to be an inaccurate representation of the real James. But hopefully, now that Marnie has interfered, James will change and the Jarry supporters will get the James character and Jarry relationship they thought they had been given already. Cause I`ll tell you it was downright painful to see so much disappointment and sadness, as was evident from the thread I am talking about - particularly when you read between the lines. It reminds me quite a lot of when the allegations of sexual abuse against Michael Jackson surfaced again, and some of the people who previously had thought him to be innocent, changed their mind, and had to deal with both guilt and shame as a consequence of the documentary. Off course this being a soap and not real life, we are not quite there - but the disappointment and feeling of having been betrayed and deceived to support a character they never would have supported, had they known how he truly could be, I don`t think we should underestimate. So hopefully this storyline will change for the better for the Jarry fans soon, so they again will feel to have the James and Jarry they thought they had already. I remember the JP and the eating disorder storyline too. Where the model friend actually died (the character - not the actress) as a result of the eating disorder, and that way the SL both addressed fashion`s obsession with ultra thin models - who often substituted food and narcotics, just to be able to work and function - and eating disorders as illnesses. I actually thought Hollyoaks had deserved to win best storyline for the McDean coming out storyline - instead that went to a rather predictable baby death SL in Emmerdale which was more leaflet style documentary about what actually happens after such a death, more than it was a dramatic storyline. While, because of JP`s former girlfriend developing an eating disorder, his friend/boyfriend having a brother struggling with mental health issues, and a sister who had cancer felt he couldn`t burden his family with coming out to - and as a result stringed his girlfriend along while twotiming her with JP. Wasn`t that what happened? Or was that how I would have liked it to develop? It is such a long time ago now, I cant really remember all the details.
@@susanjewitt8783 The first reply got a little long, so I`ll address the rest of the issues here: Yes, it is true I am not invested in the characters, as characters, but more interested in how well and accurate to real life types of people and situations they are being used as vehicles to tell entertaining stories with relevance to real life and real people. I believe soaps could be a great vehicle to both inform, enlighten and address questions important to real life, and which also could have brought insight into several different sides to both issues or types of people. If only both the characters and storylines had been solidly anchored in real life types of people, real life situations, procedures, institutions and logic. Instead tv is making people more judgmental, cynical and cruel. Both through certain types of soap storylines and characters, but mostly through so called reality shows which are designed as a clash between different types of stereotypes, which either form relationships or become hostile to each other. And that is the full point and entertainment value of the show - sexual partners or enemies. Together these types of shows both cement ad extend to more groups of people stereotyped perceptions of different types of people, and also the derogatory terms used to describe them. Loser and slut being the two most common. But they also create an environment where personal opinions and backstabbing of people is not only accepted, but considered to be tactics, and fully okay to use, when the objective is to win. I strongly disagree with that view. I don`t think we should condone that type of "tactics" in any aspect of life - and certainly not to win a reality show on tv, or to create extra much drama in a soap storyline. I believe SL in soaps should emerge from the personality of the characters, and what they are confronted with in actual storylines, and that those personalities should not change, unless something that happened in a storyline would have made that change likely. Not sure what you meant when you said you found it challenging to reply to the other thread you mentioned. When I described the various alternatives for the storyline, I took note of what has been revealed about the characters in question, and what that would offer of possible opportunities for future storyline developments. With Joel that was his drug background, and with Stuart and Johnny I had the challenge of coming up with a reason for why they would spend so much resources and time to recruit Ste, for whatever it is they have recruited him for. Harry doesn`t have much of a past - except being a school boy playing football on his school`s team and to be gay, and to have been a rent boy. So the parameters of the story gave themselves pretty quickly. The two intelligence agents competing to get the same promotion, would explain the tension and need to push the other aside. And the seriousness of the findings - suggesting Stuart and Johnny to be working for a Russian agent, perhaps not even knowing so themselves - why it would be important for the two section leaders to push their personal ambitions in the background, and instead work together to find out exactly what it was the Russians had planned to get Stuart and Johnny to get Ste to do - and why. But now that both of them had spoiled the others` plans for Harry, Harry could no longer be used, cause he already knew too much, because of what the first agent had revealed before the second turned up, because the second one`s plan would have been to get Harry to help voluntarily - without knowing what he was doing and why - just so he couldn`t reveal anything, had he been discovered - simply from feeling gratitude of the hit and run case being solved without he himself having to face any court room as an accused. If something was unclear, and not explained well enough, I apologize. But I did write this down more or less as I thought of it, so it is very much just a first brief treatment for a few scenes, more than a full draft. My intention was just to show that it would have been possible to both get Harry, Mercedes and Liam through the whole hit and run thing, without having to see the inside of a court room. And also to either get help for Ste, or place him in great risk of serious consequences - even though he wouldn`t have been aware of any of the possibilities - until the agents and their minions actually revealed themselves. If you wonder why Russia should bother with a small right wing extremists group in the UK, that is easy. Politically not only are the right wing extremists in both Europe and the US the political ideology which comes closest to the current ruling Russian sentiments and opinions. But after the EU has become a formidable power source over the last decades, and especially with it`s emphasis on democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, equality between genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences and more - and not the least a more proactive attitude towards climate change and to fight global warming, many in both the US and Russia, as well as other places around the world, would like to see a less united and much smaller EU which are more focused on trade than the other values I listed. By creating internal conflict and diversion - making the EU and it`s member countries too busy cleaning up their own mess to worry about other countries` - the EU`s power would be weakened. And if more countries should decide to leave, even more chaos and loss of power and influence would follow. And it is interesting to see that of the most dominant right wing extreme political parties within the EU at the moment, only the Polish one does not want anything to do with Russia. With that country`s history that is not strange at all. But why are so many of the others far less critical - some of them even supportive? There is a lot to suggest that communism as a threat to world peace and stability is long dead. But that the world panning 3rd Reich Hitler fantasized about, far from is the same. Even if it now seems to be an interesting mix from billionaires and multi national companies, to selected state leaders and right wing extremist groups and parties which could be heading in that direction, the similarities in both the agitation and type of organizing, the political ideals which are fronted and how careful they are with criticism of certain leaders, suggest them more to operate as one, than as individual groups. Even if it yet is unclear to which extent some of the minor participants are aware of it themselves. That there are large media companies which indirectly fronts and supports right wing extreme views through their "reporting" (propaganda) - and thereby indirectly secure those views support from, and influence to get, the presidents and prime ministers they want, give them further advantages in their campaign for dramatic changes. Brexit being the best example - so far. Joke: Do you know what the UK and US has in common? No, it is not the English language. Both countries are run by Rupert Murdoch. But the problems with freedom for the press is far more serious than the ownership of such organisations being on too few hands. After decades with increased press freedom and personal liberties, there has not only been a stagnation - but a decline in both. And more worryingly still, attacks and murders of reporters has also increased. But now I am moving away from the Hollyoaks topic, so I will leave it here. Always interesting to talk to you, though.
Do you love this dress as much as Maxine does??
Watch Hollyoaks on All 4: bit.ly/2IZ3Ohd
No it looks like plastic
taylor dinty Agreed. I hope Damian finds out about her fake illness and drops her like a hot potato, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out Maxine.
@@clownmama6823 why is this so true ? 😂
Maxine looks magical in that beautiful dress
I think on her wedding day he is going to find out the truth about her and lets see who looks beautiful now😂
Not really a dream dress she been married twice already
Why would you buy a £3000 dress to wear just for a few hours. That's ridiculous your only gonna wear it once
Melanie Haynes Some people pay hundreds of thousands on dresses. Some pay millions. Only to wear them once😳
It's not about how much it costs - it's about how it looks on you on your wedding day (the most important day of your life).
3 grand on a dress..holy smokes 😬😬😬
A. R my mums wedding dress was 13 grand
@@empty2353 😧😧😧
Damon is just such a sweetheart
And while I dislike Maxine for what she's done I will give her props. It is THEIR wedding day. Not hers. A wedding involves two people. Both people should get to be happy
i liked her best with dodger can they bring him back
yep we just need to get the jam and dodger will be back 😂
Cheers
Maxine... Do not have the audacity to compare yourself to the goddess that is Lady Gaga
Starting not to like Maxine. Everything in the wedding is what she wants. There’s nothing that Damon has chosen. Grace has money. She can lay for the dream dress
This storyline makes no sense. How are we to explain Maxine not being Maxine?
Having seen how disappointed and sad a keen uploader and maker of Jarry videos have been with some of the developments in the Jarry storyline of late, it made me realize that to many viewers these characters represents more than just words on a paper and twists and turns to create maximum drama - or to inform and educate about real issues in life - which then are performed by cast member, filmed and edited together. For them certain characters and storylines represent something more, bigger and more profound than that. Since I myself have been very pleased with how excellently and true to real life James` paranoid obsession and doubts have been done - both by the writers, directors and the four main characters of that SL: Gregory Finnegan, Parry Glasspool, Lyssette Anthony and Kieron Richardson - it saddens me to see so many people - instead of being informed, and allow to see from the inside (of James) how characters like Laurie is being formed from the acts of others which has given them doubts and feelings of inferiority in themselves they feel they have to compensate for, and therefore wants to prove themselves to be powerful and in control - have been hurt by this development. Even to the point where they feel like giving up the show, or claim James never would have done what he has done.
To those I would like to say this (and this is a copy and paste of what I wrote on the thread in question):
But I hope now, after Marnie`s intervention and James determined to change for the better, most of your disappointment will have eased - and you will have gotten back the same good feelings and hopes you had for the pairing. I have honestly given up making sense of Hollyoaks character developments, cause they frankly are too inconsistent to be believable, with too abrupt changes both for good and bad. As much as I both prefer the Marnie we have today, and, unlike many others here, think James finally displayed his true colors - based on previous actions of his, his need for control, his narcissistic and sadistic tendencies (and not the least his paranoid traits) - fact of the matter is that Marnie, not James, was the one who had a history of mental challenges. When she and James first arrived, James was worried if she took her medication. That he had been stalking a previous boyfriend was not directly revealed back then. His only ex was the one he and JP had lunch with so James could meet his ex` new fiance.
But just like Mac was turned into a monster with creative additions to his backstory, so now James has the same. Even though I have to say that in James` case - again because of what he has done previously - such a background have more solid credibility, than it did with Mac, when you compare what he had said and done prior to his transformation into Monster Mac.
Having said that, you should not look at what James has been doing from a purely moral point of view, cause there is mental health reasons which dictated James` doubts about Harry and their relationship. Partly because James is a type of person who is obsessed with having control, and partly because (since Mac now is being painted out to have abused James physically and mentally during James` youth - despite not having shown any signs of having done so in the storylines before) he is scared of feeling as unloved and exposed as his father`s actions made him feel. So his need for control over Harry is part self-defense, to protect himself from being hurt emotionally, like he was when his father abused him - but also pride, he doesn`t want to be made a fool of. The latter comes from his mother, who all her life has been in the shadows of her domineering mother - and as a result Marnie has developed a need, which has been transferred to James, of always needing to be in the center of attention, and to feel special - even superior to others.
What Marnie has been doing of late, however, is totally opposite to the self centered and selfish arrogance of looking down on others, she used to display. Now she is not only trying to look after her own son, and save his relationship, but she is also paying equal attention to Harry, and his needs. So Marnie is being quite extraordinary in this SL, and because of that her love and concern could be enough for James to not wanting to disappoint her, and as a consequence of that be able to actively work to change his interaction with Harry. Which again can make Harry feel less stressed, and to be walking on glass around James of what he could tell him, or who he could allow himself to see or talk to, allowing him to be more open and honest with James about what he is doing and who he is meeting. Which again will make James trust him more, they will repair the cracks in their relationship and turn over a new leaf.
Thanks to Marnie`s masterful intervention, all the arrows are pointing in the right direction now - provided James think of looking for other alibis for Harry, than Sadie. Cause Sadie, being the mother of Harry`s child to be, would not automatically be believed, and since James knows that fact about Sadie - and since it can be claimed to be of importance - he would violate the law by not divulging as much to the prosecution and the court. But Harry took the bus to town the day when Grace was rund down. Breda saw him leave for it, and also knows he had to take the bus cause his car had been taken. Plus there more than likely would have been CCTV on board the bus, or close to the bus stop where he stepped of when the bus got into town, proving Harry could not have been driving the car as the same time as he was elsewhere in town walking on a pavement, or on board a bus. And therefore his statement of having left his phone in the car would have been true, and totally sunk the police`s claim that Harry`s phone placed him in the car at the time Grace was run down. So with all the Harry issues out of his head, James will hopefully start to think a like a lawyer for once, and ask Harry if he told anyone about the car being missing, when he first discovered it - and also how he got to his meeting with Sadie without his car.
So don`t give up on Jarry yet. Who knows? The best might still be yet to come?
Will reply to your last post, just making a reasoned reply has been challenging.
With regards to this I really like the new improved Marnie. I think there is so much scope for a double act with Juliet. She sees her as being able to rectify her mistakes with her children. I like the dynamic there.
I agree the characters have indeed been implausible, with the exception of James, due to Greg Finnegan's performances. I think relationships are put together, with little regard to the story, because there has always been a strong ethos of the plot getting an emotional attachment to viewers. I remember John Paul coming out as being a massive story.I also remember Hannah's anorexia story being the reason I watched because it was the only soap to get to me emotionally.
So as it appears Breda has knowledge Harry could not have caused the crash, why is there no mention she is vital to his case ?? I actually am not sure Jarry must be allowed to continue. Surely James has gone too far by drugging him because of his paranoia. Not that Harry is innocent but how could he cone back from that and trust James won't do to the same again ?
As ever a good analysis. I see the emotional attachment is not the characters it is the way the story gives so much investment to difficult subjects.
@@susanjewitt8783 Breda at least know Harry`s car was missing long BEFORE Grace was run over, and also that Harry himself went to catch a bus immediately after having discovered his car was gone. But that is all what is required. Cause not only is Breda not related or closely connected to Harry in anyway - and therefore would more easily have been seen as a neutral witness, than Sadie, whose interest it would not be to have her baby`s father convicted of a crime - possibly even sent to jail. But the facts both the car having been taken long before Grace was run over, and that Harry took the bus, would have substantiated the fact that he had left his phone in the car, more than it would have suggested he reported the car stolen after the fact, to cover up that he had ran over Grace. So this case should be reasonably straight forward from now on for James. It beggars belief he hasn`t thought of asking Harry how he got into town, with his car being gone - and from there on secured definite proof Harry could not have been in the car, cause he was on a bus at the same time as the car drove into town.
Most people seems to dislike James behaving outright like a psychopath - I am more frustrated with him constantly to be such a pathetic excuse of a lawyer, incapable of even the most straight forward and simpler cases.
In regard to Marnie, I more think she connects with Juliet so well - not because she feels a need to compensate for her own children - but simply because she recognize herself very much in Juliet. She has said as much herself, and where Juliet came second to drugs, Marnie felt to come second to her mother`s many new husbands.But I agree the combo works well, and can have potential in a way non of the other mother figure & daughter figure pairings on Hollyoaks have. From Cindy and Holly, to Leela and Peri, Myra and her daughters, Diane and Lily, Diane and Sinead, Sienna and Nico, Simone & Lisa - they all have been more opposites which occasionally share the same objectives, than a well functioning team. But both Marnie and Juliet and Martine and Lisa have more a pally relationship, than a motherly one - but yet there is a mutual love and respect between them which is just as great as towards their real mothers. So yes, it is definitely and interesting combo.
In regard to James and Harry I am conflicted, since I on one side find the entire pairing so out there because of their previous past on the show, my first thought was that whoever thought pairing up those two to be a good idea, should have his/her head examined. But with so many viewers so invested in them as has proven a fact, I think we have to recognize that the support and loyalty for these, and some other characters, comes closer to that of groupies for certain boy bands and supporters of football teams, than to simply watching a show and it`s developments. Prestige and inclusion into the group of supporters is secured from showing loyalty and devotion to the Jarry pairing, same way as Directioners showed their loyalty - and was accepted and included - through loyally supporting the view that One Direction was the best music group ever - or fans of Liverpool, ManU and more believe their club to be the best in the world (at least that is the front they present to the world), and that people who claim differently doesn`t know anything about football.
So when into this a twist so inflammatory to the image of the key character, for many, of that pairing is thrown, they don`t know how to react, poor things. What they have loyally shipped and supported for months, and years some of them, has proven to not have been like that at all. But something they cannot support at all, and wouldn`t have supported at all, had they known.
As a storyline I think it is absolutely blinding, since it by fooling the viewers (with the exception of the two of us, and some others, who were not at all surprised to see the shocking twist: that what was presented as love, more was a need for control), illustrates why real life victims of domestic abuse can both fall for the abusers in the first place, but also stay with them over time, since they usually don`t discover how damaged and dangerous their spouse is - until it is too late to escape. The same trap the poor Jarry fans has fallen in, thanks to how clever this storyline has been put together. They feel betrayed and deceived, but worse of all, is shocked to have discovered the character they felt represented them has proven to have been the total opposite - and their worse nightmare. It is easy to claim that it is only a tv show, and doesn`t matter. But no one likes to be taken for a ride. And when they on top of it discover they have been tricked into supporting a type of personality James had become their hero cause he had been able to free himself from, that can have been a shock to tough for them to being ready to accept, and as a result they either feel ready to give up on Hollyoaks or conclude the storyline to be an inaccurate representation of the real James.
But hopefully, now that Marnie has interfered, James will change and the Jarry supporters will get the James character and Jarry relationship they thought they had been given already. Cause I`ll tell you it was downright painful to see so much disappointment and sadness, as was evident from the thread I am talking about - particularly when you read between the lines. It reminds me quite a lot of when the allegations of sexual abuse against Michael Jackson surfaced again, and some of the people who previously had thought him to be innocent, changed their mind, and had to deal with both guilt and shame as a consequence of the documentary.
Off course this being a soap and not real life, we are not quite there - but the disappointment and feeling of having been betrayed and deceived to support a character they never would have supported, had they known how he truly could be, I don`t think we should underestimate. So hopefully this storyline will change for the better for the Jarry fans soon, so they again will feel to have the James and Jarry they thought they had already.
I remember the JP and the eating disorder storyline too. Where the model friend actually died (the character - not the actress) as a result of the eating disorder, and that way the SL both addressed fashion`s obsession with ultra thin models - who often substituted food and narcotics, just to be able to work and function - and eating disorders as illnesses. I actually thought Hollyoaks had deserved to win best storyline for the McDean coming out storyline - instead that went to a rather predictable baby death SL in Emmerdale which was more leaflet style documentary about what actually happens after such a death, more than it was a dramatic storyline. While, because of JP`s former girlfriend developing an eating disorder, his friend/boyfriend having a brother struggling with mental health issues, and a sister who had cancer felt he couldn`t burden his family with coming out to - and as a result stringed his girlfriend along while twotiming her with JP. Wasn`t that what happened? Or was that how I would have liked it to develop? It is such a long time ago now, I cant really remember all the details.
@@susanjewitt8783 The first reply got a little long, so I`ll address the rest of the issues here:
Yes, it is true I am not invested in the characters, as characters, but more interested in how well and accurate to real life types of people and situations they are being used as vehicles to tell entertaining stories with relevance to real life and real people. I believe soaps could be a great vehicle to both inform, enlighten and address questions important to real life, and which also could have brought insight into several different sides to both issues or types of people. If only both the characters and storylines had been solidly anchored in real life types of people, real life situations, procedures, institutions and logic. Instead tv is making people more judgmental, cynical and cruel. Both through certain types of soap storylines and characters, but mostly through so called reality shows which are designed as a clash between different types of stereotypes, which either form relationships or become hostile to each other. And that is the full point and entertainment value of the show - sexual partners or enemies.
Together these types of shows both cement ad extend to more groups of people stereotyped perceptions of different types of people, and also the derogatory terms used to describe them. Loser and slut being the two most common. But they also create an environment where personal opinions and backstabbing of people is not only accepted, but considered to be tactics, and fully okay to use, when the objective is to win. I strongly disagree with that view. I don`t think we should condone that type of "tactics" in any aspect of life - and certainly not to win a reality show on tv, or to create extra much drama in a soap storyline. I believe SL in soaps should emerge from the personality of the characters, and what they are confronted with in actual storylines, and that those personalities should not change, unless something that happened in a storyline would have made that change likely.
Not sure what you meant when you said you found it challenging to reply to the other thread you mentioned. When I described the various alternatives for the storyline, I took note of what has been revealed about the characters in question, and what that would offer of possible opportunities for future storyline developments. With Joel that was his drug background, and with Stuart and Johnny I had the challenge of coming up with a reason for why they would spend so much resources and time to recruit Ste, for whatever it is they have recruited him for. Harry doesn`t have much of a past - except being a school boy playing football on his school`s team and to be gay, and to have been a rent boy.
So the parameters of the story gave themselves pretty quickly. The two intelligence agents competing to get the same promotion, would explain the tension and need to push the other aside. And the seriousness of the findings - suggesting Stuart and Johnny to be working for a Russian agent, perhaps not even knowing so themselves - why it would be important for the two section leaders to push their personal ambitions in the background, and instead work together to find out exactly what it was the Russians had planned to get Stuart and Johnny to get Ste to do - and why. But now that both of them had spoiled the others` plans for Harry, Harry could no longer be used, cause he already knew too much, because of what the first agent had revealed before the second turned up, because the second one`s plan would have been to get Harry to help voluntarily - without knowing what he was doing and why - just so he couldn`t reveal anything, had he been discovered - simply from feeling gratitude of the hit and run case being solved without he himself having to face any court room as an accused.
If something was unclear, and not explained well enough, I apologize. But I did write this down more or less as I thought of it, so it is very much just a first brief treatment for a few scenes, more than a full draft. My intention was just to show that it would have been possible to both get Harry, Mercedes and Liam through the whole hit and run thing, without having to see the inside of a court room. And also to either get help for Ste, or place him in great risk of serious consequences - even though he wouldn`t have been aware of any of the possibilities - until the agents and their minions actually revealed themselves.
If you wonder why Russia should bother with a small right wing extremists group in the UK, that is easy. Politically not only are the right wing extremists in both Europe and the US the political ideology which comes closest to the current ruling Russian sentiments and opinions. But after the EU has become a formidable power source over the last decades, and especially with it`s emphasis on democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, equality between genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences and more - and not the least a more proactive attitude towards climate change and to fight global warming, many in both the US and Russia, as well as other places around the world, would like to see a less united and much smaller EU which are more focused on trade than the other values I listed. By creating internal conflict and diversion - making the EU and it`s member countries too busy cleaning up their own mess to worry about other countries` - the EU`s power would be weakened. And if more countries should decide to leave, even more chaos and loss of power and influence would follow.
And it is interesting to see that of the most dominant right wing extreme political parties within the EU at the moment, only the Polish one does not want anything to do with Russia. With that country`s history that is not strange at all. But why are so many of the others far less critical - some of them even supportive?
There is a lot to suggest that communism as a threat to world peace and stability is long dead. But that the world panning 3rd Reich Hitler fantasized about, far from is the same. Even if it now seems to be an interesting mix from billionaires and multi national companies, to selected state leaders and right wing extremist groups and parties which could be heading in that direction, the similarities in both the agitation and type of organizing, the political ideals which are fronted and how careful they are with criticism of certain leaders, suggest them more to operate as one, than as individual groups. Even if it yet is unclear to which extent some of the minor participants are aware of it themselves. That there are large media companies which indirectly fronts and supports right wing extreme views through their "reporting" (propaganda) - and thereby indirectly secure those views support from, and influence to get, the presidents and prime ministers they want, give them further advantages in their campaign for dramatic changes. Brexit being the best example - so far.
Joke: Do you know what the UK and US has in common? No, it is not the English language. Both countries are run by Rupert Murdoch.
But the problems with freedom for the press is far more serious than the ownership of such organisations being on too few hands. After decades with increased press freedom and personal liberties, there has not only been a stagnation - but a decline in both. And more worryingly still, attacks and murders of reporters has also increased.
But now I am moving away from the Hollyoaks topic, so I will leave it here.
Always interesting to talk to you, though.
@derail You really have no idea how transparent such a statement is, do you - or how much it says about you. Well, that is your headache.