Members Angela Posted November 26, 2006 Members Share Posted November 26, 2006 No, no really I think the story is Zarf was born a man who's always felt he was a woman...a woman who just happens to be a lesbian (if he's fallen for Bianca). This way if Bianca returns Zarf's feelings eventually it's literally man-and-woman but figuratively woman-and-woman until there's an operation, if there's an operation. ABCD would be more comfortable with that in terms of showing actual romance for Bianca. Why that would make them more comfortable? I'm not sure - it's just a hell of a lot more convoluted. I'm not defending this story, IMO they should have just made Zarf a gay-man/straight woman. But it's not as simple as a straight man wanting women if he feels as if everything in his mind, body and soul has been that of a woman even though he has all the male parts. In the SOD article Carruthers pretty much says the transition with Zarf hasn't begun, we'll be seeing him go through the phase of accepting who he really is. Who he really is in his heart and soul - is a woman. If he hasn't dealed with any of these conflicting feeling it's not likely that he - or possibly she, as some of you are assuming - ever had any type of sex-change surgery. Azure on "The City" already had the operation to become a woman right? Carruthers said in the article that Zarf hasn't been through that transition yet when they mentioned Azure to her - he's going to be basically in the starting to deal with it phase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angela Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 From the Associated Press: http://www.comcast.net/news/entertainment/.../26/528774.html Soap to Feature Transgender Character By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer NEW YORK - In a story unusual even for a soap opera and believed to be a television first, ABC's "All My Children" this week will introduce a transgender character who is beginning to make the transition from a man into a woman. The character, a flamboyant rock star known as Zarf, kisses the lesbian character Bianca and much drama ensues. The storyline begins with Thursday's episode of the daytime drama. There have been a handful of post-surgical transgender characters in television shows, including a college professor in the 2001 prime-time CBS series "The Education of Max Bickford" and a model in the short-lived ABC soap opera "The City" in 1996, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Showtime's "The L Word" currently features a character changing from a woman into a man. "All My Children" was looking for something new, and knows its audience is always interested in anything to do with sexuality, said Julie Hanan Carruthers, the show's executive producer. "After 36 years, you start rehashing," she said. "It's inevitable. We didn't want to fall back on the baby-switch story again." The show wasn't interested in doing something just to be sensational, she said. GLAAD and some transgenders were brought in as consultants in shaping the character, teaching the producers when it is appropriate to call a character "she" even before surgery, she said. Damon Romine, a spokesman for GLAAD, said he hasn't seen the show yet but feels people involved were genuinely interested in telling the story with dignity. Emotions are so close to the surface in soap operas, and this story can serve a purpose by showing what transgenders go through, he said. "I think it's groundbreaking and breakthrough television for daytime to put a spotlight on transgender people and tell their story," he said. "All My Children" could use some attention. Mirroring the decline of daytime dramas in general, its average audience has slipped from 8.2 million in 1991-92 to 3.1 million last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. Particularly last summer, "All My Children" has tried several new characters, said Carolyn Hinsey, editor of Soap Opera Weekly. "They're trying really hard and they're throwing a whole lot of desperate stuff against the wall to see what sticks," she said. Actor Jeffrey Carlson portrays Zarf, an American who nonetheless speaks in an exaggerated British accent. He was on the show for one day last summer and was surprised to get a call pitching him the new story. Carlson said it can be intimidating feeling that he is representing the entire transgender community. "I worry about missing something, but I guess that would be the same with any character," he said. "I want the `All My Children' audience to go along. It's not for shock value. It's just another person who's story is being told in Pine Valley." After Zarf establishes a bond with Bianca that leads to the kiss, an angry Bianca tells him she's a lesbian. It triggers something within Zarf about why it made such sense to be falling in love with a lesbian. It's not clear, Carruthers said, whether "All My Children" will stick with the Zarf character through any surgery; one suspects the reaction of the soap's audience to the story will have a lot to do with it. "She talks about peace so much," Carlson said of his character. "I hope that she finds some peace." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tishy Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 I just get the feeling that this story won't work. It's too confusing. I would rather have Bianca find love but not with a potential serial killer. TPTB will be angering a lot of people if Zarf is the killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alwaysAMC Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 I'm starting to think that Zarf isn't the serial killer - that was just a speculative rumor since he was new to the show and he's a rock star figure that was involved with Fusion this summer. I think the serial killer will be someone different now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Target Demo Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 Not only that, but it is beyond belief for them to say they've done everything - and they don't want to do yet another baby swap - when Bianca hasn't had one real, onscreen, sexually active and normal romance yet. Don't they know how offensive it is to have not done that ... And then, on top of that, to use Binks to drive this story? Why couldn't Zarf kiss babe or someone else? What happens to most of my transgender transitioning friends is they find straight girlfriends or have wives already and they slowly come out to them. There are lots of actors in the valley that could be with Zarf in this storyline. It's just another excuse to de-lesbify Bianca even more. After all ... name one young actress on this show that hasn't had a hookup of the hot and heavy kind (other than no-touch-Lily) on screen. And the last character that got into Bianca's pants ONSCREEN was Michael "the rapist" Cambias, unless you coun't Dr. David's rape exam. Now, Zarf kisses hger? Where would that be going that would interest me as a Bianca fan? It's infuriating, because I would really like to watch a transexual storyline. But this feels like just a big FU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JER Soaps Fan Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!@!! I read through all these posts and first, got REALLY confused, and second, got REALLY intrigued! Looks like I have to put AMC back on my VCR timer beginning this Thursday. I really think Zarf and Bianca, however bizarre it sounds, is a step in the right direction for this show. It's just SO soapy and bizarre and intriguing. It invites viewers to see the unknown and for me, this is the unknown. I have not seen a transgendered person (in real life) before. I've seen them on some TV shows and movies but not fleshed out like this. I really can't wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angela Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 I agree with Target Demo. I would have given AMC more credit if they actually let Bianca have a lesbian relationship, while also doing a Transgenger story. Not seemingly using the Transgender story to further stifle Bianca' romantic life and for stunt effect. There's no guarantee Zarf/Bianca will have a romance, and if they do it will be with for all-parts, a male. Bianca has not had one normal sexual-romantic relationship on this show. She's had intense love stories with her sister, and Babe [that would have been quite, uhm, wow in terms of lesbian relationships if these people weren't her sister and a straight chick] - and a few kisses with a few chicks [one a lesbian, one confused], but that's it. I will say both the serial killer story and the transgender story are a change of pace for AMC in terms of storylines because uhm no babies are involved yet (etc...), I think. I don't have much faith in AMC doing either story well, in some ways they're already messing up - as forementioned...and I can't even count how many stories with potential that these group of PTB's have ruined even when it was so simple not to. Anyways, we'll see what happens soon enough, I guess... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alwaysAMC Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 Ain't that the truth....that part I'm so happy about. Megan is all about babies and rapists. Thank God the big stories coming up deal with neither...yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Charles Posted November 27, 2006 Members Share Posted November 27, 2006 This story won't hold any weight. I think the “lesbian trapped in a man’s body” is dumb. It would have made more sense if Zarf was born a lesbian woman, got surgery to be a man to feel "safe" in his attraction to women, and then dealing with the issues that come from that. This doesn't interest me at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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