Y&R: Maria Arena Bell interview

[Antoyne]

I started watching Dawson's Creek in third grade and watched all the way up until the finale..I hated a few of the college years when the show became more about Pacey and that annoying Audrey girl, but I actually cried when Jen died on the final..It still makes me really sad.

[SteveFrame]

I'm afraid Rafe is going to be a plot point too.

Plus I don't care about Rafe yet, and not even sure that I will care if Adam uses him or not - if the rumors are true. I think he is hot, but if I had seen more of Rafe's struggle as a gay man or say this was someone like Luke that I cared about then the story would be more compelling to me in the long run.

But in the end, right now I don't care one way or the other whether Adam hurts Rafe or not. Not anywhere as much as I care if he hurts Ashley or someone I have grown to love.

If they use Rafe for this I do think it was a bad decision. Not the story but the character they use.

[JackPeyton]

im not going to write rafe off as a plot point, esp just because we didnt get a coming out storyline to make people care. in fact, the way they handled it makes me much more interested in rafe, knowing being gay isnt who he is, but a part of him.

Luke on atwt is gay. and thats it. thats all he is about. i cant stand it.

[DRW50]

Luke does have other personality traits besides being gay. He's impulsive, self-righteous, he deeply loves his family.

All we really know about Rafe is that he's gay, he's a lawyer, and he has an aunt. I don't think they've given viewers any reason to care about him. We barely knew who he was before he came out, and he's had nothing sine then besides a few scenes with his plot point aunt. The only story he has coming up revolves around him being manipulated based on his homosexuality. I think his character is more about being gay, nothing else, than Luke is.

[DRW50]

I should add I'm going to keep waiting and seeing with Rafe, I hope we'll see more from him.

[JackPeyton]

but everything he does is about being gay. all of his storylines are about being gay. thats all there is to him, everything else just kinda is there.

no, we dont have a reason to care about rafe... yet. i do think that down the line as they use him and devolp him more there will be many more layers to him. i have no issue with waiting and the show taking its time. i much prefer this than HERE IS THE NEWBIE YOU WILL LOVE! YOU WILL ROOT FOR! WE ARE GOING TO MAKE YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND that soaps do all the time now.

[DRW50]

I hope you're right. At the moment I don't think Y&R does well with adding layers to characters. Most of them are very one-dimensional and their motivations change depending on the day or month.

[JackPeyton]

I really dont see this. I feel like the Y&R characters the most layered and complex of them al. Then again, thats only comparing them to other sops tho. I guess standing on there own they are rather fickle.

[SteveFrame]

I don't mind waiting either Jack, but in this case with this type of story to have it's full impact it would be better to have a victim that you care about.

This is the same mistake that soaps have made for years with things such as having tornados and etc. and all the victims end up being minor characters. And for years if a character was gay or had AIDS they were some new person that maybe by the end of the story you cared about but then they were gone and didn't even have any real lasting impact on story.

I am going to hope and pray that Rafe is not treated this way, but so far from the way they have actually used Rafe it doesn't give a lot of confidence that it won't be the same way.

I would love to see a show take one of these gay characters and not just emphasize his begin gay but with the case of a minority character like Rafe - at least I preceive Rafe to be a minority (Latino I'm sure) - and explore how being gay and a member of a minority go hand in hand.

I have heard from both my black friends and my Latino friends that in their cultures being gay is harder on them because both cultures are preceived to be great Lovers and ladies men. And are expected to (even more than their white counterparts) to marry and keep their race going.

I don't want another coming out story, but I would love to see a soap explore that side of being gay for a minority.

[JackPeyton]

but perhaps by the time he is a victim.. well realizes it, we will care about him. time is the key, and im fully ready to wait it out.

i fully agree with you there tho. and im not saying there is any indication that he is anything more then a recurring day player. however, i do have some blind faith that they do have a plan. and that part of the plan is going slowly with him. they brought him on, and then after some time had him say he was gay, and it was no bid deal. but that obviously plays into a bigger story arc and itsn nothing right there. i just feel like there is a lot to play out from this, and something tells me to go against all the obvious that they are just going to toss him aside and believe they do care about rafe and are going to show more of him. but then again im a blind faith phase with soaps because all the doom and gloom.. well, i just cant take it anymore, lol.

id love to see that angle played too, does Estella know hes gay? Well, have they scene addressing it? i don't recall one.

what i want more than anything is really just a character on soaps. who happens to be gay. i dont want the story to be about them being gay, granted i do expect asp[ects of them being gay to play a role ins torys, but im just soooooo over coming out stories. and im not gonna lie, perhaps thats because in my circle of friends and families that was never even an issue. it just seems that shows always make being gay out to be aw hard and such a thing to overcome, and for many it is, i know that, but for many its also really not a big deal.