AMC: Monday - Sept. 20, 2010

[Pine Charles]

Ryan was dead to me after Gillian died.

[marceline]

Not to me. I know a lot of people here see Natalia as a lesbian but that's partially because TIIC have made SK/Natalia a permanent resident at the Our Lady of the Backburner Convent, JMHO. Frankly the "Natalia Issue" is quickly becoming a dealbreaker for me. AMC has laid great groundwork with the Hubbards, Brot and Mayor Blanco but if I don't see some changes where Natalia's concerned, I will throw them on the trash heap next to OLTL.

[R Sinclair]

Well, that's not my issue with the Natalia Issue. Amanda and Simone, prime examples, were on the backburner for most of their respective runs (and Amanda's back there again until "further notice" ;-) ) and I never doubted for a second they were sexually viable heterosexual women. Natalia, on the other hand, comes off like a straight up tough chick. I love Shannon Kane to pieces, but she comes off butch a lot of the times. I don't know if it's scripted or ad-libbed choices, but all of her "Yo, what's up wit dat! Sho me some luv! Aight, aight!" doesn't help her case... as far as I'm concerned. Where I come from, that's how dudes act, and that's how chicks who wanna be one of the dudes act. Like I said, that's just where I've been coming from. Nothing to do with her being backburnered or not being in a romance with a guy. Just her mannerisms and style. Natalia could've had a front burner, 3-4 day a week romantic storyline with a drop dead gorgeous guy... and in the back of my mind, I'd be thinking, "girlfriend's just faking it. She knows she likes the licky licky."

[DeeeDee]

Pretty much.

[marceline]

I see your point but I can't agree with it. You're bringing up solid points but I keep going back to the fact that we've never been permitted to see her outside of that narrow vision for the character. but I think the real problem is the fact that soap writers don't know how to write truly STRONG women like Natalia, Liza and Taylor (remember her?) because they're more comfortable in feisty/fiery/spunky ingenues like the Fusion bimbos.

[R Sinclair]

I wasn't trying to get you to agree with me, I was just giving my personal, valid perspective on why I think she's a lesbian. You said a lot of people here think Natalia's a lesbian partially because of her lack of story. I was just saying that wasn't my reason for thinking she's a lesbian at all. I agree with you as a whole. Soaps don't know how to write strong women without victimizing them which is why they love their ingenues. Soaps don't think we'd care if we see a strong woman come out victorious.

[Southofnowhere]

Folks have been thinking Natalia was a lesbian since she first entered the canvas.

[marceline]

Yeah, I know. It's part of the reason I've just given up.

[R Sinclair]

To be honest, during her first several episodes, I was leaning toward the red herring Pratt was feeding us that Natalia was Jesse's tenderoni.

[Southofnowhere]

I was as well. The lesbian stuff happened right before the big party when she had a very small scene with Binks&Reese. First time i read anything about her being lesbian. Folks thought she was enjoying Binks&Reese a lttle to much.