Accidentally written a poem that reveals your sexuality to both yourself and others? Don’t worry, it’s happened to us all.

Following my post defending Kurt from Glee, Literary Agent Flatmate has implied that a series of posts on famous gay characters from TV and film could result in a significant book deal, with a healthy advance. And so here I immediately go, with gay TV character number two.

And where better to start than with one of the most ground-breaking gay characters in TV history? Exactly, it’s Jack McPhee from Dawson’s Creek.

It wasn’t just the fact that 16 year old Jack was actually being played by a 35 year old man that made him ground-breaking.* If it was, we’d need essays on most/all Dawson’s Creek characters. No, Jack broke new territory for several, more important, reasons:

1. Jack was one of the first depictions of a gay teenager working through their sexuality on a primetime TV show aimed at a teenage audience. There are three points here.

4. Jack had the most inventive coming out story: seemingly both coming out to himself and his school via a poem he writes in creative writing class. Despite this depiction of “truth becoming apparent through art” sounding inescapably ridiculous on paper, on screen it somehow came across as sensitive, painful and strangely realistic. The real coming out came an episode later with the excellent “’You are not gay!’ ‘Yes I am!’” scene between Jack and his Dad in the kitchen. Kerr Smith does some excellent from-the-belly crying in this scene, which makes you wonder why he had to partake in “Final Destination”.

5. Jack’s boy-next-door character was well-rounded: at times sensitive, artistic, shy, witty, tormented by not being the son his father wanted, football coach, and alcohol dependent when trying to be a frat jock at university. He didn’t neatly fit into any stereotype and spends most of the time trying to come to terms with feeling a bit different. We see him encounter a range of subtle and not so subtle homophobia in his family, school, town and at university. But we also see acceptance from key characters: most noticeably Grams, who showed us all how devout Christianity need not make you homophobic.

6. Most importantly, Jack pushed boundaries in that he delivered the first gay kiss on US network TV. I can only find this scene dubbed in Spanish, but let’s analyse anyway. Pluses: it’s quite a good kiss, more than a peck, and there’s some nice hands around the neck action. Minuses: A bit short. Overall, 6/10.

Whilst Jack was only allowed approximately one kiss per season, for the time this was pretty breakthrough.

7. What’s more, Jack wasn’t portrayed as asexual – throughout the show he slowly develops a love life and several boyfriends – although I don’t remember discussions into his sex life/virginity going anywhere as far as they did with other heterosexual characters (correct me if I’m wrong anyone who watched the later seasons consistently; I lost things a bit at the Uni years). Whilst discussions of other characters’ “first times” dominated whole seasons, allegedly according to the writers we were supposed to infer that Jack and his boyfriend Toby had sex over the Summer during the season break, never to be mentioned in the actual programme. By season six we did have clear references to Jack having a series of one night stands so at least we know by then that he was having a sex life.

This probably wasn’t a fault with the writers, but more to do with what they were able to push through a network pre Queer as Folk. Compare now to equivalent teen drama Glee, where the man gay male character wants to stay safely asexual but is being made to discuss the practicalities of safe gay sex with his Dad.

8. With Jack’s family unit falling apart, he showed us how to create your own post-modern urban family with Jen and Grams. In the final ever episode, Jack takes alternative family models to the next stage: bringing up Jen’s daughter with Pacey’s brother.

9. And finally, Jack was good-looking and so became a rare legitimate, obtainable pin up for gay male teenagers (obtainable in as much as he was actually straight and you were unlikely to ever meet him, and even if you met him, it was unlikely you would ever be able to develop a relationship with him, as he was actually straight, not to mention a host of other reasons, etc.).

10. He ends the whole show kissing Pacey’s brother, which is great, isn’t it? (I’M RUNNING OUT OF REASONS).

<Goes away to actually watch Seasons 4-6; realises they are hour-long shows and hasn’t got the time; quickly watches Jack’s key scenes via YouTube; confirms everything written above>

So please share your thoughts on Jack below. Iconic character or a bit frustrating? Remember each comment is a step towards my book deal and therefore a new life for me spent obsessively tracking the sales progress of my book on Amazon.

*He was actually 26.

My ideal Saturday morning involves me placing myself horizontally on a sofa whilst watching the music video channels for longer than is probably healthy. This stems from my teenage years when me and my friends would socialize by going round each other houses to watch music videos on Sky. The most important Dawson’s Creek-esque conversations of my teenage years took place to a backdrop of late 90s music videos.

Years of this have led to two things. The first is that I now spend much of my days actually believing myself to be in a music video. The second is the exciting discovery that every good Boyband video needs the following four elements:

1. The Christ-like Gesture:

This is the *only* way for a Boyband member to show a climax of emotion. The frequency of the gesture should increase throughout the song, reaching a frenzied peak at the key change. Falling down on your knees whilst doing the Christ-like gesture is an ultimate display of emotion. See Mark Owen below.

Here are some more of particular note (especially note Jason Orange who holds a holy light in one hand):

Westlife really pushed this concept forward in “Flying Without Wings”. They not only coordinated their gestures (see below) but there was also levitation. Can this ever be beaten?

2. Location:

The location *must* either be an abandoned urban space or a deserted dramatic landscape. An industrial warehouse is perfect for the urban setting. A cliff top is the best for dramatic landscape. Westlife are particularly good at the latter and get bonus points for including snow in their “What About Now” video below and thereby potentially making it all about climate change.

Some interesting urban interior examples include Five’s “Keep On Moving”, which even features a lift, and “Beat Again” by JLS, which shows how relevant the warehouse is even today. It also features a nice fire escape in the background.

But the ultimate example (urban) must be Boyzone’s “No Matter What”: what is this strange abandoned factory that houses a giant hot air balloon?

The best location award (landscape) goes to Take That “Patience”. A cliff top. Mist. A raging storm. Amazing. (I like to think the dragging of their heavy microphones up the cliff top is a reference to Christ carrying the cross up the hill, making the whole video a big metaphor for Take That making their big comeback and being prepared to be crucified by the public (but actually being showered in glory).* Ahem.

3. A mysterious female figure:

Boyzone really embrace this concept in “Baby Can I Hold You Tonight”, with not just one, but several spooky women (see below). The ideal mysterious woman should do very little apart from standing and looking a bit miserable.

A special shout out must also be made for Boyzone’s “Better”, which contains the first ever mysterious male figure in a Boyband video.