CULTURE CLUB
Dawson’s Creek
Today was a day the world got smaller, darker. I grew more afraid, not of what I am but of what I could be. I loosen
my collar to take a breath. My eyes fade, and I see him. The image
of perfection.
His frame strong, lips smooth. I keep thinking: what am I so scared of? I wish I could escape the pain but these thoughts invade my head. Bound to my memory, they‘ re like shackles of guilt. Oh God, please
set me free.
Poetry can be found in the unlikeliest of places, and that entry, Today, is a composition by fictional character Jack McPhee in the teen drama Dawson’s Creek.
Sixteen- year- old Jack, played by 27- year- old Kerr Smith, was introduced in season two of Kevin ( Scream) Williamson’s series as the third prong in a love triangle to break up mainstays Dawson and Joey.
However, not long into this plot line, a bullying English teacher forces “shy and studious” Jack to read his poem aloud, leading to what was — at the time – quite groundbreaking tween content.
As you’d expect from a lateNineties American teen soap, Jack’s coming- out story was fraught. His domineering father refused to accept Jack’s sexuality and, ultimately, Jack and his sister Andie threw their dad out of the family home.
This was a period of rapid cultural change and — as a queer teenager at the time — it was heartening to see Pacey ( Joshua Jackson) and Jen ( Michelle Williams) support their gay friend. Adults were closed- minded, but young and cool characters were tolerant.
Further hope came in the form of Jack’s much- hyped first kiss with Ethan ( Adam Kaufman). Their brief snog in 2000 was the first “passionate gay kiss” between two male characters on US network television ( many a same- sex kiss had been seen on cable TV). Given that we’d seen Aidan Gillen rimming Charlie Hunnam a year earlier on Channel 4, we were probably less in
“Jack paved the way for more modern and diverse storylines”
awe in the UK, but it still marked a shift, opening the gate a fraction.
A year later, Willow finally got to kiss Tara on Buff y the Vampire Slayer.
Possibly more interesting was the kiss that was Jack’s swansong in the final episode in 2003. After ( spoiler alert) Jen dies, Jack and his boyfriend, Pacey’s cop brother Doug, adopt Jen’s orphaned baby, Amy. Same- sex parents are still something we don’t see nearly enough of on television and that ending felt way ahead of its time.
I’ve said it so many times before, but there’s something subversive, anarchic, about writing for a teen audience. With a few notable exceptions, most TV, books and films for adults are devised with white, straight, cisgender people in mind. In teen world, the stakes are lower so creators can be more experimental.
Jack in Dawson’s Creek paved the way for Teen Wolf, Glee and Riverdale to have more “modern” and diverse storylines, featuring queer and, eventually, trans characters.
The diff erence between Jack’s negative storyline and the wholly positive one depicted in Love, Simon is 20 years of gay characters on the telly — and a lot more understanding.