This is probably the most link-heavy blog post I've ever made   
Jul. 25th, 2009 | 12:06 am 
 


Condition [mood icon] sad
Analgesic Amanda Palmer - Astronaut
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I was somewhat surprised, fifteen minutes ago, to learn that the Campaign to Save Ianto Jones has not only been reported on by the BBC (a rare thing for any fandom-related endeavour), but in fact made it into the top 10 most read articles on the BBC News website. I confess myself impressed.

Not that I think the campaign will do any good - like Russell T Davies has ever given a shit what the fans think - but, since all the money's going to Children In Need, it's at least a nice way to raise some money for charity.

Couple of issues with the article, though: did they have to choose more or less the least flattering picture ever for the article? Could they not have used one of the Children of Earth or season two promo photos, rather than one of him having a breakdown in Cyberwoman? Also, the use of the word "baddies" to describe the 456 (which they misspelt, which is quite impressive with a number) may be accurate but it furthers the worryingly inaccurate perception of Torchwood as a children's show, which it most definitely is not.

To get my opinion out of the way: I was fucking devastated when Ianto died, as he was more or less my favourite television character ever. I have been a part of the Torchwood fandom since a month before the show started airing (and a Doctor Who fan all my life), and as a queer rights/anti-defamation campaigner I was damn happy to see a queer relationship as not only the main relationship on a mainstream TV show but portrayed as something other than either completely heteronormative or miserably dysfunctional. With this death, one of the most visible and positive queer characters on television (who came in at number seven on AfterElton.com's list of the best queer Sci-Fi characters, with Jack as number one) has been dropped, as has one of the most visible and positive queer relationships. Not only was the death a blow for queer representation on TV, it was a cheap ploy for "drama" and "heartbreak" in a series that had quite enough of that, thank you, with two major characters dying at the end of the previous season (and I had plenty to say about that at the time) and the main character having to kill his own grandchild in the next episode. It was both unnecessary and exploitative and it pissed me off majorly. However, I accept that it's the writers' decision to make, not mine or any other fan's, and that caring about a fictional character to that extent is quite stupid.

tl;dr: Ianto is dead, lots of people are sad about it, I am also sad and quite pissed off, but it's not going to change anything as he will stay dead because Uncle Rusty hates the people who have made him rich.
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From:(Anonymous)
Date:September 21st, 2009 - 05:56 am
(Autopsy)

Greetings from Washington

Hi all,

New to the forum, just thought I'd introduce myself :-)
  
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