Aaron Livesy Dingle

I don't agree the writing is homophobic the character of Aaron is troubled and has his long standing issues the thing I liked about how they did Aaron's coming out story in 2009/10 was they showed Aaron to be true to his character and didn't feel the need to change him (sex him up etc) just because he's now gay it showed him to be a real regular person true to his original character the show got real praise for not being stereotypical with him him and the story.

Aaron as a character seems to suffer depression or something along those lines & they are doing a storyline now with Gordon to address why he is like that & we are going to learn about Aaron's past & childhood.

Aaron's self harming is being done quite realistically because suffers of self harm usually battle with it for years & most of their life time but it doesn't just go away overnight the frustrating thing about it for me is they & certainly this year bring it up as a plot device without any decent follow up (such as when Aaron was doing punishing running following Katie's death then he suddenly stopped due to injuring himself yes but without either treatment or explanation - his issues just went away because they wanted to move on storyline wise) I hope this time they give the attention it deserves by getting him support & proper treatment.

The new producer will have his own ideas but he's not going to turn Emmerdale into Hollyoaks even if he worked there previously - Emmerdale has a different format & it's likely he'll stay true to that I doubt he'll radically change the show.

The writing is done months in advance the new producers influence will likely be shown on screen Easter time at the earliest I would think.

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Originally Posted by Serena Williams

No wonder Emmerdale ratings are in the toilet they keep on REPEATING the same old storylines with Aaron. How many times does Aaron have to self harm? Can Aaron smile? Can Aaron ever be happy? Or is ITV okay with the homophobic tragic gay male character BS. I understand soaps is television but I do not agree with the homophobic writing of the Aaron character. On Hollyoaks, the gays there got serious problems but none of them are as miserable as Aaron. Geesh that's boring. Well the good news is the new producer is from Hollyoaks who has experience working with gay male characters. This new producer needs to queer up Emmerdale ASAP! He needs to stop making Aaron a boring drip and give the character some life and some spunk. I wonder when the new storylines with the new producer will start?

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yes but as a self harmer myself I can say it doesn't just go away? you do it when everything looms over you?

the portrayal of Aaron I find very realistic

Spoilers tell that Aaron has a dark secret from his past involving his father Gordon, the details of which will be revealed during January 2016.

Recent Emmerdale episodes have already shown a build-up of tension between father and son, after Gordon appeared in Emmerdale on 22nd December 2015 after completing recent hospital treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma cancer. This type of cancer is usually very treatable (90-95% of patients survive for at least 5 years after initial diagnosis).

Gordon says he has come to make amends for the past and has already had close talks with Chas and offered to give Aaron enough money to buy Diane's half-share of The Woolpack. Gordon received the money from medical insurance cover for his recent illness. Aaron has, so far, refused to accept Gordon's gift, however.

Spoilers tell that Chas and Gordon are shortly to become romantically involved during January 2016 but it is not yet clear how big a role Gordon will play in Emmerdale or for how long he will be there.

Danny Miller recently gave an interview for Metro (23/12/15) in which he talked about Aaron's latest self-harming storyline as a release for inner torment and anger made worse by Gordon reappearing in his life in Emmerdale. The basis for everything includes being a tearaway boy with an unsupportive father and a gay self-loathing going back years ago.

Danny said "He’s [Gordon] creating more problems, perhaps not intentionally, but certainly more problems for Aaron. His presence is enough." He added, "This whole self harming thing is always interesting when it comes up – interesting for me to play and to learn more about that world. I didn’t have any knowledge of it – the research we did was always that he’s not doing it to hurt himself, he’s releasing pain and anger. It would be very easy for him to beat someone up and keep beating them up, but eventually he’s going to end up in prison and he knows that. He’s not that kind of person anymore, so he takes the anger out on himself and when he cuts himself, it’s not like he’s doing it to hurt himself, he’s doing it to take the adrenaline out of his body and relax. It’s when things are really bad and he can’t deal with it. He wants to use his fists, but he doesn’t hit people, he hits things. Even punching walls out of frustration is a form of self harm. I think it’s down to Gordon being back, everything that’s happened to Chas and the fact that he’s come out of prison to find what Chas has done to Diane – it’s all too much for him. The best way, he thinks, of dealing with it, is to do something that’s so familiar to him."

By Duncan Lindsay, Metro.co.uk
23 Dec 2015
http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/23/emmerd...ordon-5552330/

Earlier today, The Sun published a very interesting news article about a real-life case about a tearaway boy who now (at 21yo) openly explains his behaviour as resulting from his realisation that he was gay from a young age and how he had to deny this until he was eventually found out when he was 16yo. His father then reacted badly to the news and disowned him as his son. But it was his friends who accepted him, some of whom were thugs and gangs. Now at 21yo, he has a positive view for his future as a law-abiding person.

This is the type of storyline which I think Aaron is going to have in Emmerdale from January 2016 to explain his self-harming, personality and life course as a result of realising at a young age that he was gay and how he wasn't supported and loved by his father. I suspect that Gordon's lack of support and understanding of Aaron over this issue in 2008 is at least one reason why, soon after, Sandra took herself and her daughter away from Gordon after Aaron was made to leave Gordon's home in 2008. However, upcoming Emmerdale episodes and new spoilers will be needed for further details on this.

Here is the news article from The Sun (29/12/15):

I turned into an ‘Asbro’ to hide the agony of being gay
Danny Oakley’s bid to start new life after counselling

They were dubbed the “demon children” and “Asbros” after racking up more than 40 arrests and a criminal record by the age of 12.

After three years of starting fires, throwing stones, breaking fences and racially abusing neighbours, Danny and Ricky Oakley became Britain’s youngest recipients of anti-social behaviour orders.

But eldest brother Danny says it was not an Asbo he needed, just a loving family — and he thinks a secret added to his torment.

The 21-year-old believes that hiding his homosexuality was one of the main triggers for him wreaking havoc in his neighbourhood of Wolverhampton.

It is something he now deeply regrets.

Danny says: “I knew I was gay but didn’t want to be. I was a criminal and didn’t want to be.

“By the age of ten, I regularly smoked cannabis to blank out the sadness. It was a coping mechanism but I’ve given that up now.

“I don’t drink, either. The new me is sober, clean and on the right side of the law.

“I wish I could go back to our neighbours — everyone who was scared of us, everyone we hurt or whose property we damaged — and tell them I’m so sorry.

“What we did still haunts me to this day. I had a lot going on at home and I took it out on the streets. I have no happy memories of my childhood, at all.

“Being gay wasn’t something I could share with my brother Ricky, who is currently behind bars, so I kept it to myself.

“Dad would have hated me if he knew, so at 14 I tried to kill myself because the secret was torture. When you’re a thug on a council estate, being gay isn’t an option. I was living a lie.”

Danny adds: “At 16, an uncle caught me hooking up with a lad and frogmarched me to my dad.

“Dad was ashamed of me. He told me I was a poof and a queer. It was no wonder I’d kept it secret — as the day he found out, he said I was no longer his son.

“It was in my friends that I found acceptance some years later, when I had come to terms with losing my family.

“My new mates don’t judge me for being gay. To them, it’s just part of who I am. I disappoint my dad but I make my friends proud.

“I still struggle to fully accept I’m gay because, in my mind, I hear Dad’s voice, telling me I am a worthless *********, that society hates me.

“I’m slowly realising that if I accept who I am, then I can be who I want to be.”

Currently unemployed, Danny recalls how life on the council estate where he grew up was bleak.

The out-of-control boys were badly burned in 2006 when a can of foam chucked on a bonfire exploded — earning them their “Asbro” tag.

He says: “My mum had a drinking problem and she left when we were about seven. My dad met someone else and it was our stepmum who took us to school, while Dad slept.

“And when we got home from school, Dad was already in the pub.”

Danny adds: “Dad never praised us, never took us fishing or whatever other dads do with their sons.

“If we were naughty, at least we got some attention from him, even if it was just him lashing out.”

Ricky, now 19, revelled in his notoriety as a troublemaker, often reoffending within hours of getting an anti-social behaviour order.

He has already been in prison seven times, and he is currently behind bars again.

With three meals a day and a warm bed, he has admitted jail time gives him more comfort than he ever experienced at home.

Danny, who has not completely lost touch with his brother, also seemed destined for a life of crime. But he was determined to start afresh.

He says: “I left home at 15. I didn’t know much but I knew living at home wasn’t helping.

“I went to Walsall College and did a level-1 GNVQ in business studies. I disassociated myself from the thugs and gangs I’d spent my youth with and made some great new friends.

“It’s with the support of these new friends that I have managed to create a new life for myself. They’re all the family I’ve got and all the family I need.

“Many of them ring me every day just to see how I am. I’ve never had that kind of affection before. It melts my heart knowing people care about me. In the past, people spat at us on the street, and would tell us we were the devil’s children.

“We were called the Brothers Grimm and demons from hell.

“Ricky saw our reputation as a badge of honour but I just wanted a hug from my dad. But it never came. In hindsight, we’d have been better off in care.”

After missing a probation session for burglary in April 2014, Danny was sent to prison for four weeks. That spell behind bars was a real eye-opener.

He says: “Meeting prisoners, some who had been there a lifetime, made me more certain than ever that I had to make a good life for myself.”

With hope on the horizon, Danny has set himself some resolutions for 2016.

He says: “Next year is going to be my year. I’m going to get a job, volunteer with a charity and get my own place to live. I’m building a life for myself out of some pretty bare bones, but I’m excited about what the future can bring.”

With counselling, Danny believes he has realised some home truths.

He says: “I don’t shift the blame for what I was like as a kid entirely on to my dad.

“I was naughty because I craved attention, but at some point you have to take responsibility for your own actions.

“I made mistakes but was crying out for help and support. I had no parental guidance. No one ever told me they loved me.

“But I’ve found love in each one of my friendships and will turn all my negative experiences into positive ones.

“I don’t want to be known as the Asbro kid any more. I’m sorry for what I did and am ready to be a better man.

“I want to be known as Danny, the guy who turned his life around and the guy who helped other kids turn theirs around.”

By Jennifer Tippett & Kim Willis, The Sun
29 Dec 2015
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...being-gay.html


Some YouTube videos of Aaron in 2008 (12 parts) and some from 2010 are available at
Home of Aaron's Story
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9P...5u5d7z8XS5Xpag
Beginning with
Aaron's Story 2008 part 01 (11-28-2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eeGJYv8kE8

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Originally Posted by Serena Williams

No wonder Emmerdale ratings are in the toilet they keep on REPEATING the same old storylines with Aaron. How many times does Aaron have to self harm? Can Aaron smile? Can Aaron ever be happy?

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Well maybe after lots of help and support. And I mean lots.
I don't watch it often enough to know what help he's been given but to show how hard it is means it's drawn out and probably not very lighthearted which maybe soaps should be.

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Originally Posted by Rear window

Well maybe after lots of help and support. And I mean lots.
I don't watch it often enough to know what help he's been given but to show how hard it is means it's drawn out and probably not very lighthearted which maybe soaps should be.

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A major problem.with this storyline about Aaron dad is age the show seems determined to treat Aaron like a baby yet I believe Aaron is older than 21 at this point. I think Aaron is 23 or 24 they cannot keep on saying he is 22. The writers seem determined to treat an adult gat man like a boy. I would like there to be consequences for Aaron actions. I also think Chas needs to cut the apron strings she cannot keep on babying Aaron. Aaron says he is a man YET he does not act like a man. Finn and Adam are a lot more independent than Aaron.

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Originally Posted by Rear window

Well maybe after lots of help and support. And I mean lots.
I don't watch it often enough to know what help he's been given but to show how hard it is means it's drawn out and probably not very lighthearted which maybe soaps should be.

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A major problem.with this storyline about Aaron dad is age the show seems determined to treat Aaron like a baby yet I believe Aaron is older than 21 at this point. If this storyline was five years ago when Aaron came out it would make sense. But now it does not. It is just a recycled storyline from 2008 making Aaron the stereotypical tragic gay victim incredibly homophobic BUT not surprising of Emmerdale. I doubt any gay people are on that writing staff. The stereotyping has to stop. I think Aaron is 23 or 24 they cannot keep on saying he is 22. The writers seem determined to treat an adult gay man like a boy. I would like there to be consequences for Aaron actions. I also think Chas needs to cut the apron strings she cannot keep on babying Aaron. Aaron says he is a man YET he does not act like a man. Finn and Adam are a lot more independent than Aaron. If this storyline does not make Aaron independent then it is a waste. The writers seem determined to continue the homophobia I have never seen a more tragic gay male character than Aaron on television.

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Originally Posted by Serena Williams

A major problem.with this storyline about Aaron dad is age the show seems determined to treat Aaron like a baby yet I believe Aaron is older than 21 at this point. If this storyline was five years ago when Aaron came out it would make sense. But now it does not. It is just a recycled storyline from 2008 making Aaron the stereotypical tragic gay victim incredibly homophobic BUT not surprising of Emmerdale. I doubt any gay people are on that writing staff. The stereotyping has to stop. I think Aaron is 23 or 24 they cannot keep on saying he is 22. The writers seem determined to treat an adult gay man like a boy. I would like there to be consequences for Aaron actions. I also think Chas needs to cut the apron strings she cannot keep on babying Aaron. Aaron says he is a man YET he does not act like a man. Finn and Adam are a lot more independent than Aaron. If this storyline does not make Aaron independent then it is a waste. The writers seem determined to continue the homophobia I have never seen a more tragic gay male character than Aaron on television.

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I just feel you are stereotyping and saying all gay men, or all men are the same??

the point of Aaron is his repressive nature and the fact he cant 'grow up' emotionally. It happens, and for Aaron it is why he struggled so much to deal with accepting he was gay - he nearly beat Paddy to death for mentioning it? - just as Lawrence keeps his true feelings boxed up due to the era he grew up in, Aaron keeps his enclosed because of his background, the expectations he grew up with (be a mans man!!)

could his father have abused him

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Originally Posted by sarah c

I just feel you are stereotyping and saying all gay men, or all men are the same??

the point of Aaron is his repressive nature and the fact he cant 'grow up' emotionally. It happens, and for Aaron it is why he struggled so much to deal with accepting he was gay - he nearly beat Paddy to death for mentioning it? - just as Lawrence keeps his true feelings boxed up due to the era he grew up in, Aaron keeps his enclosed because of his background, the expectations he grew up with (be a mans man!!)

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No all gay men are not the same but the media have a tendency to feminize gay men. Aaron self harming is what a crying teenage girl would do. Females tend to self harm a lot more than males. Emmerdale is repeating the same storyline from 2008 when Aaron first appeared on the show. The show is turning an adult gay man into a crying teenager who is so dependent and needs his mother and father. INSTEAD, of allowing Aaron to actually grow up, since he is in his 20s and not relay on his nagging mother and his drippy father.

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Originally Posted by sarah c

I just feel you are stereotyping and saying all gay men, or all men are the same??

the point of Aaron is his repressive nature and the fact he cant 'grow up' emotionally. It happens, and for Aaron it is why he struggled so much to deal with accepting he was gay - he nearly beat Paddy to death for mentioning it? - just as Lawrence keeps his true feelings boxed up due to the era he grew up in, Aaron keeps his enclosed because of his background, the expectations he grew up with (be a mans man!!)

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No all gay men are not the same but the media have a tendency to feminize gay men. Aaron a gay man in his 20s is being reduced to a big baby who needs his mommy. I do not see the straight male characters around his age acting like the baby like him. The show engenders homophobic stereotypes of the tragic depressed gay man. Hollyoaks does a better job with their gays. The good news is Kate Oates is out and the former producer from Hollyoaks is in. I sincerely hope the new producer of Emmerdale is gay. Straight people just can't seem to get a gay storyline right on this show. Aaron self harming is what a crying teenage girl would do. Females tend to self harm a lot more than males. Emmerdale is repeating the same storyline from 2008 when Aaron first appeared on the show. The show is turning an adult gay man into a crying teenager who is so dependent and needs his mother and father. INSTEAD, of allowing Aaron to actually grow up, since he is in his 20s and not relay on his nagging mother and his drippy father.