The Geeky Story

Hello, hello!

This is Dr Bekelauer back from the shadows of oblivion. I promised Dr Booker to write this forever ago, and I have to confess I feel a little embarrassed by how long it has taken me to get back in track. So, while stuffing my face on purple Skittles (yeah, most people hate them, that’s why I get them for free), I shall write what PepSi meant to me.

For this, I am going to recall an incident that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. While riding home from work on my bike, I was pulled over by the Strathclyde police and I was asked if I were Spanish and if I could help them being the interpreter or a poor Spanish boy who did not understand a word of English and was in a care home for the homeless. Very random, yet true. I was standing there, trying to get a fellow citizen and the police communicate for like a half hour, and when I left, I felt amazing. I didn’t feel anything for the boy, who was in trouble, or ‘proud’ to be of use to the police, but happy that I had done something that for me, in these troubled times, means a lot: I translated. I was the translator.

My story and my feelings for PepSi are sort of the same now. The excuse of the TV show helped me open some mental doors and tear some psychological barriers down and despite it’s over, despite I’m sort of sad of how everything finished, at the same time I am very, very happy, because it meant something for me, in a sense that probably nobody else can feel. And that also makes me feel special – I feel for PepSi, and PepSi changed my life in a completely radical way than it did to a lot of other people. Because PepSi didn’t open my eyes to accepting myself or to normality, or to love – real life did all that for me; they, however, opened a very big door for me, and put me back in track in the translation mind. All the motivation I had lost and all the hopes that were ruined by months of ostracism from job offers, came back with even more strength ever since I became Head of the Translation Department.

Maybe you expected something different, and this will sound terribly geeky, but translation, for me, is probably the only thing in the world I genuinely have a passion for and love sincerely. With the only exception of my coffee maker hehe. People will come and go from my life, but that will always remain. And if I know that, it's because and thanks to PepSi.

So thanks very much,

Dr Bekelauer

Come to my window by Dr.Booker

Here is my confession: I have rarely watched any Pepsi scenes since Silvia died. It was too hard for me to watch them fall in love, flirt, kiss and get married. It was too hard to walk down that memory lane, because I missed Pepa and Silvia so much.

I was a fan who watched the Pepsi scenes over and over. I was also a major fan of the numerous music videos made by some very talented Pepsi viewers.

I went through a Pepsi withdrawl...cold turkey. I could have used a Pepsi Patch! But the best thing for me was not watch any Pepsi at all.

But when Dr. Piper and I discussed doing a lecture series on what "Pepsi meant to us", I knew I would have to contribute something.

There are only two things I watched to prepare myself for this lecture--the famous bathroom scene at Pepsienglish2 and "The One" video at MStrong0623. That was all I needed to remind me why I loved this show so much.

I have written many lectures and posts about specific scenes and why these characters are significant. But I have not written about how LHDP personally impacted my life. I could write thousands of words on what has happened to my life because of the people I met. But I am not going to do that.

I will tell you this--Pepsi gave me a peek into a window I never thought I would look into. Pepsi opened my eyes to seeing love in a new way. In a very silly way (now that I think of it) I wanted to be the Pepa in Silvia's life. To have that kind of connection and to cause that kind of reaction with another woman. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think that watching Pepsi wasn't just about a fantasy, I think it made me wonder who I am.

There are many reasons to love Pepa and Silvia and their storyline. It was very entertaining, it was exciting to see lesbians on TV, and it gave all of us a community we did not have before. But for me, it was even more. Of all the people I met through Pepsi and PepsiU, the person I got to know the best was me. I learned a lot about myself and it was life changing.

Sometimes a TV show is just a TV show. Sometimes it reaches into a corner of your heart and stuns you. It is up to each of us to accept or deny what has happened.

My heart and arms are open. And I have much gratitude...to Spain, LHDP, Marian Aguilera and Laura Sanchez, and the AE and PepsiU communities.

And we go on.

That's Entertainment

I’ve been thinking for some time now about how to sum up what PepSi’s meant to me, and I realized that first I’d have to figure out why it’s meant so much to me. It’s something that’s difficult to pare down; there are just so many good things about the PepSi storyline that I and others have discussed at length before – the wonderful actresses and their chemistry, the way their relationship was handled like any other relationship on the show, the passion and playfulness that was written and acted into each of their scenes…and did I mention the wonderful actresses and their chemistry? Outside of the show itself, there’s also been the awesome recognition that I wasn’t the only one so affected, that there are hundreds of other people – off all genders and sexuality - who were also touched by PepSi’s love story. It’s amazing to see and be a part of something that’s brought people together in a way that they would have never connected before.

I’ve personally never been overtly involved in a fandom before, and I owe it to PepSi for bringing me out of lurkdom…and it’s been a great ride since I first stepped out of the shadows. I’ve gotten to discuss, converse, and interact with people from different parts of the world – people from cities and countries that I’ve never known anyone from before. I’ve even started to contribute in my own creative way, writing my own fanfic, which is something I never thought I would do. I’ve realized that I don’t have to be a professional writer to write…I enjoy doing it, and that’s what matters most, so I hope I continue to do so for some time. Of course, I have PepSi to thank for giving me this productive outlet…and speaking of thanking PepSi for things, I also have to give this whole PepSi phenomenon thanks for helping me to improve my Spanish. Seriously. And my parents are thankful for it, too.

But after all this lofty exposition, I think what I concluded was that primarily, to me, PepSi was pure, satisfying entertainment. It was just fun to watch. It had been a long time since I had last been so engaged in a tv show, waiting with such eagerness and building enthusiasm to see what happened in the next episode. And I’ll never forget all those hours I spent in front of the computer, getting sucked into Pepa’s and Silvia’s relationship, smiling like a giant, sappy goober during their romantic scenes…or getting all worked up into a tizzy when things weren’t going well for them. I’ll never forget rushing to work the day after the Garage Frisking scene to send some of my friends links to the videoclip and forcing them to watch it just so I could gush over how magnificently sexy and sweet it all was (and lament the fact that American tv had not offered anything that was justifiably equivalent in super fantastic-ness). And that’s basically it. First and foremost, PepSi was an enjoyable story, for various reasons, on a quirky Spanish tv show…and I laughed, and I cried (boy, did I cry), and I’ll never forget how much Pepa and Silvia made me feel.

"Open Your Eyes"

When Dr. Booker first approached me about this new lecture series and asked me to write about how PepSi changed my life, I didn't have to think very hard to find an answer to that question. Simply put, PepSi opened my eyes. It's not that my eyes were closed before - PepSi wasn't the first lesbian couple I'd ever seen on TV. However, like I stated in my "First Time" lecture, they made me realize how underrepresented gays and lesbians truly were on American television. PepSi were the first gay characters I ever saw who were a part of the main cast and treated as equally as the other couples on the show. Yes, I had seen the occasional gay character/couple on TV before, but they were usually guest roles (during sweeps) or secondary (and largely invisible) characters. On the rare occasion that there was a recurring lesbian character, I rarely saw her in a relationship or saw that relationship treated with the same affection (and screentime) as the heterosexual characters on the show - "diet PepSi" as I like to call it.

PepSi opened my eyes by showing me an example of how our world can and should be today: people being allowed to love whomever they choose without judgment. LHdP wasn't a sci-fi/fantasy show (at least it wasn't until S9) where a lot of problems that plague humanity don't exist anymore. The world of LHdP existed in our world today - the 21st Century - and yet, for the most part, all of the characters on LHdP never judged or questioned the validity of PepSi's relationship or Pepa and Silvia's sexuality. Sure there was Don Lorenzo, who initially wasn't keen on Pepa and Silvia's relationship (or Pepa in general), but even he was willing to open his eyes (and his mind) and see things from a point of view other than his own: Silvia's. And by doing so, he realized that Pepa made Silvia happy and that his daughter was in love with Pepa, and it didn't and shouldn't matter that Pepa was a woman.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't be entitled to their opinions, but I do believe that in order for change to occur people on both sides of an issue need to be willing to look at things from the another's perspective. I also believe that media can be a great source for social change (and oppression) because it covers two of the most common ways that people learn - auditorily and visually - and PepSi was one of the best entertainment visual aids I've ever seen in the fight for equality. Through Marian Aguilera and Laura Sánchez’s portrayal of PepSi, we could see the love that Pepa and Silvia had for each other every time they were on screen together through every look, every touch, and every word.

PepSi changed my life in many other ways - the music it's introduced me to, the friendships I've developed through the PepSi community, etc. - but, for the most part, LHdP's honest and equal treatment of PepSi was a lesson to me that homosexuals can successfully be and should be the norm, not the "others" as they are so often portrayed as on American shows. That just as one shouldn't judge a person by their race, gender or the God they choose (not) to worship, they also shouldn't judge another by their sexual orientation. That a homosexual couple experiences the same ups and downs as any other person in a relationship. That two women and two men can love each other just as much as a man and a woman and that love is no greater or worse - it's just love. That a world of equality truly can exist as long as one is simply willing to open their eyes.

kalike

*The title for this lecture is based on the song "Open Your Eyes" by Snow Patrol.