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 THE SCREEN SAVER
He Breaks Down Stereotypes By Bringing Black Gay Men Into Our Living Rooms—And Into The Public Eye.
It was just a couple years ago at a party in Los Angeles for Black Gay Pride where Noah’s Arc creator Patrik-Ian Polk got the idea for his groundbreaking show. “I just remember going to the kickoff party for the weekend and walking into this huge club with thousands of people. I was just struck with the notion that no one is doing programming about this segment of the population,” he says. “I vowed in the club that by that same time next year, the show would be a reality.”
So he went to work right away. “That Monday I put casting notices in the trade papers. Before I even had a script, I had just come up with the character ideas and started casting,” he says. “The only character I created with an actor in mind was Alex. Rodney Chester had done a small part in my first film, Punks, and I knew I wanted to work more with him.”
A graduate of Brandeis University and the University of Southern California School of Cinema and Television, Polk combines his desire to represent the black gay community with an energetic passion for his craft. “First and foremost I want to entertain and engage people,” he says. “You want people to tune in and feel like they’ve got to see the next episode. You want them to think, I can’t miss it. I have to know what’s going to happen.”
In 2005 Noah’s Arc began airing on Logo and quickly started resonating with a wide audience. Adding to the show’s success are compelling story lines and a cast that has inspired more crushes than a 14-year-old girl flipping through Tiger Beat. “Of course,” Polk laughs, “it doesn’t hurt that we have an eclectic and good-looking group of actors on the show.”
But it’s not just steamy scenes and fabulous fun. The second season has the characters dealing with some serious subject matter, including a hate crime and the range of reactions to it. Still, the show doesn’t feel like it’s being delivered from a soapbox. “You want people to come back week after week,” explains Polk. “Part of doing that is offering something that isn’t overly preachy or talking down to people.” He adds, “The story line really is about that it’s still happening and that life can blindside you sometimes.”
For Polk, the show deals a lot with breaking down stereotypes. “There is a premium on masculinity that I don’t think is unique to the black gay community. The predominance of Hip-hop culture, which is all about the macho swagger and posturing, is a major factor.” He is quick to add, “It’s similar in the white community with what I’ve heard referred to as the ‘Aberzombies’ who you see trying to affect this preppy, straight jock persona. That’s the kind of thing I was going directly against when I was making Noah’s Arc.” But simply offering the opposite doesn’t interest him either. “We need a balance, with the very feminine to the very masculine and everything in between. If you don’t see enough of either, it causes problems.”
Of course, with success comes comparison, but Polk, who says he “watched a lot of television as a kid,” doesn’t seem to mind. “It doesn’t hurt to be compared to Sex And The City. I love it. It’s a classic show. We’re in good company.”
But being the only television program with a gay cast of characters currently on the air brings with it added pressure. “Unfortunately, right now we’re the only show of this kind. Actually, right now we’re the only show that features [predominantly] gay men, period, now that Will & Grace and Queer As Folk are done. We’re certainly the only show to focus on black gay life. There’s an extra burden we carry because we are the only one.”
If it is a burden, it does not seem to be slowing down Polk’s creativity. “I’m actually prepping a movie right now called Blackbird. It’s an adaptation of the amazing novel by Larry Duplechan,” he says. “It’s a coming-of-age tale of a 17-year-old high school kid and his close friends in small-town America, and how these kids are suffocating under the constraints of a conservative religious community.” Polk sees a real need for telling the story that has captivated him since college. “We’ve told that white gay boy coming-of-age story from a lot of different perspectives. We have told that story inside and out, upside and down. We need to tell it from a black perspective now.”
And indeed he is.
Noah's Arc: The Complete First Season is available now on DVD.
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