#I think all of the queerbait relationships in the mcu are entirely projection

[1random-starfish]

Incredibly so yes

People accusing the MCU of queerbaiting has always seemed off base to me because queerbaiting implies a level of emotional character interaction that the MCU has overall staunchly refused to feature. Nobody is even friends 

[goongiveusnothing]

That Deadline article is so telling. Struggling to think of other movie flops who've had articles written like that about them. Made me think of that British tabloid also going on about how Harry is destined to win awards at the Brits and Grammys too. His people are desperate to try and keep the hype about him going, despite his tour selling well and his song As It Was doing well. They still act like he needs more, because they probably know despite all of the success, it's all hollow and payola.

Yes. I have no idea why the fans and non fans for so long have tried to pretend that Harry isn't actually interested in movies and only filmed them because of the pandemic. That piece is from his team and they show that he and his team are desperate for him to achieve movie stardom. It also shows how deeply well connected his people are that they're capable of Deadline basically giving them an entire puff piece acting as though his acting ambitions are sailing through the heavens right now.

Claiming Harry's having an amazing fall season? The man who has been turned into an entire joke on social media? Millions and millions of views making fun of his singing and acting and clothes and queerbaiting and dumbass comments, then the nanny exposing that he had an affair with two women on set and broke up two women's relationships. Article after article stating Harry needs an entire citizen's arrest on his acting career. His lead co-actress refusing to even acknowledge he exists in public. He released a weird video for a song trying to give his album extra hype and extra sell out singles and the video only has 13 million views after a few weeks release. Harry used to get 100s of millions per video, now he can barely get over 10 million. What an amazing fall he's had indeed.

It's like I said as well, the Elvis thing has been pushed by his team hard. His entire album roll out came with all the Elvis talk. They wanted that connection inside our heads, and still want it now. They think a failed flop audition proves his talents. It shows for him and his team, that his acting ambitions have taken a priority. To sell the album they wanted more to sell him as a credible movie star.

And this section was telling: "But beyond a mere acting feat, My Policeman meant an even greater deal to Styles as it’s a film that spoke directly to his LGBTQ fanbase. For Styles “being able to connect with (them on) a story that would genuinely mean something and connect and help people understand what it could be like if you start rolling back laws,” emphasizes Grandage." Not that it connected with Harry on a personal level, not that it spoke to him. It's basically weirdly admitting to him queerbaiting, but making out like that's a gift to his fans. It's verys specific that this isn't about a connection to Harry's own life, it's about the fans.

Also, there's no way I believe Harry cared or thought about rolling back laws or anything like that, remember his interview where he said it was hard to imagine a time where it was all illegal etc? Like he just couldn't fathom gay people being closeted and all the rest? Despite growing up in the UK where there were still laws and things like Section 28. That's not someone who sounds cautious it could get rolled back, it sounds like someone who thinks we're all living through a Nirvana of LGBT rights.

But we can see he and his team are very keen to try and somehow drum up some interest and credibility in his future acting endeavours. I have no doubts he is still auditioning. I expect a brief cameo in January on some MCU project, but I expect too that that cameo will be filmed and then edited down, because I think every project will now be wary about Harry turning their project into a viral joke.

[margarethx]

the only thing im getting from all of this is a reminder of how much i hate when fans or interviewers ask actors about fandom stuff. for the love of god just leave fandom alone in the shadows where it belongs. especially shipping. actors shouldnt have to be interacting with any of this cringey shit for their own protection and for the protection of the fandom.

This stupid fandom is really making me defend actors and celebrities, huh? But okay, here we go ;-;

You're mostly right. I really agree that the actors should be left alone and not asked about majority of this stuff, because it's literally not their job to care about it. They are paid for acting in the movies and later for promoting them in the media. I pretty sure that nowhere in their contract was there anything about keeping up with shipping culture, being nice to the Twitter crowd, or fullfilling the wishes of the fandom by confirming their headcanons.

Not to mention that fandom is a complicated landscape (well... a minefield) and it's very easy to make some group of people angry if you don't say the right thing. Because it's very obvious than no matter what kind of answer Anthony would have given it would infuriate someone. If he said "Sambucky is canon" he would make the homophobes angry along with the entire crowd of people who prefer to ship Bucky with... ekhm... other character and are very vocal about it. If he said that he likes the idea, but it's not a canon relationship, people would go back to that idiotic "Sambucky is just queerbaiting!" discussion AGAIN and fandom would be angry over that.

There's no winning here. He was set up to say something controversial. Of course he could have been more vague about it or choose different words, but let's be real... There are thousands of people who watch his every move and wait for him to trip, so they have something to hate him for even more. And part of the reason why I cannot stand by the group who criticizes him right now is that majority of the fans who were the most angry about it sound like they would've acted exactly the same regardless of his answer.

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And just to clarify... I don't think fandom stuff is inherently cringey or bad, and that it should be hidden in the shadows from everyone else. There are some harmless parts of fandoms that could be brought up in front of the actors. (And it's not that hard to decide what is or isn't appropriate.) It's not like we should be ashamed of liking characters or fictional ships... it's fun. But like I said before: these people are not paid to deal with that. And they are not familiar with every drama and frustrated subcommunity that exists in the fandom, because why the hell would they be?

So bringing it up in the interviews seems rather unprofessional. Interviewers should just ask actors like Anthony about the production process, their own interpretations of their roles, their upcoming projects that are not in the MCU, or I don't know... what other comic book stories they would want to adapt if they could. Plus maybe some more serious questions that are relevant to Sam Wilson's story.

Asking actors about fandom and especially shipping is like giving them a set of buttons and saying "you have to press one of these... every single one causes an explosion that will hurt you and make a lot of people hate you... choose wisely <3".