#but u should at the very least understand how like. frankenstein contains queer themes and always HAS contained queer themes

[judesstfrancis]

the thing about people not understanding that queer themes have been evident in the horror genre since its very invention and about them assuming that queerness being so prevalent in horror is a new phenomenon, that it only happened recently, is that I don't think a lot of them don't understand that like. explicit queerness actually being portrayed onscreen is still a very recent thing. and when we're talking about queer themes in horror we're talking about subtext mainly and even then it's not the subtext you're used to it's not the "haha men stabbing each other is a metaphor for penetration" kinda deal it's like. u genuinely have to dig for it. and that's for the more positive portrayals, ofc there's easy to spot depictions of queerness in horror, and here I'm thinking about the original carmilla, but those are often done as a cautionary way. like oh hey look how scary and mean the homosexuals are stay away from them! be careful! don't let them tempt u and turn u evil!! and that of course is a big part of why queerness is still so prevalent in horror, bc for a lot of queer people for a very long time the depictions of themselves that they would most often see in popular media was of that nature. and like of course you're gonna latch onto that and make your own thing out of it bc u deserve to. on a bigger scale, I think, it's also always been a little easier to put queerness into horror and get away with it than it is with anything else, bc horror has largely been seen for a very long time as non-intellectual and lazy and a cheap way to break into storytelling. so if people aren't paying attention and the genre is for "freaks" to begin with then hey u might as well sprinkle a bit of homoeroticism in there somewhere.

anyway this is all to say that if u truly need a big blazing neon sign that says "there's gay things in here" to understand that there are queer themes in horror, maybe u should try paying attention while you're watching/reading/listening to horror. bc it has literally always been there I am not joking