#queer media tropes

[prokopetz]

Queer-coded villains are one thing, but the ones that really perplex me – and I've seen multiple instances of this, mostly in pre-2000 media, though with some later examples – is when the baddie has all the surface-level signifiers of a queer-coded villain, but instead of doing anything particularly gay he just conspicuously admires his wife, and the text of the film makes it clear that this is meant to be understood as deplorably unmanly. Like, fellas, is it gay to not hate your wife?

[hoperays-song]

Can we talk about the found family trope and queer-coded/canonically queer characters? Because there is a ton of overlap between these two. 

In their stories, the queer/queer-coded characters no longer have a supportive family for a number of reasons (Hiccup refuses to kill dragons, Johnny wants to be a singer, Nimona is a shapeshifter, etc). A lot of times these reasons are things that ‘other’ them from people around them, thereby furthering the queer allegory. 

And this lack of support is what drives these characters to form/find a found family made of more people who are like them. People who will treat them with the love and support that their family should have. It pushes them into the found family trope.

The prevalence of found family in queer and queer-coded story lines serves to make them more relatable and realistic but it’s also heart breaking that familial rejection is so common that this trope does make it more realistic.

[sirlancenotalot]

the fact that people still use the "no one would talk to a friend that way" "no one would grieve for someone like that if it was just platonic" etc arguments to prove a ship is canon is so annoying to me. yes i get it, we got queerbaited hard but where does it say that romance has to be higher than a friendship or no one said friends couldn't also be lovers or vice versa....? i normally say "popular media tropes that usually are for romance" when i talk about fiction but pulling a blanket statement like "NO ONE talks to a friend that way" is so invalidating to so much of our queer experiences. the beauty of queer friendship literally lies in the emotional fulfilment we get from our friends in a way that i don't normally see in cishet friendships for whatever reasons. so idk it's just been bothering me to see these kinds of posts every now and then. "you wouldn't do [x] for your friends" i would actually. i would sell my soul for them. i would kill for them and kill myself for them. i would do anything for my friends that i would do for a partner. the "proof" for a ship doesn't have to be by invalidating their friendship. also like aren't most of the ships so powerful when they're also each other's closest friends? do y'all not think of your partners as your best friends?

[kikikoijo]

Queer media really just always be like ✨HANDS✨

She Makes My Heart Flutter (2022) | The Eighth Sense (2023) | The Eighth Sense (2023) | My School President (2022) | Fragrance of the First Flower (2021) | GAP The Series (2022) | A Time Called You (2023) | Moonlight Chicken (2023) | My School President (2022) | Dangerous Romance (2023)

Gif creds: @damnthosewords @tomystars @forcebook @firstkhao @gabrielokun @weiwuxian @liveasbutterflies @mantrisanu @bevioletskies @liyazaki

Part 2/? (Part 1)

[ysines]

somebody said alnst was an example of burying your gays bc theyre doomed and its like. no? that isnt what burying your gays is? at all? media literacy please come back i need you

[amy-elliot-is-done]

femme lesbian x masc bisexual will forever be one of my fav tropes

[voidoftetris]

gay people be like: commit an act of violence to separate yourself from your previous life and run away with me <3

[gaypirateslife4me]

I survived Buffy and Faith. (BtVS)

I survived Dean and Cas. (SPN)

I survived Olivia and Alex. (SVU)

I survived Sherlock and Watson. (Sherlock)

I survived Bucky and Steve, AND Sam and Steve, AND Bucky and Sam. (MCU)

I survived Clark and Lexa (t100).

I am currently surviving Will and Mike, Steve and Eddie, AND Nancy and Robin. (Stranger Things)

I have suffered through: queerbaiting; "everyone experiments in college"; queer coded? - they must be the villain!; "the inherent tragedy of gayness" (repression, AIDs, violence, hatred); girl-on-girl male fanservice; "pray the gay away"; and, most personally painful, "bisexuals aren't real, they just need to pick a side". (I mean, I am though?)

I have been fully and irrevocably traumatized by having to watch my beloved queers be buried over & over & over.

I have literally spent three-and-a-half decades in a toxic, abusive relationship with (not so) queer media.

Upon recommendation of multiple queer friends, I (skeptically, cynically, borderline angrily) watched their so-called "GAY PIRATE (affectionate)" comedy, and was gobsmacked.

Our Flag Means Death gave us: well-rounded characters that are 'no-room-for-guessing, even-your-deeply-repressed-insufferable-republican-uncle-can-see-it queer! Multiple queers with disabilities! Neurodivergent queers! A genderqueer pirate so slay I lose my breath every time they are on screen! Sex between mlm not reduced to 1) tittilation or 2) the raunchy punchline of a mean joke! An unapologetic celebration of Found Family! Drag treated with respect, and as a catalyst for openly queer joy! A fabulous gay wedding! And that's not to mention the loving, romantic, complicated, vulnerable, beautiful relationship between the two male protagonists!

I saw it. with my own two eyeballs. for the first time ever. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I assumed everyone must be as thrilled, honored, and overjoyed as I am for all the rep, positivity, and LOVE.

I was wrong.

It breaks my queer little heart that so many people on this glorious hellsite are furious, indignant, and quick to cancel the characters, the actors, the writers, and the showrunners for not being spoon-fed perfect queer characters in perfect queer relationships for perfect queer rep in ACTUAL queer media that exists! In canon!

It hurts to be vilified for being a fan who refuses to condemn the show and for loving concerningly imperfect and deeply-flawed queer characters.

I am sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, LOVE WON. We won. Please stop coming into my house (blog) and pissing all over my rainbow parade.

[quintin]

what is it with the gays holding pinkies at the movies? first we had Jude and Connor on The Fosters, then it's Nick and Charlie in Heartstopper

[ineffable-opinions]

Here are three gei-comi that I recommend for BL audience, through which they can get an insight into non-BL queer manga from Japan (created with androphilic men as target audience) :

Fire Code by Ichikawa Kazuhide

Fisherman's Lodge by Gengoroh Tagame

Coming Home by Go Fujimoto

Here is my BL versus gei-comi list which I think highlights their differences and similarities (I have included only Gengoroh Tagame’s works since they are probably the easiest to access/buy/borrow):

Do You Remember South Island P.O.W. Camp? by Gengoroh Tagame || Hitori de Yoru wa Koerarenai by Matsumoto Yoh

Arena by Gengoroh Tagame || Jinx by Mingwa (Korean; detailed pitch here)

Cretian Cow by Gengoroh Tagame || The Orc Bride by Madobuchiya (Nishin)

Uo to Mizu by Gengoroh Tagame || Terpenoid by Okadaya Tetuzoh

My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame* || The Story of My Brother by Ike Reibun

There is overlap between BL and gei-comi. Gengoroh Tagame first published in JUNE. There are magazines and anthologies (Nikutaiha BL) that offer crossover between BL and gei-comi.

[* - aimed at non-specific seinen audience like What Did You Eat Yesterday]

[ohfugecannada]

Peak media trope is where the heroes have the same type of queer coding the villains do.

[chirpsythismorning]

I just remembered they devoted a whole scene to Mike and Will burying a dead body for no reason other than to poke fun at—

[but-a-humble-goon]

Remember in the Raimi Spider-Man movies when Peter discovers his spider powers because of his attraction to Mary Jane? And Uncle Ben dies because Peter wanted money for a car to impress Mary Jane? And all three movies end with the villain kidnapping Mary Jane to force Spider-Man to come fight them? You know how this trope of a male hero whose sole motivation is the female prize which must be won through heroism is so ubiquitous and commonplace in pop culture as to be called the ultimate cliche? Keep that in mind for the next time someone tries to tell you three seconds of footage of a queer couple holding hands is "forcing it down our throats."

[horror-aesthete]

Dracula, 2020, dir. Jonny Campbell

SE01E01 The Rules of the Beast

[stressfulsloth]

A STORY CAN BE A QUEER STORY WITHOUT ROMANCE. A STORY CAN BE A QUEER STORY EVEN IF IT CONTAINS TRAGEDY. A STORY DOES NOT HAVE TO FOCUS EXPLICITLY ON A NEATLY RESOLVED ROMANTIC PLOT IN ORDER FOR IT TO BE TELLING A QUEER STORY. JUST BECAUSE A STORY IS NOT A COOKIE CUTTER ROMANCE WITH A DYKE COPY-PASTED INTO THE ROLE OF THE MALE LOVE INTEREST DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS NOT A QUEER STORY.

[archie-the-menace]

Since it’s Pride Month, thought I’d say I am very proud to write queer fiction with practically no coming out subplots. Never thought coming out was that important for my characters especially since they live in a more accepting world than ours. Theres nothing wrong with coming out stories, but I find them very overdone to the point they almost come off cringy or lazy. Writing a queer character doesn’t have to focus on their oppression or their struggles with identity. Queer people can simply exist as they are. I think that does a lot more for our representation than focusing on our coming outs.