Tag Game: Beyond BL
What are 6 of your fav queer fiction works that don’t center a romance arc? They can be explicitly queer or subtextual; books, comics, tv, or film. Make a list then tag 6 friends (or frenemies) to queer it up with.
I tried to stick to 6 and to works of fiction that are actually favs of mine 😊 Thanks phi @scarefox for tagging me! 💖
—
• Koisenu Futari
Not romance-centered? Great! I present to you, proudly, the no romance no sex show, in which there's not one but TWO aromantic asexual MAIN characters, in a story about THEIR queerness :D
• Black Sails
Oh, this? Just the tv show with the finest writing in the history of television. And some of its most important characters are 🏳️🌈🏴☠️ (the best combination of flags)
• Mr. Robot
WORLD-CHANGING THINGS HAPPENING. You would think that the characters being queer would be of little consequence... But how could it ever be, when being queer affects how we go about the world, how the world affects us, and how we might affect it in return?
• Strangers From Hell
I almost didn't put this one here because, y'know. I am centered in the romance (which is there!!). But I suppose, if you look at the bigger picture, the central arc is actually the human nature, mental illness, the hopelessness of poverty, the impacts of abuse, [fade-out effect]
• Psychopath Diary
One of these men (although not having any interest in getting in touch with it for 30+ years) might be straight. Two of them? Impossible.
• Half Man
I LOVE NIALL "SO STRAIGHT HE HAD TO FUCK HALF THE MALE POPULATION OF GLASGOW WHILE HIGH ON METH" KENNEDY!!!! EVERYTHING IS WRONG WITH HIM!!!!!!!!! There is the technicality of him most definitely being in love with his brother, and their relationship through the years being the center of the story, but I don't consider this piece a romance, tbh. To me, it's about Niall causing damage to the lives of everybody around him (so many people!), and especially his own, by being unable to fully accept who he is in detriment of what others might think about him. It's about the pressure put on men to perform “proper masculinity”, and Niall's fear of not being considered man enough in the eyes of someone that above all he did not want to disappoint (for being the one he loved (and feared) the most).
—
+ honorary mention:
• Constantine
Not one of my favorite fiction works per se, but it's the movie that gave me the earliest instance of gender envy I can recall, with Tilda Swinton playing Gabriel. I saw this character for the first time, noticed their gender neutrality, and thought excitedly to myself “That's so cool! They must have made it like that because angels don't have gender, so they don't have to be one thing or the other!”... And then I didn't address how that made me feel for like. 10 years lol
—
tagging, if you'd like to do your own: @softneomiro @akkpipitphattana @prokiathepro @cangse-sanren @told-the-moon-about-you @papertigers09 @carmillabanks93 <3
