I JUST REALIZED HOW TO PUT INTO WORDS THE THING I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE COMING OUT
Bear with me, they wrote it not as a scared teenager revealing his deepest secret to his close family and friends, but as a speech, an anthem, a UNIVERSAL DECLARATION of queerness
but we didn't want an anthem
because yes, this coming out is an important marker in queer television, but the importance isn't in the grand pomp of a big sermon, but in the quiet, realistic intimacy of a CHILD's confession, not a FIGUREHEAD
It felt too magnanimous, too much about the world around him and not about HIM. It's as if he was trying to convince the AUDIENCE that being gay is ok
they wrote it as if there was this BIG pressure on them, and there IS, but not because it's supposed to be this gigantic speech and end homophobia or something, but because it's supposed to show something human and real that, despite the crying and 80s references, felt forced
let Will be a KID for once, let him cry to his mom and friends without needing to 'pad' his alibi of being 'different', let him be scriptless and NOT a representation of all queer characters but loving himself as he is, regardless of what he says
it's obvious that the pressure of the scene destroyed the message