queerbaiting with coldflash/olivarry
Alright. Letโs begin. So obviously, we all know CW infamously likes to queerbait. If you donโt know what queerbaiting is, itย is the practice to hint at, but then to not actually depict, a same-sex romantic relationship between characters in a work of fiction, mainly in film or television. One super famous example of this is Destiel, the pairing between Dean Winchester and Castiel from Supernatural. Itโs so bad, from season four till presently, thereโs been more queerbaiting than CW can get away with at this point.
In the Arrowverseโs case, they do this a lot with Olivarry (Oliver Queen and Barry Allen) and Coldflash (Leonard Snart and Barry Allen).
Before we get into Olivarry and Coldflash, I wanted to say something about Tommy Merlyn and Oliver Queen. Tommy gets impaled saving Laurel from a collapsing building and Oliver gets there in time to talk to him for a bit before he dies. We have a whole lot of face cradling, crying (which Oliver doesnโt do often, especially so early into the show) and self blaming. Tommy dies in Oliverโs arms, which is a very common romance trope.
Their scenes are very queer-coded. They stand unnecessarily close to one another (and theyโre supposed to be enemies! Jeez.) For example:
Yeah. Theyโre literally set up like potential kiss scenes but that doesnโt happen. Theyโre so painfully close for no reason. Thereโs so much tension in their scenes but nothing happens.
Even better example of queerbaiting - Olivarry. This one has a lot to talk about. It may not be the most popular Barry Allen or Oliver Queen ship, but thereโs definitely a lot here. If you asked me, Olivarry is to the Arrowverse what Destiel is to Supernatural - CWโs main queerbait.
So this is already pretty established, what with this famous line Barry tells Felicity before he leaves Starling to return to Central City:
He doesnโt deny it. He literally doesnโt. He just smiles shyly and looks away.
[ALSO this is highly irrelevant, but the episode Barry first appears in in Arrow is titledย โThe Scientistโ, which is a name shared by a popular song by Coldplay. The lyrics include lines likeย โYou donโt know how lovely you areโ,ย โItโs such a shame for us to partโ,ย โQuestions of science, science and progress do not speak as loud as my heartโ and referencesย โRunning in circlesโ, where Barry later gets struck by lightning and gains the ability to run fast.]
We also have a lot of unconditional support for each other, even when their actual significant others are not on their sides.
Oliver: Iโm always here for you.
Oliver: You can always talk to me.
Oliver: Iโm not going without [Barry].
Barry: Weโre not leaving each other.
Barry: Iโm not leaving you.
Barry: Wherever, whenever.
(Very similar to Destiel quotes, like Dean to Castiel:ย โIโm not leaving here without you.โ)
We also have a lot of scenes with tensions, a sense of underlying hidden meanings and staring (especially on Barryโs part.)
Tension includes (but is not limited to):
And Barry simply canโt keep his eyes off that man.
Barry, honey, I love you, but this is becoming a problem.
Theyโve used many similar tropes for Destiel and Olivarry - the longing looks, the eyefucking, unconditional support for one another, the way their scenes are done, their old-married-couple arguing, always putting the other before themselvesโฆ Thereโs a lot more I could cover in depth, but I donโt have the time to. I might write a more comprehensive one on both Destiel and Olivarry when I get the time.
And letโs not forget the iconic moment when Barry said โdamnโ while checking Oliver out. At his own wedding. Bartholomew Henry Allen.
So yes. The queerbaiting is awful. Theyโve been using Olivarry to queerbait since the beginning - just like they did with Destiel and Supernatural - to draw in viewers. Itโs horrible.
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