#biblazer

[lizziebennet92]

Easy way Arrow could have affirmed John Constantine’s bisexuality

Instead of “If I knew you were surrounded by so many pretty girls…” Why not “surrounded by such attractive people…” ? Gender neutral flirting is not that difficult.

Like straightwashed Constantine was annoying enough the first time around. I was hoping for better since the CW DC tv shows are slightly better with dealing with queer characters.

Instead I got aggressively heterosexual flirting.

[lizziebennet92]

so um, why the fuck is John Constantine in the Arrow preview?

I thought his straight-washed ass was cancelled.

[lizziebennet92]

There are all these famous dudes on my twitter feed going on and on about trying to save NBC’s Constantine.

Literally none of them care about John Constantine being straightwashed, or the yucky queerbaiting that the show runner did this season.

You know when it’s really great to have the LGBT community in your corner? When you’re trying to mount an online campaign to save a show.

But you all turned your back on us so, oh well.

[lizziebennet92]

I saw on twitter that Daniel Cerone tweeted that they are going to have John Constantine kiss another guy in the next episode called 'Quid Pro Quo' and explore his bisexuality in season 2 if it gets another season. You going to watch to see if it happens? I think if the ratings boost because of that it might make a statement.

Hi there! Thanks for the question. I apologize in advance for the long response.

Well since I’m not a nielsen house I may see how it happens (on twitter or here) then decide if I’m going to help ratings by watching it via hulu or on demand.

Just saying “Constantine kisses a man” doesn’t tell me if the context of the kiss comes off joking or what. After the way the creators acted during pre-production you can’t blame me for being skittish.

Also I haven’t really decided how I feel about the show using John’s bisexuality sort of as their “hail mary pass” now that the ratings are falling. They treated the community poorly but now that they need us it’s like that didn’t happen?

But in the end I am super thirsty for representation. I’ve watched a few episodes sporadically on hulu (I know I’m a terrible bi activist, forgive me) and I’ve at least appreciated the way they have kept his sexuality open so far. I would like to see a comic book show get renewed especially if they’re serious about exploring John’s bi side with another season.

So if people want to watch it, and get together to show that when you actually represent sexuality correctly like they should have from the start fans will be there then that is awesome.

Just don’t forget to watch it in a way that will help the ratings. If you watch on demand, on hulu, or the NBC site within a couple days I think it gets counted. NBC also sees tweets during the airing that use #Constantine and don’t forget to also use #BiBlazer to remind why we’re watching.

(thanks for being my first anon)

[sinchronicity]

tbh

i'm really frustrated with how some of the Great Constantine Bisexuality Debate has been framed, like i've seen a lot of people saying like, 'guys, don't worry! we're not those fans, we're not asking to see john get out of bed with a man, we just want acknowledgement'

and like?? why is john getting out of bed with a man portrayed as something super ridiculous? we've seen him getting out of bed with a woman on the show, why not a man? i DO want to see that, actually!

like. i'll take a issue 51-style "girlfriends, the odd boyfriend" line. i'd be happy for that! but i'd also be happy to see that sort of explicit, visual confirmation that yes, john constantine has sex with dudes. and i don't think i should have to distance my argument for representation from that.

[thelaughingmagician]

I feel like a bisexual fan of Hellblazer I need to explain why we're--or at least I--so passionate about making sure he remains so on constantine, since most of tumblr seems to be under the wrong assumption that we're just angry fangirls pissed we don't get to see white boys fucking on TV.

While there will always be those kinds of fans--every fandom has them, and they're a huge reason some fandoms are largely hated--most of the Hellblazer readers who were bothering Goyer (a producer with a history of bigotry) to make the change aren't those fans.  In fact, most of us don't even care if he ever gets laid on screen, we just want it acknowledged that he is bisexual, not gay, not heterosexual, bisexual.   

And in assuming we want this simply to 'see him get dick on screen' you're becoming part of the problem of bisexual erasure, because being bisexual does not mean we're in it just for the dick on dick or for the sex at all.  It's actually quite insulting that it's being insinuated and that we're all being thrown into this generalized view of fans.  

I, personally, was doing everything I could to get Goyer to be true to every aspect of John's character, not simply to see him make out with a guy on screen.  And while Goyer did cave in to pressure eventually (from NBC and Matt Ryan himself, I'm sure, since Matt's so passionate about keeping John in character and Hellblazeresque) the passing comments and hints of his bisexuality so far on the show are not enough for some viewers after Goyer's attempt to blatantly disregard it entirely and casually wave us away when we asked about it.  

Their excuse that he wasn't 'with a man' for the first ten issues/decade and thus wasn't bisexual makes absolutely no sense, because, like Anna Paquin has pointed out, being in a heterosexual relationship does not make you suddenly stop being a bisexual.  Sexuality can be fluid, but John has always presented himself as bisexual, possibly even pansexual at times, and this is the reason that writing it out bothered some fans--at least myself--so damn much.  Not because I wanted gay porn on my tv--and I'm honestly still trying very hard to not be insulted by that implication and generalization here on tumblr.  And as I know we can all make mistakes with generalizations (I myself am guilty of it) I am making this post to hopefully at least clear up my reasons.

And since this is tumblr, I also feel the need to clarify that this post was not meant to call out any particular blog/blogger, I am merely reacting to the various posts I've seen on the subject that seem to follow this assumed opinion and need clarification on it.  But I am tagging you fannishbeth, sidleupandsmile and justastormie because I feel like you three in particular will appreciate this post.

[legityoots]

John Constantine + Bi The Way

[bisexual-books]

It continues to astonish and aggravate me how often it's the gay male community, instead of the straight community, who diminish, belittle, and insult any mention of the production's erasing of Constantine's bisexuality as a reason the bi community is bothered by, and not supporting this show. Thank you too all of our allies who've been boycotting with us.

I had a minor kerfuffle with one of the writers for Comic Book Queers today on their Facebook rally cry to save Constantine and got a lot of biphobic and erasing rhetoric for my efforts. But I also opened a dialog and will be doing a podcast with them on Thursday about Constantine, straightwashing and bi erasure in general, and other issues of media representation. Hopefully that works towards a positive and not just more airtime to talking down to our issues.

Evan