tbh a lot of stuff in china and the rest of east asia relies on "plausible" deniability. there are shows that are straight up based on BL novels, and as long as the characters don't explicitly say "I love you in a homosexual manner" it gets through. And chinese audiences aren't stupid. they know dumbledore and grindelwald are together even if it can only be implied in the movie
That makes sense. And it’s a large part of why I’m so adamant that gay representation needs to be explicit (looking at you, good omens and your “gazing lovingly at each other is enough” shtick). Otherwise, it can easily be denied and viewed as “just friends”, and homophobic censors relying on plausible deniability proves this. Because that’s exactly what they do when they keep everything but the explicit homosexuality; knowing that without an explicit display of same sex love, the couple can be brushed off as friends.
Maybe viewers who aren’t homophobic are smart enough to know that these two characters are in love, even if the “I love you” was either cut or not there in the first place. But homophobic viewers get to pretend there’s nothing gay in sight at all. Which is unfortunately unavoidable if we’re taking about places where homosexuality is censored… but when we’re talking about western shows that brag about on screen “love” while depicting something that would get through homophobic censors? It’s shameful to pretend that you’re depicting a love story when that “love story” is easily able to be interpreted as best buds.
Like with the wizards, LGB people and allies might be able to tell they’re in love. But I doubt hardcore homophobes are going to be mad about it, because they’ll just be able to tune it out.
I feel really bad for LGB people in east Asia though, and feel really lucky that I live in a place (Canada) where I can see myself on screen without censors trying to prevent me from doing so.
