Okay... coming on here to post this because some people need a reminder. It's OKAY to have straight men in media. It's OKAY for their stories to be represented sensitively, and it gives a gal like me someone to thirst over ;)
Having said that, here are my fav 10 straight male characters in Crepuscular Shroud:
1. Ricky Lowe
2. Bob Australian (Institute Bob)
3. Sputnik
4. Wyatt Chrysan
5. Elijah Chrysan
6. Elliot Powell
7. Kii'lo Ikakari
8. Pope Orleans
9. Zulzriel Adalin II
10. Kasper Asher
(Also, friendly reminded that Vivicky is BASICALLY canon. 🥰 Elicky shippers GET OFF MY BLOG. ELIAS IS TOXIC.)
Having to explain that there's a difference between pride and a flag is tiring.
It's even more tiring to have to explain that a flag is not the "be all and end all" of representation and shouldn't be more important than achieving understanding and equality.
Gay Problems, Straight Problems, and Mainstream Representation
I've been having a lovely conversation with princebenji about Ben Whishaw's various tragic and disturbing roles, and it's given me some ideas that I haven't hopefully shared in other posts. I think most of Whishaw's fans are familiar with the interview in which he confesses to being "drawn to sad things," and this is certainly borne out in his filmography. I've written a lot about Whishaw's sad gay characters, but really, the films and tv shows in which he plays straight characters are pretty damn depressing too. I've started watching The Hour recently, and Freddie Lyon, as dynamic and charismatic as he is, is rather pitifully in love with his best friend, Bel. Bright Star presents the tragically brief love affair between John Keats (played by Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne and ends with his death from tuberculosis at 25. Grenouille in Perfume: Story of a Murderer . . . lord, that child is just trouble walking! He kills a dozen young women and preserves their scent, and the film ends with him being literally devoured. None of these are enviable positions to be in, but look at how different they are. Not only are Freddie, Keats, and Grenouille wildly different characters, they have such a variety of problems. In this case of most of Whishaw's gay characters--and, indeed, most gay characters in popular texts--not only is their gayness a problem, it's the only one they're allowed to have.
The problems straight couples and individuals face in mainstream texts are nearly limitless: physical illness or death, mental illness, domestic abuse, unrequited love, infertility, a child's illness or death, infidelity, divorce, sexism, internalized sexism, racist reactions to interracial couples, financial problems, and on and on and on. What's not recognized often enough in these texts is that gay couples and individuals are susceptible to almost all of the same issues. Really, the only exception I can think of is that gay couples rarely have to deal with unexpected pregnancies. Obviously, homophobia is a real problem, but it's something non-straight people have to contend with on top of everything else. Yet, what we see over and over again is gay people being objects of homophobia. Part of the reason for this is the lack of diversity in these portrayals. Most gay characters are white, able-bodied, mentally healthy, middle to leisure-class men, so they escape a lot of these issues merely through privilege. Homophobia is the only problem they face because they are only marginalized by their sexuality. In terms of fidelity, it's a rare show or film that has more than two gay men or lesbians (even rarer to have bi, trans, or ace characters). If they're the only two gay men in the universe (looking at you, Game of Thrones), who are they going to cheat on each other with? Concerning children, in most of the episodes and films I've seen involve cases of gay men's or lesbians' fitness as parents being called into question because of their sexuality.
I would argue that this omission of other problems--problems that any person who chooses to share their life with another can have--works in two different, and somewhat contradictory, ways. The first is othering gay people by focusing on what makes them different. In some homophobic discourse, this difference gets twisted into a kind of privilege. The idea is that gay people don't have to deal with marriage problems, childrearing, and the financial burdens that accompany these; they only have to deal with homophobia, which is often underestimated, if not dismissed, in these conversations On the other hand, making homophobia the only problem gay people face has the effect of unnecessarily involving straight people in their lives and relationships, either as heroes or oppressors. Homophobia is often either a problem from which allies can rescue their gay friends (since they certainly aren't subjected to it themselves) or a problem created by straight people. In either case, gays' lives are being defined by external forces, and both make straight people pretty damn important, don't they? In their own relationships, most straight characters' problems are, at least in some ways, internal..
Whishaw's gay characters, as I've said before, are good examples of a lot of these representational problems. I'm planning a whole post on the way in which Vyvyan Ayrs redefines Frobisher's sexuality in Cloud Atlas, so I don't want to say too much here, but aren't both he and Sebastian Flyte ruined by homophobia and relationships with kind of shitty straight men? I don't mind the sadness; really I don't, but could we please have some variety? I hope he'll continue playing non-straight characters; to be honest, I find them more interesting in general. But, I'd love to see a character who cheats on his boyfriend, or goes through a messy divorce, or has schizophrenia. Most of all, I'd love to see him play a queer character who's as messy, disturbed, and complex as Grenouille or Baby from Mojo. I don't mean a murderous psychopath; I mean someone who's been damaged by the various circumstances of his life (and not just because he was bullied for being queer), who has become dangerous, who is not simply a victim.
