I see that in how Murderbot uses entertainment media to better understand itself and its own emotions (also very ND)! In how it creates a distinction between 'good' unrealistic and 'bad' unrealistic. Especially hating how secunits are portrayed as always evil, cold, unfeeling, intimidating, waiting to snap. Which we see in the most awful fictional depictions of queer people in media (& other marginalized groups too). Murderbot loves the compassion of storytelling while acknowledging how that compassion isn't given to individuals like it.
The same way, Murderbot's own story has power. As we can see from Three, when you've never had freedom before, never been able to choose your own path before, finally having all that without any sort of guide can be paralyzing. Just a snippet of Murderbot's story inspires Three because that snippet is of a (semi) self-actualized individual who has found community, a calling, their own tastes, and a voice that speaks for itself.
That's something that can definitely be read with a queer lense. Hacking your governer module being akin to ones (queer) awakening. Murderbot hacking its governer module yet still working for the company is reminiscent of deciding to stay closeted. A lot of times its safer. A lot of times you don't have the language or tools to know what "being out" even looks like.
I didn't have the words or even know how to use them until a musical artist I liked came out. Sure, I knew the words in the way kids hear them: dehumanized, blindly derogatory, parroted by other kids from their parents & the media. But it wasn't until a real actual person I admired came out that the words were contextualized, humanized.
Murderbot & Three knew rogue secunits existed, in the abstract. But not in actuality. Not in a way that was more than a monster in the shadows or a character on the entertainment media. Three had companions but Murderbot was a rental, never having stability or the time to form connections with individuals like it. Murderbot didn't know how to contextualize its emotions, experiences, and identity after hacking its governer module. It didn't have anyone but itself, and depictions of individuals like itself only made it feel more alone.
Learning about out queer people in our life & the world helps us find our own paths. I came out early for that purpose. People confided in me because I was unabashed. Seeing other queer people in our lives shows us we aren't alone. It's proof we can survive. That we're meant to.
Murderbot connected to entertainment media, but one of the things it really needed was ART. Being around an individual with similar experiences. Connecting to it & learning with it about what it means to have their transgressive identities, to be something Other and not want to be anything else. Friendship that is distinctly Queer (aroace) in a way outsiders repeatedly interpret as romantic because they're trying to fit the dynamic in a framework they're accustomed to, translating it to their own language, no matter how inaccurate that interpretation is.
Murderbot gives its story for a documentary, becomes a beacon for individuals like and unlike it. Murderbot shares its story and Three gets something vital: a starting point, an atlas key, a language for untranslated experiences. Three wants more of that story because that's the hunger, isn't it? To want more of life: more joy, more individuality, more choice.
More of everything you thought would never be yours to have. Answers for what to do after the end you knew was coming has gone, and you're still here.
Uhhhh anyways hope this wasn't derailing but op's post inspired me to ramble about the storytelling specific queer connections lol
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