About Homoerotic subtext in mainstream tv shows, books and movies and slash fanfiction...
Last week I was talking to a friend and she told me that I find homoerotic subtext everywhere, that I should just watch gay movies with gay characters instead of âpretending straight characters are gay when theyâre notâ. I thought about it for a while and I came to a conclusion: one of the main reasons that I find homoerotic subtext âeverywhereâ is because we donât have gay characters in mainstream media. Yeah, I know. Youâre probably going to say that we have queer as folk, the L world, Brokeback Mountain, etc. And donât get me wrong I love those but the thing is that those movies and tv shows are mostly focused in the fact that those characters are gays. I mean most people who classify them as gay movies/shows. We almost never have a gay character in a science fiction or fantasy mainstream movie/book/show. And if we have it, is just a minor character. The reason I read slash about Charlie/Erik for example is the fact that right now we could never have a good x-men film when the two character happen to be gay and in love in the movie. Yeah, I know that most hardcore fans like me can watch the movie and see the sexual tension but most viewers donât. I watched this movie with friends and family and they saw nothing. Same goes with Star Trek, Merlin, Sherlock Holmes, Supernatural and a lot more. I want to watch a fantasy movie when one of the characters happens to be gay without everyone talking about THE GAY WIZARD/SUPERHERO/WARRIOR/WHATEVER.
  This brings me to the second point: Being a slash shipper is really frustrating sometimes. Especially when the subtext is there. When the writers, cast, producers are doing it ON PROPUSE. Like in supernatural. They tease all the time with the homoerotic subtext without never making it explicit. At least not for the rest of the audience. And sometimes it makes me angry because is a really comfortable position, like weâre going to tease the slash fangirls without making homoerotic references all the time but without making the risk of making the characters actually gay. Supernatural may be one of the most obvious examples but I can assure you that is not the only one. Yeah, finding the subtext is funny, entertaining but sometimes is not enough. Not, for me at least. Yeah, I have fanfiction. But sometimes I donât really like the fact that most of the mainstream media prefer to say in that safe place, just in the line kinda like âWeâre going to put a lot of homoerotic subtext, weâre going to show a deep and profound relationship between two men WITHOUT making  them gay in canon so that way everybody is happy and we donât have to deal with homophobes/ a lot of the audience donât watching our tv show/movie. A big example of this is when J.K. Rowling said that Dumbledore was gay and most people were like âOh, she has a gay character, how open, how modernâ and you know what? I think is sad and a little insulting that she waited till the books were all best-sellers to say that in a interview thatâs going to be seen mostly my fan and not the mainstream audience.
   So we have two things: movies/tv show when the characters are gay since the begging of the film/tv show or tv shows/movies when the characters are straight and always straight, even when the homoerotic subtext is all over the place. Yeah, sometimes I read too much into things, I give you that. But a lot of other people choice to ignore the subtext because thatâs more comfortable for them; they prefer to ignore the fact that their favorite male character can be attracted to another man. Things donât work that way in real life. In real life one day one of your friends, one member of your family is going to come and say âIâm gayâ and there were probably some signs of that that you choose to ignore but when he/she tell you that youâre not able to ignore the fact that theyâre not straight. If people canât deal with mainstream characters being homosexuals, how are they going to be able to deal with their son/daughter being homosexual? Letâs suppose for a moment that Batman is homosexual⊠is that going to change how badass he is? I donât think so. Iâve observe that sometimes when a movie/tv shows begins and the two main characters are a woman and a man most people say/thing âtheyâre going to end togetherâ before even knowing anything about those characters, even if they seem to just meet. But if the the two main characters are male, even if they seem to be really close, most people assume that theyâre just friends and that theyâre always going to be friends. Thatâs because most people assume that everybody is straight unless is a âgay movieâ or a âgay tv showâ and thatâs not how it works. Gay people donât live a âgay lifeâ. They live a LIFE. A character being gay shouldnât have to be a big deal but sadly most viewers think that a gay lead character, especially in movies like The Lord Of The Rings or Sherlock Holmes (Yeah, I know that theyâre based in books and I know that the characters are not gay in canon, in those books, at least not in a explicit way). A lot of men would think that if, for example, Aragorn was gay that would make him somehow less heroic and admirable, which of course it doesnât make any sense at all. And a lot of women somehow would find him less attractive and appealing. No, Iâm not saying that all the audience would feel that way but there is a reason why we donât have gay lead characters in mainstream media and is the rejection of a lot of people, they rejection that could generate. But the only way of stopping that is by actually doing it. But you know what he problem is? Letâs supposed that the Pirates of the Caribbean movies were exactly the same with exception of Jack Sparrow being gay⊠the movies wouldâve been called âthose movies of the gay pirateâ. Iâm giving this example because even Johnny Depp said in an interview (without joking) that his character was bisexual. He can say that in an interview but heâs unable to show it on screen. And then there is the fact that pretty much every movie with a gay character is âa movie for adultsâ, how people except children to accept and see homosexuality as something normal if theyâre unable to see homosexual people in the media? How are those children going to find okay and normal to have two fathers or two mothers?
Most people assume that the average slash fan read too much into things. Well, maybe we didnât have to if we could so that in reality sometimes. A good, epic and interesting movie/tv show for all the family with a gay character WITHOUT BEING A BIG DEAL, without being THE GAY CHARACTER, just a character that happens to like people of her/his same sex.
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