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| Hailing the awesomeness of Hyperbole and a Half |
Among the many recent twitter issues that have been burning around have been two hashtags:
#GiveElsaAGirlfriend and #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend both of which have become very popular.
While neither of these franchises are ones we follow, the issues raised by these hashtags very much apply to our genre - or, well, any genre.
And I’ll be the first to say there are flaws with both of them. For example, I’m not a great fan of Idina Menzel weighing in on how Elsa having a girlfriend would be cool because I really hate it when actors, writers, directors, producers, etc. play the whole “oh it would be totally cool to have LGBT representation” when we know there’s absolutely no damn chance of it happening. I’m not a fan when the Russo brothers or anyone remotely connected to Star Wars does it either. That’s just another way of playing up the media while not delivering.
I also think a substantial number of the #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend hashtag are more concerned with hawt that would be rather than any genuine desire for inclusion.
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| Yay, Slash Allydom! |
Let’s look at what seems, on the surface, one of the more reasonable arguments: wouldn’t it be better to have original LGBTQ characters rather than taking a canonically straight one and “turning it gay.” Well, firstly that ignores the reality of the closet and bisexuality - there are a whole lot of LGBTQ people out there who have a history of opposite sex relationships before coming out or otherwise revealing they’re LGBTQ people. And secondly it ignores the reality of how LGBTQ characters - and minority characters in general - are treated. Let’s face it LGBTQ characters tend to be minor characters, not part of the main franchises and often confined to alternate universes - and this certainly applies to the superhero genre (it doesn’t apply to the Disney Princess genre because there are no LGBTQ characters there in any form). LGBTQ characters that are introduced do not receive the same backing or promotion as long standing straight, cis, white characters like Captain America, Thor, Batman, Superman et al.
In fact, even long standing straight marginalised characters like Storm and Wonderwoman are woefully poorly treated in the movie adaptations (how can you even depict Storm as less than toweringly awesome? How do you even manage that?). The idea that we should have expressly-created-to-be-LGBTQ characters and that those characters won’t be dumped into greater obscurity than the winner of The Voice 3 years ago denies reality. There is an ideal situation, and a situation we can hope for in a dream world where it rains rain coffee and mornings aren’t declared illegal by international treaty.
