But let's talk about comic books and queer characters or really queerness of long running comic characters. There has been a desire for many people, a lot of whom are not queer, to demand that certain characters be made queer or to explain how a certain character is queer or even to deny the queerness of a character for various reasons. Let's stop all this.
No, I'm sorry, but no matter what Claremont may have hinted Kitty Pryde is not currently a queer character. She may have been intended as such (which I've never read anything that lends to that reading myself, but Claremont supposedly hinted it.. maybe she's as bisexual/lesbian as she is Jewish?).. but right now Kitty Pryde identifies herself as straight. If she decides to come out later as bisexual or lesbian, then that is cool, but we need a backstory and history built up to make it make sense.
Deadpool is not currently pansexual. Yes he acts attracted to both male and female characters, but Deadpool has not identified himself as pansexual. His relationships have been exclusively with female characters and as far as we're aware, he has only had sex with female characters. One of his creators has said that Deadpool has brain damage that causes him to literally change who he is from moment to moment, so he can literally be gay when he is in love with Spider-Man for the moment, but then become straight when he marries Death. That said, Deadpool has a history that we can see of behavior such as flirting with men that could make him seem pansexual or bisexual. But he could just as easily be a straight guy that likes to screw with people similar to Bugs Bunny.. either way,
Iceman is now openly gay. There is a history, though when he came out the writer (Brian Michael Bendis) decided not to reference it in any way and no writer has yet decided to build up Iceman's past in any way, which desperately needs to be done because people are suggesting he has been mind raped, which is certainly possible given how his coming out was so badly handled.
Meanwhile, Julie Powers is a happy bisexual woman and she's admitted to being such. Harley Quinn is openly bisexual and in a happy relationship with Poison Ivy, for probably the first time since the character has existed (health relationships for Harley! YEAH!). Midnighter and Apollo are a happy gay couple and they remain so since they were created. Batwoman and America Chavez are both lesbians and again have been openly stated as such since they were created. Jughead is openly asexual and has owned this. There is a long history there as well and it makes 100% sense that this is so..
Are we clear now? Characters, just like human beings, aren't gay, bisexual, lesbian, pansexual, omnisexual, aromantic, asexual. until they, like a normal human being, have embraced it and come out. Speculating about the sexual orientation of a character is just like speculating the sexual orientation of a human being, ultimately pointless until the human being has acknowledged this themselves. Coming out is hard and that does mean tons of characters like normal people go through a process. This process in comics should be handled naturally (Not your mind reading red haired friend goes "I've read your mind. you're gay. Come out") but in a way that works and is written well for the character. Because the forced not-natural stuff leads to rejection, just like it would if someone ran up to you and tried to demand that you be straight..
That said, yes there is a long history of queer people claiming characters as queer for their banners and because of a long hidden messaging and codes. And yes that is important as well, but we as queer people need to understand that sometimes the codes aren't what we want them to be, just like sometimes we oogle that heterosexual guy that we desperately want to be gay to be gay so that they will like us and sometimes that guy is just not ready to come out and forcing him out isn't healthy for anyone. Sometimes however, they are exactly what they are and that's cool too. Sometimes a gay icon is a gay icon because of who they are and what they represent like Bette Middler or Judy Garland. It's all good. Ultimately though, if we want good queer representation in comics, we need to let queer characters be queer in their own ways and come out in their own time just like real people. And creators also need to accept and embrace that as well.
We also need to remember that sometimes labels are just that labels and sometimes they fit and work and sometimes they don't really express the totality of what someone is. Sexuality is a complex and it's not a clear cut, it's sometimes subjective and sometimes it's a big ball of wibby wobbly emotional desire-y stuff that's hard to define. And that characters, just like human beings, can change and understand themselves, accept themselves, and realize things about themselves over time and that's a good thing.
Comments
Post a Comment