#queer tropes in media | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ellapastoral · 10 months

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In the many shows and movies, it was common for LGBTQ characters to be killed off as a plot device, a trope known as "Bury Your Gays." However, Star Trek: Discovery has subverted this trope by featuring several prominent LGBTQ characters who not only survive, but are also integral to the show's main storylines. This video will discuss this.

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hoperays-song · 10 months

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Can we talk about the found family trope and queer-coded/canonically queer characters? Because there is a ton of overlap between these two.

In their stories, the queer/queer-coded characters no longer have a supportive family for a number of reasons (Hiccup refuses to kill dragons, Johnny wants to be a singer, Nimona is a shapeshifter, etc). A lot of times these reasons are things that ‘other’ them from people around them, thereby furthering the queer allegory.

And this lack of support is what drives these characters to form/find a found family made of more people who are like them. People who will treat them with the love and support that their family should have. It pushes them into the found family trope.

The prevalence of found family in queer and queer-coded story lines serves to make them more relatable and realistic but it’s also heart breaking that familial rejection is so common that this trope does make it more realistic.

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kikikoijo · 8 months

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Queer media really just always be like ✨HANDS✨

Gif creds: @damnthosewords @tomystars @forcebook @firstkhao @gabrielokun @weiwuxian @liveasbutterflies @mantrisanu @bevioletskies @liyazaki

Part 2/? (Part 1)

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voidoftetris · 4 months

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gay people be like: commit an act of violence to separate yourself from your previous life and run away with me <3

#truly the greatest trope i keep running into in queer media #does hannibal count as queer media? eh.#tma #hannibal #im scared of the ofmd fandom so im not main tagging it but. yknow.#voidposts

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gaypirateslife4me · 6 months

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I survived Buffy and Faith. (BtVS)

I survived Dean and Cas. (SPN)

I survived Olivia and Alex. (SVU)

I survived Sherlock and Watson. (Sherlock)

I survived Bucky and Steve, AND Sam and Steve, AND Bucky and Sam. (MCU)

I survived Clark and Lexa (t100).

I am currently surviving Will and Mike, Steve and Eddie, AND Nancy and Robin. (Stranger Things)

I have suffered through: queerbaiting; "everyone experiments in college"; queer coded? - they must be the villain!; "the inherent tragedy of gayness" (repression, AIDs, violence, hatred); girl-on-girl male fanservice; "pray the gay away"; and, most personally painful, "bisexuals aren't real, they just need to pick a side". (I mean, I am though?)

I have been fully and irrevocably traumatized by having to watch my beloved queers be buried over & over & over.

I have literally spent three-and-a-half decades in a toxic, abusive relationship with (not so) queer media.

Upon recommendation of multiple queer friends, I (skeptically, cynically, borderline angrily) watched their so-called "GAY PIRATE (affectionate)" comedy, and was gobsmacked.

Our Flag Means Death gave us: well-rounded characters that are 'no-room-for-guessing, even-your-deeply-repressed-insufferable-republican-uncle-can-see-it queer! Multiple queers with disabilities! Neurodivergent queers! A genderqueer pirate so slay I lose my breath every time they are on screen! Sex between mlm not reduced to 1) tittilation or 2) the raunchy punchline of a mean joke! An unapologetic celebration of Found Family! Drag treated with respect, and as a catalyst for openly queer joy! A fabulous gay wedding! And that's not to mention the loving, romantic, complicated, vulnerable, beautiful relationship between the two male protagonists!

I saw it. with my own two eyeballs. for the first time ever. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I assumed everyone must be as thrilled, honored, and overjoyed as I am for all the rep, positivity, and LOVE.

I was wrong.

It breaks my queer little heart that so many people on this glorious hellsite are furious, indignant, and quick to cancel the characters, the actors, the writers, and the showrunners for not being spoon-fed perfect queer characters in perfect queer relationships for perfect queer rep in ACTUAL queer media that exists! In canon!

It hurts to be vilified for being a fan who refuses to condemn the show and for loving concerningly imperfect and deeply-flawed queer characters.

I am sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, LOVE WON. We won. Please stop coming into my house (blog) and pissing all over my rainbow parade.

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chirpsythismorning · 1 year

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I just remembered they devoted a whole scene to Mike and Will burying a dead body for no reason other than to poke fun at—

#byler #they said cliche gay tropes #we raise you mocking those tropes subtly through the plot #like did they really need to devote a whole scene to burying a dead body?#they could have left dude laying anywhere #could’ve just stored him in one of the trunks in the junkyard #it wouldn’t have made any difference #fucking argyle joked about just writing their names on the makeshift gravestone #the scene was treated like a joke instead of them seriously needing to bury the body for safety reasons #it was a way to joke about how many viewers think Will is going to die #and follow the same trope every gay main character in mainstream media has before #where YAY they give us a gay character and get some brownie points from queer fans #only to kill the character off to appease the homophobes who make up the majority and would rather not have to actually watch a queer story #and the duffers are essentially saying #lmaooooo fuck that #and having it be both Mike and Will most prominently in this scene…#another fuck you to those saying that this love story is unrequited like every other story before it #they’re laughing at y’all!!!#y’all as in ppl that are predicting the most cliche ending to the story #like do you think they would poke fun at a trope that favors straight characters over gay ones…#only have a storyline that does just that?#the correct answer is no

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stormyoceans · 2 years

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friends wake up new favorite BL trope just dropped

#THE IMPORTANCE OF SMELL IN QUEER MEDIA MY ABSOLUTE BELOVEDEST #trying to think if there's any other BL that used this but nothing comes to mind at the moment #i can think about a couple more clothes sniffing scenes but they're not set up like this #itsay #bad buddy #bad buddy the series #vice versa #vice versa the series #the eclipse #the eclipse the series #bl tropes #m: txt

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but-a-humble-goon · 4 months

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Remember in the Raimi Spider-Man movies when Peter discovers his spider powers because of his attraction to Mary Jane? And Uncle Ben dies because Peter wanted money for a car to impress Mary Jane? And all three movies end with the villain kidnapping Mary Jane to force Spider-Man to come fight them? You know how this trope of a male hero whose sole motivation is the female prize which must be won through heroism is so ubiquitous and commonplace in pop culture as to be called the ultimate cliche? Keep that in mind for the next time someone tries to tell you three seconds of footage of a queer couple holding hands is "forcing it down our throats."

#queer #media #tropes #heteronormativity

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ohfugecannada · 6 months

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Peak media trope is where the heroes have the same type of queer coding the villains do.

#tropes #media tropes #villain tropes #hero tropes #queer coding #lgbt #queer #oh your villian is an androgynous posing pretty boy #well so are the guys about to kick thier ass

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horror-aesthete · 11 months

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Dracula, 2020, dir. Jonny Campbell

SE01E01 The Rules of the Beast

#i have... so many things to say about the trope in media depicting unhealthy relationships #particularly horror media #of reapropriating a nickname given by an intimate partner by a malicious third party (gay lover)#in order to try and skip ahead in the queue of emotional development #looking at you reanimator #horror aesthetic #horror tv #dracula 2020 #horror quotes #queer fear

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beetlevsboy · 7 months

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SHUT THE FUCK UPPP WE ARE COMMUNICATING NOW I LOVE YOU AND WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS YOU ASSHOLE is such a trope tbh

#trope #tropes #mlm books #wlw books #queer media #this is about all hail the underdogs as well as k #I love romcoms so much but something about real fucking couples that aren’t perfect and bicker and fight but have enough trust in each #other to know that you can get through it and one mistake is not end all be all is so comforting and it is just like true romance to me #like yes this sucks. you suck sometimes. but I love you so we will figure this out even if it takes an hour of talking or a day of spending #it apart or 5 years of therapy or the rest of our lives of me showing you how much I care #wolfstar #shameless?#I’ve never watched the show but that seems to be their vibe #ian x mickey #jupeter #the penumbra podcast #snowbaz #snowbaz core

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danmeichael · 29 days

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both ad lib lovers and the summer hikaru died to something really interesting wherein they take typical genre conventions and set-ups of BL and place them into a genre other than romance, while still portraying the romantic undertones. where the summer hikaru died does this with horror, ad lib lovers does this with comedy.

as opposed to hikaru's focus on horror, in ad lib lovers, jealousy, desire, and a fear of inadequacy and loving someone more than they love you is portrayed through the lens of improv. this accurately depicts that having a crush on someone as an adult is humiliating.

#not fandom #the summer hikaru died #sokuseki ad lib lovers #is it weird i could talk a lot about how well executed ad lib lovers is #like OF COURSE i can talk about the summer hikaru died and horror as an allegory for queer coming of age #but ad lib lovers seems significantly less narratively dense on the surface but is (in my opinion) so perfectly executed #the mix of diagetic and non-diagetic comedy is so fantastic and both are executed really well #it's also INCREDIBLY grounded in a way a lot of manga focused on comedy really aren't #oh my god stop talking this was supposed to be a joke post oH MY GOD #it truly feels like two guys trying to be funny. i believe that their act is funny in-universe #as well as finding the non-diagetic jokes that are for you the viewer really funny.#reframing common BL tropes for couples getting together as them getting their COMEDY DUO together #while also doing a really good job of developing a very sincere (if goofy) romance just outside the boundaries of the cliche works so well #i think there is a tendency to undervalue the effort that goes into making comedy work #comedy is seen as the lowest common denominator #but this is a manga that is just mechanically incredibly well executed on top of being really enjoyable #in my opinion idk #AND ANOTHER THING another thing these works share is societal.#horror and comedy are two places that queerness was historically allowed to exist in media mostly unquestioned #you are allowed to be queer if you're the butt of the joke #you're allowed to be queer if you're the monster.#in this way that makes them such a poetic canvas to explore a genuine and sincere love story between same-sex characters

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lgbtlunaverse · 3 months

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It is such a travesty I was hardcore not looking at the fact that I was into girls when I was a kid. The amount of "mia and me" mia/violetta wattpad fanfiction 10 year old me could've been writing... tragic.

#baby's first toxic yuri #every single time a media property introduced a 'mean girl' bully antagonist and then redeemed her i was OBSESSED #mia and me #mia #violetta #actually i could've been a mia/yuko girlie too... well she has 2 hands #and yes to be historically accurate it would have to be wattpad #by the time i discovered ao3 i already knew i was bi #and sure i suppose i could just write the fic NOW but it would not have the same flavor as a hyperxiated 10 year old #tbh mialetta (is that what we're calling it?) is not even that toxic. Now whatever the fuck gargona had going on with panthea? THAT'S toxic #they really did just recreate the queer-coded villain with infatuated henchmen trope but with women... feminism

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alexissara · 11 months

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Why Obsession Hits Different When It's Gay

In Media an obsessed character who is in love with the main character is extremally common. I find it annoying and boring when it's straight but tantalizing and potentially endearing when it's gay. This is not me moralizing queer obsession, it can be just as "problematic" as straight obsession but explain the appeal and the ways it feels different.

Historic Context

While the straights love a forbidden romance, the true forbidden romance throughout most of the white world's history [which is where we see most stories take place] have been gay. While there was many a secret love affair there were even more secret pinning that were never expressed, never written, words couldn't be made for their very utterance may be enough to ruin you.

So longing and pinning became strong elements of queerness, the longing for someone who you believe will never return your affections, taking in the small things, the little moments, the friendship that may never surpass what you dream of but none the less can be treasured. Having to lie about your attractions, your loves, marrying someone for your family and not for your heart. Hoping you can remain close.

Outside of the yogurt society we saw these loves torn apart on a systemic level where once they were praised and normal they slowly became demonized. Much like we see now an attempt to shift public views on queerness we had a radical queer genocide across the America's thanks to the Catholic and protestant churches shared interest in Ingenious genocide. Tearing through the culture, forced religious conversions, mass murder took loves, histories, stories that were once treasured and set them ablaze. They could never take away their hearts though, not really and this love, this feeling even if they were forced apart would live forever inside them.

The Narrative History

The lesbian best friend trope is often far less spoken about then the Gay Best Friend because the Lesbian best friend is a much cruller flavor and is still found in some media to this day. The lesbian best friend breaks down between the endearing but a little creepy weirdo to the dangerous homo in your area. Both traffic in explicit obsession.

The kinder but still mean bumbling obsessive Lesbian finds herself snapping photos of her bestie while she is asleep, keeping a lock of her hair, always telling her that the man isn't good enough for her but none the less dutifully supporting her heterosexual lifestyle when she engages a relationship. The bumbling lesbian best friend will probably die alone wishing she was with this girl but she understands her place, she isn't like the Friend Zone incel man, no she is happy with her place as a friend she might just sniff her hair a little too long. The Psycho Lesbian on the other hand is deadly, her obsession is building and eventually it's going to burst. Her best friends happy heterosexual life will be met with a knife ending her boys life and maybe hers next. The Psycho Lesbian is a threat to society and in the end she will die. The Psycho Lesbian gets no joy in her life, she has a bad life and then does some bad actions and then dies a bad death.

These tropes and the history build a empathy in queer people in particular queer women with the queer obsessed girl. An understanding and well, a desire to cheer on the girl's romantic dreams. So many love stories never happened because fear of expression or the heteronormative world stopped it. So it's natural when someone who is clearly in love wants to be with someone that many people will cheer them on.

The Straight Danger

Now a major reason it hits different is because well, it's not straight. Like people often try and site data about domestic abuse with queer women going like "look it's super high" but any further look into the data shows that the Lesbians and Bisexual women who are abused are normally abused by men they were in a relationship with, likely after coming out. The reality is for queer women dating men can be fairly dangerous and this goes double for Trans Women who we see time after time can end up lethal. The straight obsession can often mirror these abusers behaviors. Anything that brings up these kind of scars can for sure just be unappealing and most people probably know someone who has dealt with a shitty partner who even if they weren't abusive for sure were far to obsessed with owning their partner.

Ownership is baked into the model of monogamous straight marriage so the obsession also rarely feels special. Your supposed to be obsessed as a hetero. This is who your supposed to be with your whole life. Your both supposed to demand each others eternal affection and kinda hate each other. The man and the woman are from different plants they say but their magnetly brought together by the need to breed. Obviously this is bullshit and plenty of straight relationships can be actually healthy and great and fantastic and they also don't need to involve sex at all. However, the predominance of this model makes it where this obsessive affection far less tasty.

The Nice Guy's prominent existence in media, the idea that women just want bad boys and the nice guy friend who is obsessed with them deserves them is pretty prominent. This has built into a Incel cult of men in the real world feeling entitled to women's bodies. In the media these men tend to get with the women, in the end the nice guy wins. This normalization of what has ultimately lead to a very toxic environment for women also makes straight obsession feel that much worse. The idea that the men you are friends with are only your friend because they wanna fuck you and that their weird online about you in their private reddits or some shit.

The Chemistry Of Queer Obessession

All of this builds into the wider context of why both straight obsession just kinda feels bad in media and why Queer Obsession feels different then that. While, I believe these factors are core reasons why it feels different I think another factor is just that being queer is not the same as being straight, Allo, etc.

Many queer people deal with a lot of hate, Maybe not by their day to day crowed but we can look online and just see how many people want us dead. We have to look both ways when we hold hands with our partners. It's hard to date when you need to either find the right spaces or be on apps and go through people who want different things then you. So the idea of someone utterly in love with you can be super appealing.

The hard work is done of trying to find someone you work with and here is someone who loves you unconditionally, who is gonna uplift you and cheer on your dreams, do whatever they can do help. The queer obsession become a form of wish fullfillment. There being this great deep love right there beside you.

It also works the other way around, being able to be with someone you always wished would be with you, the dream of falling in love with someone and them actually wanting those advances. In particular when the obsession goes both ways it can be feel really sweet and like even if the world wants to stop them, this love is so great it barely phases you.

Everything I said put together really ties in why at least for me queer obsession really just is not the same as straight obsession in romantic media. I think queer obsession just feels special and maybe one day it will feel as creepy, I hope it does, but for now it just doesn't.

If your obsessed with my posts you could give me money on Patreon or Ko-fi, I won't stop you.

#queer theory #Queer thoughts #queer #lesbian #sapphic #Lesbian Tropes #media criticism

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shyjusticewarrior · 2 years

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transpidergwen · 2 years

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Been thinking very hard about Charly's sacrifice and how that relates to Bury Your Gays. I want to preface everything with YMMV and it's completely valid if you're upset. In my opinion, Charly's death worked.

BYG is a set of tropes: when a characters's death is for shock value with little to no long term impact. Usually their death isn't about them and they have no agency in it, it's purpose is to inflict pain on their love interest (a main character) or to motivate another character, often for only a few episodes, often a straight man. There is also the element of creator bias, when they are aware how much that character/that relationship means to the audience and either ignorantly or maliciously choose to inflict the pain of killing them anyway. Arrow, The 100, Person of Interest, ST: Discovery, Supernatural and Killing Eve are the ones I'm most familiar with, but there are hundreds of others. Charly's death fits none of those criteria.

Charly had agency in her sacrifice. It wasn't a stray bullet, it wasn't pointless; she saved the galaxy and prevented genocide. Her decision was a reflection of her devotion to the ideals of the Union, even if she felt conflicted. The belief that all life has value, that even if it's your enemy and you have every reason to hate them, *genocide is always wrong*. That's what Charly decided. That was her story and her choice, no one else's. Consequently her actions have changed the course of the entire central storyline for the show. Her sacrifice *mattered*.

Contrast that with the Orville's Thursday counterpart, Strange New Worlds, which also killed a minority character in episode 9. It was pointless and he had no agency in it. A shock value death after the stakes of the episode had already resolved. It added nothing to the episode or the overall narrative. He wasn't even mentioned in the subsequent finale; he was disposable. In a lackluster and rushed funeral scene he got a short by the numbers speech about how he helped Uhura find herself, because his death wasn't about him.

Or go back a few years to another Trek when Discovery killed Hugh at the height of BYGs. Another pointless, shock value death that accomplished nothing except making Paul miserable.

The Orville has built up to this moment for three seasons. The episode was a culmination of every major storyline for the show, and the paradigm of the story has permanently changed because of Charly's actions. It's a tricky business killing any character in your story. It has to feel both too soon and inevitable, and making sure it matters to the narrative is something the majority of shows fail to do. This counts ten fold for queer characters. The Orville is a rare example that has met that threshold for me. To write off Charly's sacrifice as BYG is to imply that it didn't matter, and it did.

#BYG is still a very big issue in media right now #but it's rectangles and squares #not every queer death falls into those tropes and if we say they do then it loses all meaning #overall I don't think we're at a point where queer characters should be killed #but I think it's important to recognize the difference between when it's done well and when it's not #anyway that's my two cents #the orville #the orville new horizons #the orville: new horizons #the orville spoilers #star trek: strange new worlds spoilers #the orville 3x09 #charly burke #my angry lesbian saved the world

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