— Sharanya Kannan
TW: queerphobia
We live in a world where we can watch the wonderful Captain Holt and Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Or David and Patrick on Schitt’s Creek, or the iconic Todd Chavez on Bojack Horseman. Or Rue and Jules in Euphoria. The visibility of the queer community in a positive light is a culmination of several years of struggle and confrontation. And it still fraught with various shortcomings, especially in our country.
There was a time in Hollywood when depiction of homosexuality was simply not allowed. The infamous “Hays Code”, which was put in place from 1930 onward, was essentially a moral code that mandated films to never show any crime or “immoral” act in a way that would make the audience sympathize with the wrongdoers. Furthermore, certain topics were completely prohibited from being depicted onscreen — including homosexuality, interracial relationships, and also bestiality (one of those is definitely not the same as the others).
To evade censorship laws, filmmakers would often shroud the queerness of their characters in stereotypes and subtext. Characters were never explicitly depicted to be queer, but their mannerisms and actions were coded to imitate stereotypes of LGBTQ people (such as male characters having effeminate mannerisms). This was the practice of queer-coding. Queer-coding, while not inherently wrong, often went hand in hand with depictions of queer people as psychologically disturbed villains, or as the butt of a joke. In the rare cases that they weren’t portrayed in an evil light, they would receive a tragic ending because the filmmakers couldn’t be seen as being sympathetic towards the LGBTQ community.
While the Hays Code largely went out of use by the 1960s, but its consequences persisted for a long time in Hollywood and all around the world. The associations of queerness with ‘evil’ persisted. The villains in classic Disney films best exemplify this trend, such as Ursula from The Little Mermaid (1989), whose appearance was based on real-life drag queen Divine; Captain Hook from Peter Pan (1953), Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas (1995), Jafar from Aladdin (1992) among others were portrayed as vain, flamboyant and having loud, large personalities. Even in media such as video games, with villains like the sashaying, makeup-wearing demon – lord Ghirahim from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011). The issue here is not that LGBTQ people should never be portrayed as villains, but an inherent association of stereotypically queer traits with immorality. These characters were not intentionally written to be queer, rather, negative stereotypes around queer people are used to convey the villainy of their characters. When we view the villains in contrast with the heroes, who perfectly fit in with gender norms, it seems that there are some rather concerning subtextual messages being peddled by these movies. It’s important to acknowledge that many queer people have embraced these villains. It’s also true that the villains’ campy personalities make them very compelling and enjoyable characters. However, we also need to reevaluate the negative representation and the consequences that follow such representation.
In India, the issue has been more often than not about a complete lack of visibility. LGBTQ characters and stories are conspicuously absent from a vast majority of Indian TV and film media. The subject seems too taboo to even be broached — and in the rare case that it is, it’s often the butt of a tasteless joke, or relies on outdated stereotypes, for example, the jokes in Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) or the problematic Dostana (2008). However, there have been some standout gems over the years, such as Fire (1996), Margarita With A Straw (2014), Aligarh (2015), and recently Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdan (2020). In the past few years, the OTT, media has provided more space for shows such as Made in Heaven who handled the subject of homosexuality with maturity and care.
Some tropes still persist: the infamous “Bury Your Gays” trope (a relic of the Hays code), in which queer characters are always killed off, or the “Gay Best Friend” trope, in which a gay friend simply exists as a sassy accessory to the (often female) protagonist, giving her fashion and romantic advice. One of the more aggravating trends has been the practice of queer-baiting, in which the romantic chemistry between two characters of the same gender is played up in order to attract queer audiences, but in the end, there is no proper romantic relationship established. Infamous examples of queer-baiting include the TV shows Supernatural and Rizzoli & Isles. All issues aside, however, there’s been a tremendous amount of progress in the way LGBTQ people are represented. They aren’t just confined to the margins, portrayed as mentally ill or immoral anymore — it’s getting increasingly common to see queer people represented as having stable lives, and seeing their struggles handled with sensitivity by writers.
It’s often said that media is the mirror of society. If stereotypes and narrow attitudes prevail in society, then that’s what the media reflects. Film, TV, and other media play a huge role in informing the way we view the people around us. Increased visibility and acceptance of the queer community in our world have blossomed along with increasingly nuanced, well-written queer characters onscreen. Representation matters: for both queer people to see themselves in the media they consume, and to encourage other people to be more accepting. LGBTQ representation has had a long, arduous journey throughout history, hopefully, it gets even better from here.
Design by Lakshmi P
Article 19 