dinosaur-unicorns:If anyone thought I’m not still a bitter pile of salt, guess again. un
dinosaur-unicorns:If anyone thought I’m not still a bitter pile of salt, guess again. unstablemerlinXena and GabrielleGather ‘round children.Xena aired between 1995 and 2001.In 1998 the show Ellen was canceled after the title character (and shortly after, Degeneres, herself) came out as gay. The subtext (I hesitate to even call it that because it’s so blatant) in Xena was by no means a carrot on a stick for queer viewers. It was an acknowledgement of the show’s interpretation by queer fans from writers who gave us as explicitly queer an interpretation as possible while still keeping the show on the air. The cast and production crew were openly supportive of their LGBTQ+ fans and Lucy Lawless was an outspoken ally at a time when it could have seriously fucked up her career. 11 year old me watching it as it aired knew it was gay. I also knew that it would never be said within the show because that was the state of television then. In 2018 there’s no excuse for shows not to unambiguously state queer relationships on screen, so if a show doesn’t then we assume they’re leading LGBTQ+ viewers on. In 1995, subtext was a way writers could sneak representation past the morality police because there had to be plausible deniability if fragile straight people accused the studio of promoting homosexuality. If Xena aired today it would seem like a huge cop out not to call it a romantic relationship within the show but I think we need to appreciate it for pushing the boundaries it did within the constraints of the time and not hold it to contemporary standards 17 years later. TLDR: Context is key. *I’ve gotten some shit polite disagreement about how this cartoon doesn’t meet the agreed upon definition of Queerbaiting, but I choose to think it counts when TV shows portray queer relationships in order to take advantage of the free social media hype that LGBTQ+ viewers give shows with representation and then dissolve the relationship or kill one of the characters once they have a boost in viewership. -- source link
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