How to depict bigotry as an act of violence? · 3:24pm Oct 27th, 2021
So, out of curiosity, I picked #GreenLanter (1990) #154-155. Y'know, that story about violence against the LGBTQ+ community, by Judd Winick. Holy crap, it was an heavy read. Despite the pitfalls, it does say a lot about the brutality of queerphobia.
The obvious problem is the depiction of a gay story through an hetero-cis protagonist, plus the victimization framing. Yet, it also avoids fridging the gay character while also makes the discrimination at large the problem, instead of going the "just a couple of bad guys" route.
It also refocus the super-hero concept around problems that can't be punched by the end of the issue. Striking harder for a character like Kyle Rayner, one of the most powerful in comics overall. Yet, against something omnipresent as hate or bigotry, he's powerless.
I think these two issues should be talked about more than just "those comics where Green Lantern's gay friend is beaten". Not out of revisiting, but for analysis. Both in how modern media depicts social problems, thus how modern society sees and relates to them.
And to top it all, the problem of being assaulted just for kissing a person of your same gender, or even expressing your own gender identity overall is still relevant. These comics are nearly two decades old, but are still relevant. We need to not let this slip under the radar.
Note: It also depicts the homophobia of the victim's parents as violent as the physical beating he went through. Plus the father lamenting his kid is gay isn't painted as a a tragedy, but as another expression of hate from the father's side. Even nowadays, that's a rare sight in mainstream media.
Good. Seems like a positive step with decent writing.
We're still struggling to escape "token" status in storylines, though. Hopefully the character isn't a "let's write about homophobia or gay issues" every time they're introduced.
Huh...this reminds me of that one Captain America story from the 80s where Steve defended a gay man from homophobia and reassured him that there was nothing wrong with him liking men (I apologize for the incredibly abridged summary of this story. I haven't actually read it.).
Also, I appreciate you talking about a pre-Geoff Johns Green Lantern story. Not many people talk about those older stories, which is a shame since some of those stories are pretty good in their own right.
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I think Superman, Son of Kal-el and Batman: Urban Legends are doing an interesting job by making their queer characters be front and center instead of a supporting cast that's subjected to the next writer taking over. More with both characters being also the heavy icons of the company. I think it's specially interesting with Tim Drake being bisexual, since it also tells the story of queerness being discovered and accepted later in life, like happens to many of us.
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I think I know that story. But also haven't seen much of it.
While I like Geoff Johns' GL run, I do think it has become overrated. Specially in how it overshadows many of the previous writers and developments that came before it. Case in point, Judd Winick's work with Kyle Rayner's characterization. Though Ron Marz did a lot of the heavy lifting, Winnick also gave Kyle very unique moments along John, Guy and Allan.
I feel like, at least here in fairly liberal Southern California, outside of AIDS which obviously was and still is a massive issue, the struggles of cis gay men in the 90s were a lot like the struggles of trans people now. We keep pushing forward. Progress should be so very much faster, but it is happening. And that makes me happy. Despite being pansexual and definitely identifying as queer, I kind of see myself as an ally more than anything else, because as a cis white male, no one's ever really given me shit for not being straight. And that's awesome.
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I can actually relate. Though I know I've been bi my entire life, I've only realized and come to terms fairly recently. Though, I do have a friend who keeps ensuring me I am as much of a part of the community as anyone else. So, I give you that ame assurance. No need to make differences, when we're all pushing together for a better, more equal tomorrow.