The Problematic Queers of J. Blakeson | READUS 101

[@Readus101]

Damn, THREE comments from s*xbot spam accounts as soon as I pressed "Publish"? They're ON IT!

[@BRUHHHHHHH]

oop

[@clowneryandbuffonery]

Okay ladies now let’s get in formation 😂

[@casperchristiansen2458]

Just for saying "York-shyer", I'm going to get you cancelled. Just like a real Gaskeep, Gateboss, Girllight.

[@EtherRainbow]

Hey dude. I'm a terrified queer kid trying to wrap my head around the way this world looks at gender and sex, and this video was really healing to me in ways/for reasons I can't properly express. Thank you greatly from the bottom of my heart for producing this

[@AlbertoGarcia-wd7sc]

I care a lot: "Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss the movie"

[@LooseAsADEUCE]

We need more messy and complex queer characters bc not all of us have any desire to be the sweet angels that the whitewashed, sterilized pride depicts us to be. Very grateful for this video and the love to Culprits, which despite the issues I had with it really did David well.

[@clumsyninja925]

Bruh there's a shit ton of queer characters with dubious morals. Like most of them lol. Even if they're not explicitly queer. Interview with a vampire, half the cast of how to get away with murder, everyone was recently talking about Jason Mamoa's character in the newest fast movie. Hell, Princess Bubblgum is tryannical ruler. I see people say this constantly. Where is this plethora of sanitized queer characters that y'all are pushing back against?

[@veronica-wolfmaiden5383]

There are a good number of morally grey gay characters but I find them more often in animation. She-Ra (Catra was a HORRIBLE person), Hellava Boss (Blitz is a recovering a-hole), Hazbin Hotel (some characters are a-holes in recovery others are just plain evil), Captain Laser Hawk (Laser-Hawk and Alex's relationship is akin to Danny and Vick), Adventure Time (Princess Bubble-gum is a manipulative dictator who experiments on her people and collapses competing kingdoms), Steven Universe ( Rose Quartz was a liar who ruined countless lives for personal gain.), Castlevania ( The Woman lead vampire clan are trying to take over Wallachia and replace Dracula (the patriarchy) with themselves to create a matriarchy

[@roccocupido5082]

"gay"characters "Queer"is an DECONSTRUCTIONIST THEORY AND IDEOLOGY..made from and non existent outside of Academia and purely intellectual self involvement.. Also try giving that poor tired now almost meaningless word PROBLEMATIC a REST

[@johnindigo5477]

​@@clumsyninja925were not talking queer coded here Alfred Hitchcock

[@chronicallychic]

Such a great video. I'm both queer and disabled and not only am I often confronted with varying levels of representation in the media (some good, some downright awful), but also deal with a lot of respectability politics in everyday life for sure -- especially in terms of disability and how society views myself and others based on perceived "usefulness" under capitalism. It was probably my real wake up call to anti-capitalism by experiencing it early in life!

[@ladyredl3210]

Watching this in the midst of my NBC Hannibal hyperfixation is wild.

[@ConradTwigs]

"to judge those who sought respect over respectability" is so true. This is such well crafted video so glad FD signifier sent me over here.

[@natalieandersson2606]

Came here from fd signifier. Now i have smth to watch 😊

[@estheromoyele3321]

Thinking about this concept of allowing queer characters to encompass the facets of depth only allowed for heteronormative characters is something I feel is being well explored but horribly understated in the way of musical theatre. Namely, there’s this musical titled ‘Spies are Forever’ set in the heat of the Cold War that depicts the story of an American Agent losing his ‘spying partner’ due to his own failings and learning to rely on others after the fact. I love this musical because it plays on the typicality of the suave James Bond character; utilising the cold womanising and individualistic associations in earnest whilst subverting, elevating the main character’s depth by channeling those qualities as in lieu of his queerness. Wherein the context of Macarthyism his cowardice in leaving his partner to die is examined both as a flaw of his Bond persona and moreso in sympathy as his partner is revealed to have been his boyfriend. Retreating into the typicality and flaws of a Bond figure is treated as a defining flaw he must learn to let go of and a symptom of repressing ones identity, for fear of persecution and social isolation from his career in the CIA (which is effectively synonymous with cementing heteronormative, western structures of thought). The musical allows for the MC to fully inhabit all facets of human depth whilst maintaining a consistently tangible queerness appropriate for the setting at hand. There’s entirely another facet of problematic queerness beheld through the MCs dead partner which is equally important but im rambling lol. Im just very impressed by this video essay and wanted to contribute an example to this phenomenon that I feel does justice to the type of rep you talk about. Please check this musical out if anyones reading this lol ❤ its on YT for free and its so worth it Sorry for this goddamn dissertation- 😂x great video

[@bluehornet632]

That Madonna comment and you breaking the 3rd wall when I frowned! You are devious!

[@Monochrome_11]

One of the main reasons why i like pose is for the fact that to me they weren't afraid to make the characters messy and human

[@sarraounia6279]

As much as I love messy queer characters I can’t help but wonder if this conversation applies to bisexual representation because that’s typically how bisexuals are portrayed without the complexity unlike the generally super sanitized and boring ways mainstream media shows gay and lesbian people

[@darthekul1]

Harley quinn, John Constantine, sarah lance, Jack harkness deadpool , catwoman , mystique , daken , loki etc are all morally grey or started off as villians and they're all bisexual , not sure how to feel about nico minoru cause I like the charachter wonder woman is one of the only bisexuals with a totally good moral alignment and even Amazon's just get portrayed as a man hating military cult whenever the wrong dude writes for her like injustice where her entire personality is being a psycho who's secretly a monster this whole time who manipulates her new boyfriend , most of the rest of torchwood besides Jack harkness are "good" and they are all bi ish but if that series is rough with its charachters , it's not fridging it's good writing not brutal in an unfullfilling way as tara in buffy getting fridged the second season in a row to give her girlfriend a dark power up again

[@Nicholas_is_my_name]

So are you going to break down interview with the vampire next 👀 I mean it's the logical next step 😅

[@Readus101]

If there's enough demand, I have no problem talking about a specific southern black gay vampire! 👍🏾

[@Nicholas_is_my_name]

@@Readus101 would a community poll or a poll on another platform be sufficient? Also I was thinking about lestat and his extreme narcissism Because it connects with the topic of this video

[@kweenleo2265]

@@Readus101there's demand!!!!!!!

[@Planag7]

Capitalism exploitation of the queer community is why you get a James Sommerton... Yeah I went there c; Actually to be completely fair other people have said that but I'll be completely honest I think it needs to be said more. ;) Within my own life as a Native? You are either put in a feather headdress or told that your life is so sad... Every time. There is little room between

[@olo4704]

I mean you have houndrea of James Sommertons in non queer spaces aswell. I think systematic plagerism online is more just capitalistim incarnate. And then it can feel more nefarious when a queer creator does it to other queers.

[@donnaimanbrown]

I didn’t really think Blakeson did a good job, but I appreciate your analysis and taking time to address the context and sides of people’s aversions to seeing queer people behaving villainous. Great video!

[@renaigh]

did not expect to hear Eddie's voice

[@Readus101]

He was the first person I thought of to read the tweet when I decided to put it in the video. lol

[@bvaugh11]

It’s funny, I had no idea who J Blakeson was but had seen both of the films you discussed as well as recently watching ‘Culprits’ (I felt so much for David). It didn’t even really occur to me that his principal characters were specifically queer. They were just well-written, complex anti-heroes in interesting pieces of media. Thank you for opening my eyes and giving me a new way to view these works.

[@lkeke35]

This is so well done and can be somewhat expanded to fit any of the othered demographics.

[@ladyredl3210]

0:29 I mean that is mine, so I’m good. Heartstopper is great, but we need more complex characters.

[@ras613pa]

Just love your work! For me a key movie that pushed heteronormativity is "Making Love." The primary 2 films that ushed in the '80's: Cruising (1980) & Making Love (1982). Both precede community awareness of HIV/AIDS epidemic. Being 30 in 1980, not anticipating a plague, I viewed Making Love as the 'shape of things to come' for gay men in film. Instead, gay men with AIDS took center stage. (Key examples: Heteronormative 'Philadelphia' and, in opposition: 'Parting Glances.') Gay men of the times objected to 'Cruising' and generally accepted/supported 'Making Love' (with some reservation.) At the time, I took notice. Hollywood was pushing Making Love and 'Zack Elliot' who simply cannot tolerate the more queer and non-heteronormative character, 'Bart McGuire' as a potential partner. By the conclusion of the movie, he settles down with some unknown but heteronormative gay guy in their luxury apartment, aping 'just what he had' with his former female partner. Meanwhile, 'Steve Burns' (and every other character in 'Cruising'), a very likely queer antihero is pushed away by our community as so unacceptable, one should not even look at him or the movie itself. 'Steve Burns' is so queer, he even brings the fetishes of the BDSM community over to his heterosexual sex with his female partner. Bottom Line: In 'Making Love' Zach offers us a heterosexual version of a gay guy. In 'Cruising' regardless of its' limitations, we are encouraged to glance at toxic masculinity (gay or straight) and non-heteronormative gay male couplings and sex. As for our community's reaction: 'Making Love' has been all but forgotten. 'Cruising' remains 'problematic' and continues to be largely criticized/condemned.

[@stormiette]

I haven’t seen any of Blakeson’s work, and this video definitely made me want to watch! What a great breakdown of the history behind queer portrayals in film and Blakeson’s subversion of it, I’ve got some new items on my letterboxd

[@chloecat08]

just put culprits on my watch list! thank you for this video essay and thank you for these recs!!

[@Planag7]

It's crazy. So the queer content as of late have been... Iffy morally lol. You have Hazbin, literally cursed souls. A book series i love includes a prominent gay man with a VERY dark past (that's a spoiler though. And a great reveal through the books). It's one of those things i get drawn to in my writing. Perhaps one day, I can finish those... In the future it shall come I am sure

[@leekvaale]

Excellent, excellent work! Thank you so much for this; problematic queers have always been my favourites, and I love them getting the love they deserve.

[@angiem6383]

Wow, bravo! Loved how u tied that all together. Going to put this video in my saved list for my boyfriend to watch. Definitely, going to check out these projects. Thanks!

[@gytrplr]

Damn sighted sources when using quotes and excellent original writing and thoughts. The anti James hail a great queer voice making real though provoking media essays. 👍

[@legzfalloffgirl5148]

You actually said "abortion" thank you!!!!

[@kbr517]

Commenting for the algorithm! First time coming across your channel and I'm appreciating the video very much.

[@Yupthatsme_7D]

This was an awesome and I loved hearing about Culprits, thank you so much!

[@purelytheoretical2205]

I got so confused for a moment when you first explained the plot of Alice Creed, like “I’ve seen this exact plot, but it wasn’t in English. Who’s stealing whose scripts, cause it’s gotta be somebody!” So glad I googled though, cause apparently somebody liked the original enough to get rights for not only a dutch adaptation (the one I watched, without even realizing at the time that it was an adaptation), but a German one also. Bloedlink and Kidnapping Stella respectively. The more you know!

[@bluejellyfish4983]

I respect this idea and believe it’s important for queer people to be shown in many lights, but you can only get away with this when most people agree with the existence of said person ESPECIALLY in mainstream media. You couldn’t get away with this if these characters are trans who are actively being demonised in politics and culture wars. Just image the fear mongering a movie about two trans people kidnapped a cis woman would course. What I’m saying is cis people can be portrayed as whatever in main stream media, even queer ones, it isn’t as detrimental because they aren’t as much of a public target anymore. What I’m saying is Trans people cannot be villains in mainstream media, people will start to believe we are villains which most already believe no matter how nuanced.

[@DaveTh3Ninja]

Since I haven't said so lately and I am destitute, I love your videos especially the video production end of it. The initial thesis followed by that tasty and intriguing riff. Keep doing what you do. I always enjoy your work.

[@literature4lovers965]

❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤 Commenting to say thanks!

[@bookaholicblue2169]

This is amazing !!! Would love to watch.

[@samuellewis5468]

Such a good video, i really enjoyed it!

[@AnMuiren]

Thanks for another breath of fresh air, of food for thought well worth sharing💯

[@cynthiarose4056]

Interesting dialogue. I’ll have to re-listen to get everything.

[@judygillespie3717]

I love the way Americans pronounce Yorkshire. So much emphasis on the shire. I don’t mean this in a shitty way too, am from near West Yorkshire & I think it’s nice to have the extra juice put into the shire side of the pronunciation, the way we overemphasise the York side of it normally and it’s the worse side.

[@SkyeID]

it's pronounced "yok-shu" correct?

[@timaal5897]

I am going to come back to this video once I catch up on the movies mentioned (I love it so far!!)

[@jujutaylor2186]

I care a lot was a great film!

[@dmcginnis1000]

Thank you so much for this…I think you really captured here something I couldn’t verbalize about what I am looking for now in my media. Looking forward to exploring more of your work.

[@ConradTwigs]

Also hoping you will do a video on IWTV 2022.

[@Ladyjessica0]

Another great one from Readus. Thank you :)

[@ferncrafted]

LOVE the shirt

[@mysteryxio9957]

Before we get into the lecture professor I want to say I love the shirt you're wearing

[@squarecymbals]

Dope and informative as always

[@jeremy7235]

That shirt is fucking awesome

[@DudeGuyThingMan]

Really interesting video. Great job man.

[@greteruut132]

Amazing video👍👍

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

Good video!

[@clarapilier]

great video

[@TheCaliforniaboy1]

I'm curious to see your thoughts on Beau De Mayo and him leaving Xmen 97 allegedly surrounding his onlyfans account.

[@mk-aka-morgan8386]

I'll be honest, I haven't seen anything he's made. I rarely watch non-animated shows. They just feel too mean sometimes 🥺

[@deithk4605]

I was born in englad in 77 and we grew up with section 28.

[@SkyeID]

I had to look up Section 28, and yikes! I'm glad that's over, but I bet the struggle isn't over in the good old U.K.

[@deithk4605]

@@SkyeID yeah they've just moved on to targeting the trans folx instead 😞

[@SkyeID]

@@deithk4605 same in the U.S. anti-trans laws abound 😞

[@quirkyqwertyto1055]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@eschip]

❤

[@thepokekid01]

I mean.... I'm not against the idea of Complex Evil Queer characters.... but I mean... It doesn't really work for Black, Hispanic, and Asian characters. Like, in the past a lot of the time it just created negative stereotypes. I'm from the school of "All stereotypes are bad", but Negative Stereotypes... they aren't any better. And I mean, I feel like the traditional depiction of Queer characters are villainous. I also look to Japanese Culture, which is also hyper capitalistic, Queer Characters were something that use to be a bit more common... but they are often depicted as Villains, complex many times, many times tragic villains, and these characters have their fans... but mostly it others them in the Japanese culture and hasn't helped or moved gay rights in that country anywhere near as fast as more positive depictions of characters have in mainstream franchises. I just feel like this might be a recency bias of people who either are more young or more present minded that might not understand that such a simple description as Blakeson tweeted isn't helpful. What is needed really is just complex multifaceted characters that are allowed to be varied and different, not just all jokey-side characters or best friends, not just all lovey dovey teenagers, not just all dramatic villains, not just non-sexual characters that you only find out they are queer in a cliff note or a flash of a kiss near their end.

[@jamilahs5650]

👍👍

[@AmbrGlw]

👍

[@GaasubaMeskhenet]

bump

[@marocat4749]

He definitly adds spice, which is important, as there should be a diversity of characters who are well chareacters. Not gay characters, characters, tha t also are gay. And sons of bitches being gay shown are as important as cute wholesome teenager and everything else. Its good he adds ther espice, but he misses in that tweet a bit why, gay characters should be well 3 dimensional characters, or alanis morisette, "i am a bitchi am a lover .....

[@nguyentuition1092]

Comment❤

[@burnedveggies4376]

this video made me so happy i almost cried omg, its also so comforting to see older trans people coming out as non binary as a young non binary person