Queer coding

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Queer coding is the subtextual coding of a character in media as queer. Though such a character's sexual identity may not be explicitly confirmed within their respective work, a character might be coded as queer through the use of traits and stereotypes recognisable to the audience. Such traits are greatly varied, but traits of exaggerated masculinity and femininity, vanity, and hypersexuality are frequent.[citation needed] Queer coding is a concept both in the discussion of media portrayal of LGBT people and academic research involving queer theory or gender studies.

Impact[]

Queer coding is similar to queerbaiting, but the queer coding of a character is neutral and intrinsic to the work, unlike queerbaiting, which often invokes queerness in order to draw viewership.[citation needed] However, queer coding may have a negative impact on perceptions of queerness in media; villains are often queer-coded, leading to the pejorative perception of queer traits. Critics have noted the Walt Disney Company's attribution of queer characteristics and behaviors to villainous or antagonistic characters.[1] Many[who?] believe Andreas Deja, a gay man and supporting animator for the Disney villains Scar and Jafar, based them on himself. However, Andreas actually based Scar on his English language voice actor Jeremy Irons, and Jafar's appearance by Conrad Veidt, an actor famous for his villainous roles.[2][3] Jonathan Freeman, Jafar's voice actor, says that his voice was inspired by Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, two actors famous for their villainous roles.[4]

Culture critics have claimed that this attribution can lead to a negative association between queerness and immoral, licentious behavior.[5][6] Even if the villains were not portrayed as being evil as a result of their queerness, the association between queer characteristics and unethical figures remains.[citation needed]

History[]

The idea of non-explicit queer coding likely stems from the strict regulations of how queer characters were able to be portrayed in the early days of film-making. In 1930, The Hays Code was established as a standard for what was allowed to be shown on the big screen.[7] According to the code, films were not allowed to portray "perverse" subjects such as homosexuality, which inevitably led to the portrayal of non-explicit queer characters. The trend of the inclusivity of queer characters in a subtextual way likely bled into modern portrayals of queer characters. Commentary on the treatment of LGBT+ characters in film is made in the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, and is one of the first instances in which the idea of queer coding is presented to the public.[8]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Martinez, Ren (December 18, 2015). "Fabulously Fiendish: Disney Villains and Queer-Coding". Margins Magazine. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017.
  2. ^ "Animator Andreas Deja: Disney artist on creating Scar for The Lion King(2 of 5)" – via www.youtube.com.
  3. ^ Deja, Andreas (November 30, 2012). "Deja View: The Evolution of Jafar".
  4. ^ Berman, Rachel (October 13, 2015). "8 Things You Didn't Know About Aladdin". Oh My Disney.
  5. ^ Mendoza-Pérez, Inés (October 26, 2018). "Queer-Coding and Horror Films". Control Forever.
  6. ^ "10 Queer-Coded, Gay Villains from Our Childhood". www.pride.com. February 5, 2020.
  7. ^ Billheimer, John (2019). "Origins of the Code". Hitchcock and the Censors. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 9–23. ISBN 9780813177427. JSTOR j.ctvfjcx5v.4.
  8. ^ Pullen, Christopher (2016). "Youth, Realism and Form". Straight Girls and Queer Guys. pp. 147–168. ISBN 9780748694846. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctt1bgzbtn.12.
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