EPISODE 805: GAY ROMANCES ARE BEAUTIFUL IF EVERYONE DIES IN THE END
Also, Why you gotta be that way, James Gunn?
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
Man, last week was a pop culture MOMENT. James Gunn and some other guy announced their new line up of DC shows and movies for the next 5-10 years; George “But Is This My Real Name Tho” Santos was revealed to have told people he was a producer on a Spider-Man musical; and two older men fell in love on a show about fungus zombies and somehow it was (and wasn’t) the most amazing thing that has ever happened.
This week on Pop Culture Spirit Wow, I’m breaking down these stories.
(The Vibe I’m Going For: Me at an Anchor Desk surrounded by 80s toys.)
THE WOW-ND DOWN, PART I: NEVER MEET YOUR HEROES WHEN THEY ARE BEING MEAN
This week James Gunn and yet another person who told us Batgirl was actually terrible—let us decide for ourselves, cowards—announced their big line up of DC movies and TV shows, in an attempt to repeat the succeed of Marvel Studios but like, in their own way.
For instance, instead of giving us the chance to get to know different characters and build to something, like they just spent the last five years kind of doing, they’re going to introduce a bunch of team stories right away, big properties that everyone knows and loves, like the Authority and Creature Commandos.
They’re also going to put on the back burner DC’s most successful new property in the last I don’t know how long, Peacemaker, and instead load up on really fresh concepts, like a Game of Thrones show but with strong female protagonists.
Don’t worry, though, they’re cueing up all the big heroes, like Swamp Thing and Frankenstein and Booster Gold. And they’re rebooting Batman but still keeping the series that just started, too, because why not, unless we’re dealing with Superman, in which case, there can only be one, sorry Henry Cavill.
Honestly, I love a creative slate—Swamp Thing has had some tremendous stories. Booster Gold, a former football player from the future who steals some time travel tech and comes to the 21st century, will definitely delight. Green Lantern but as a True Detective show? That’s sounds cool.
But there doesn’t seem to be any kind of center to hold onto in the midst of their slate. That doesn’t mean it won’t be great, but it feels very random.
Also, James Gunn making a sort of blanket statement that DC until now was a mess, is…not great. His point is that there was nothing cohesive, no plan. But at the same time the most recent era brought us a tremendous cinematic Wonder Woman, finally (Gunn has only mentioned Gal Gadot when directly asked, weirdly). It gave us this fun and weird little corner for things like Harley Quinn (also now seemingly forgotten), Suicide Squad, and maybe the most successful new DC thing in forever, his own Peacemaker show.
It gave us an adult TV show in Titans and a wonderfully queer one in Doom Patrol. It gave us Joker, which a lot of people love to hate but was definitely a new take on that character. And before all that it gave us the Arrowverse, which elegantly wove together an entire universe of heroes for years, while DC cinematic was basically lighting itself on fire and convincing everyone that that made it good.
I love James Gunn the filmmaker, and I hope his artistic instincts continue to produce fun stories. But crapping on what came before is just bad form. Cheer their successes—they were many, if not as many as they could have been—and then get to work.
THE WOW-ND DOWN, PART II: THIS IS YOUR WEEKLY REMINDER THAT GEORGE SANTOS IS STILL LYING
This week we found out that George Santos told a potential donor that he was a producer on Spider-Man: Turn Out the Dark, which is hardly something that anyone would brag about, as it was the most expensive Broadway show in history, with the longest preview period, and never got close to making its money back.
But maybe that’s the genius of the Santos lie. He brags about things that no one cares about. And, in my never-ending desire to help, here are a couple other pop culture things that Congressman-ish George Santos might consider claiming:
His brother worked for Apple Music; he was the one responsible for putting that U2 album on everyone’s phone.
His parents created the flavor for Tab soda.
His drag persona Kitara Ravanche was the inspiration for Jar Jar Binks.
He convinced his good friend Elon Musk to buy Twitter.
He chose the new DC slate of movies and TV shows.
THE WOW-ND DOWN, PART III: OLDER GAY MEN FALLING IN LOVE IS APPARENTLY NOW A BIG DEAL
HBO’s new zombie show The Last of Us took a really unexpected turn last week; out of nowhere it left behind its main characters to instead tell the story of a survivalist nut job who basically took over a whole abandoned town after the apocalypse, then fell in love with a guy who got caught in one of his traps.
The story follows their entire almost-20-year life together, and it’s performed with gentleness and grace by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett. It was a really smart move for the show. There have been A Lot of Zombie TV at this point, and while Last of Us has been compelling so far, there’s just not a lot of oxygen left in the chamber. Episode 3 told us this show is going to be about a lot more interesting things than Heroes vs. Zombies and Bad People (although episode four was then immediately bad people, sigh). I look forward to more vignettes and unexpected detours.
But something about the level of passion that reviewers have had for the episode has left me cold. I’m not totally sure what it is; certainly I enjoyed the episode myself.
I think it might be the fact that the show creates these characters only to kill them—correction, only to have them kill themselves. It works storywise, but stepping back, it’s also pretty fucked up. Gay men can have their moment—by themselves, notably—but there’s no room for them in the narrative beyond that. Thank you for making us feel something, now please die.
And the fact that they kill themselves is a big part of the problem. I get it, both as a powerful romantic gesture and as a glimpse into so many queer love stories from the AIDS pandemic. And I don’t begrudge the show for leaning into that. But it does concern me that the mainstream image of a gay male relationship still involves their deaths. Especially now, when we’ve got insane people in Florida and elsewhere actively trying to erase us or punish us just for being ourselves, we need narratives where queer people are not forced into old tropes, where they refuse to be what the mainstream is comfortable with.
I understand that some will say a story about two middle aged bears fits that category already, because it’s not the kind of gay love story that pop culture tends to present. And I agree, to some extent (although there have been quite a few stories at this point about older men falling in love). But you know what would really break the mold? A story about two gay bears that explores their relationship for more than 60 minutes.
Also one where the end of the story isn’t, “…and then they killed themselves, and were an inspiration for a straight guy to love his new daughter,” which is a message so traditional it could have been delivered in the 1950s.
One could say, the only way that gay men get to have their love story is if they’re completely fenced off from the rest of the world. And that hits me hard. But it isn’t actually true today. And it makes me wonder, is this really what it seems, a beautiful, tender romance, or is it something much more fetishized than that, a new kind of straight gaze on gay love.
Again, I loved the episode. The performances are lovely. But gay love stories do not belong in a bottle.
That’s it for me this week. Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoyed me mixing up the format a bit. I’m trying new things!
See you next week.