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| The magazine cover that re-launched a thousand ships; only for them to promptly sink |
My biggest grouse with The Last Jedi is not necessarily that they didn't bring #Stormpilot out of the closet (as I said, that was never going to happen), but that Disney is so afraid of fanning the slash fandom that they will do everything in their power to go in the extreme opposite direction.
In Captain America: Civil War, the studio shoe-horned a romance-less, icky kiss between Cap and Agent 13 because they wanted to stamp Cap's straightness all over the film. Cap and Agent 13 are a long-time couple in the comics, but she had little screen time in the films, and given that her aunt, Cap's first (and probably only) love had died not a few days before, the entire incident felt disgusting.
But that wasn't enough for Disney. They ensured Captain America hardly had any scenes with his childhood friend Bucky Barnes, just so that no more #Stucky rumours could surface. When Cap and Buck were in a scene together, they talked about everyone but each other. Watching this heteronormativity is frustrating enough, but the studio insists on queerbaiting its audience all the time. #Stucky was mentioned several times during the promotional tour of the film, and there was plenty of insistence that their bromance was central to the film. It may have been central to the plot; it certainly wasn't central to the characters.
The same goes for Star Wars. In Rogue One pretty much everyone read the relationship between Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus as more than just brothers-in-arms, but the film did not label the deep connection between them. It appears none of the expanded universe texts have done so either. The relationship was heavily coded as romantic, so why couldn't they have just gone that extra step?
As mentioned, I didn't expect Finn and Poe to become the first gay couple in Star Wars, but they could have at least shared scenes together. Yes, it probably would have fuelled the #Stormpilot fires even more, but who cares, right? Disney isn't listening anyway.
By fragmenting the storyline as much as they did, The Last Jedi never feels cohesive enough. It all ends with one grand battle and the team coming together, but it would have worked better throughout, and made for a tighter film instead of the overlong vanity project we were subjected to. What is especially frustrating is that after The Force Awakens, Abrams mentioned that it was time for Star Wars to include gay characters; this appeared to be a validation of fans' theories that Poe, at the very least, was gay. By ensuring the favourite romantic pairing are split apart, heteronormative pairings abound in fandom, thereby denying (yet again) the LGBTQIA+ fandom some much-needed representation.
It is 2017, Disney, gay people exist and representation really matters. It is amazing how often filmmakers mention that the need to include romance was not important in a film when it comes to gay characters; but it is always imperative when a heterosexual romance has to be included, no matter how lacking in chemistry the individuals may be. And talking about straight romances...
In Captain America: Civil War, the studio shoe-horned a romance-less, icky kiss between Cap and Agent 13 because they wanted to stamp Cap's straightness all over the film. Cap and Agent 13 are a long-time couple in the comics, but she had little screen time in the films, and given that her aunt, Cap's first (and probably only) love had died not a few days before, the entire incident felt disgusting.
But that wasn't enough for Disney. They ensured Captain America hardly had any scenes with his childhood friend Bucky Barnes, just so that no more #Stucky rumours could surface. When Cap and Buck were in a scene together, they talked about everyone but each other. Watching this heteronormativity is frustrating enough, but the studio insists on queerbaiting its audience all the time. #Stucky was mentioned several times during the promotional tour of the film, and there was plenty of insistence that their bromance was central to the film. It may have been central to the plot; it certainly wasn't central to the characters.
By fragmenting the storyline as much as they did, The Last Jedi never feels cohesive enough. It all ends with one grand battle and the team coming together, but it would have worked better throughout, and made for a tighter film instead of the overlong vanity project we were subjected to. What is especially frustrating is that after The Force Awakens, Abrams mentioned that it was time for Star Wars to include gay characters; this appeared to be a validation of fans' theories that Poe, at the very least, was gay. By ensuring the favourite romantic pairing are split apart, heteronormative pairings abound in fandom, thereby denying (yet again) the LGBTQIA+ fandom some much-needed representation.
It is 2017, Disney, gay people exist and representation really matters. It is amazing how often filmmakers mention that the need to include romance was not important in a film when it comes to gay characters; but it is always imperative when a heterosexual romance has to be included, no matter how lacking in chemistry the individuals may be. And talking about straight romances...
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