let’s talk about malik ishtar
specifically, let’s talk about what queer coding has done to malik ishtar in the eyes of the audience.
what is queer coding, you ask? queer coding is the practice of applying traits to characters, especially villains, that are commonly associated with queer people, without explicitly stating that the character is queer.
how does this affect malik? although malik does not act feminine in any way, malik has been styled effeminately, with long hair, dramatic eyeliner, excessive gold ornamentation, and a lilac crop top. on top of this, he is dramatic and demanding. all of this is queer coding. malik is also a mentally ill individual; he developed DID as a result of childhood trauma. because being queer has been heavily associated with mental illness in society, even in recent years, this is very often a huge part of queer coding.
why is this important to recognize? many, many villains in pop culture are queer coded; most disney villains you can think of have been queer coded, from scar to ursula to doctor facilier to governor ratcliffe and his dog, percy. even his fucking dog is queer coded. this is an incredibly harmful practice, as consistently queer coding villains results in a subconscious association with queer traits as bad things, and that heroes and good people do not behave like that.
now - how has this affected the audience? the most prominent answer is his characterization in the parody series, YGOTAS. in YGOTAS malik is portrayed as a walking gay stereotype - incredibly flamboyant, feminine, vain, submissive, incompetent, and constantly making sexual innuendo by “complete accident.” because this series has been so popular, malik’s characterization in fandom in recent years has overwhelmingly been YGOTAS’s version - this version that is nothing but harmful stereotype piled on top of harmful stereotype. this is an issue, not only because of the creator’s choice to write him this way, but because the source material lent itself to this kind of prejudiced thinking.
to get down to the point: malik, when he is evil, mentally ill, and bent on world domination and defeating the protagonist, is dressed effeminately, is ornamented and dramatic and very, very dangerous. after malik destroys his alter ego and ‘becomes good’ and becomes healthy, he is styled much more masculine when he meets with the main ensemble at the end of the series (see here). THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE. this absolutely subconsciously represents malik’s change as a positive one; that being dressed in a feminine manner represented his sickness and his hatred, and now that he is ‘good’ and ‘normal’, his manner of dress represents that idea as well.
this is why arguing that malik is gay based on the way he dresses is problematic - the way he was styled in the show was intended to portray him as deviant and evil. this is why playing on those stereotypes, exaggerating and exacerbating them, is hurtful and alienating to yugioh!’s lgbt fanbase.
i love this character dearly, but the way that he was portrayed in the source material and in YGOTAS was insulting and unfair. he is more than a handful of stereotypes. he is so much more than that, he is such a dynamic and layered character, but he has been consistently watered down to these few stereotypical traits. why?
(learn more about queer coding: x, x, x, x)
