Hey! I was planning on watching good omens, but some people were calling queerbait on it. I honestly don’t care if it is or not, but what’s your opinion on the show?
Is it queerbaiting to have multiple characters who are explicitly non-binary? Is it queerbaiting to have a character occupy the bodies of both a man and a woman, and have their friend remark only positively to the change of outfit? Is it queerbaiting to have another actor play his character as both a woman and a man over time, and have no other characters bat an eye, and have the show take this example of A Man In A Dress completely seriously, without any trace of mockery? Is it queerbaiting for that actor's wardrobe to be outfitted with elements of woman's clothing even while the character is presenting "male"?
Is it queerbaiting to have a pair of characters who are dealing with the fallout and continuing threats of a complete rejection from their families for not complying with a set of rules they cannot personally abide by for reasons of both personality and choice? Is it queerbaiting to explore someone coping with that rejection, or someone realizing they can handle that rejection when they have something else worth fighting for?
Is it queerbaiting to have a pair of torn, complex characters who are On Watch for the simple act of associating with each other? Is it queerbaiting for these two to be at once hesitant and desperate to call each other their friend? Is it queerbaiting for their happy ending to be the two of them out to an extremely fancy dinner, in public, while a love song plays?
Do the characters played by David Tennant and Michael Sheen(&Miranda Richardson) kiss?
The answer to all of these questions is No, but it's that last one that people trip over when they fail to deploy any critical thinking. Or, frankly, observation skills. Queerness of gender aside, it's also ignoring, y'know, nonsexual forms of intimacy. As a gay asexual, I have to say I would love a happy ending out to an extremely fancy dinner, in public, while a love song plays, and my long term companion fondly watches me tuck in.
But apparently two characters who are immensely queer in gender, gender presentation, and their relation to Christianity/conservative families, finally being able to comfortably meet each other in the middle with undisguised affection and without fear, cannot be anything but "queerbaiting" because they don't kiss. Fuck that. Even if you view it only as friendship (which I personally don't), queer friendship is still revolutionary, especially up front and center.
