Kenzodielocke
Banned
In the short teaser for Part II, we see a grown-up Ellie, bloodied, sitting in a bedroom, strumming a guitar and singing. There's some dialogue that suggests the story will be a revenge fantasy. Old man Joel is there.
I know what this is, on its face. But I also know what this looks like: A queer lady wearing a beaten up denim shirt, playing an acoustic guitar, an image right out of a Melissa Etheridge video from the mid 90s. C'mon, I'm not the *only one* who saw that, right?
But, at least to someone who has watched just about every lesbian movie from the 1980s on (in a former life, I was a queer movie critic), that image evokes a specific identity. A lesbian identity—folksy, tough, working class—which is consistent with Left Behind and the person that Naughty Dog has been building since the first meeting with Ellie in the game proper.
At least, this is my hope. We don't know much at all about the new game, just that these characters are in the teaser, looking the way they do. The choice of a men's denim workshirt could be an homage to a more general Pacific Northwest or grunge aesthetic. Ellie might be understandably more interested in living another day than consciously evoking the unapologetic butch women of her mom's generation.
But if there's any room at all for love in that universe, I sincerely hope Ellie is able to find it. In the arms of a good woman.
https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/art...s-part-ii-is-super-gay?utm_source=wptwitterus
I would like Neil to tackle this topic, too.
Edit:
Man, I'm sick of straight people's discomfort with queer people being masqueraded (especially to themselves) as progressive concern. Two things I want to say about this:
1. As a gay person, I'm really annoyed by the sentiment that gay characters' sexuality should just be a "sublte" trait that "doesn't define them." My sexuality absolutely friggin defines me. I think about the fact that I'm gay literally every single day. It defines who I love, the TV shows and comics I find myself drawn to, how I relate to society, what my politics are, how I view myself- my insecurities and my pride. It defines how people treat me. And It defines the community I find myself in, who my friends are and what my dating pool is- and our communities absolutely come to define us as people.
And this idea that our sexuality shouldn't define us is also a bullshit double-standard, because straight characters are allowed to have their sexuality define them all the time and nobody complains about it. straight people in the real world too. Straight people talk about their sexuality *all the time* and yet nobody complains that they are "letting" it define them. The only reason straight people don't realize how much your sexuality defines you is because you're all surrounded by people just like you. And when I see people say that gay characters like Ellie can't be too in-your-face, that her sexuality should be "sublte" like some kind of footnote in the textbook of her life, all I see is heterosexuals being uncomfortable.
2. Gay people are a community and subculture, and we have shared practices that we use to express our identites- the way we dress for example. Yes, it's true that clothing is inherently neutral and anybody can wear what they want- but it seems that whenever gay people find a way to express themselves in a way that becomes a shared marker of queerness between us, y'all are complaining about "stereotypes." We can't let certain hairstyles, ways of dressing, etc. becomes markers of queerness, you say, lest we perpetuate stereotypes. But these "stereotypes" aren't just made up stuff, these are real queer people who are adopting styles of presentation to celebrate ourselves. I spend so much time in lesbian circles and so many girls proudly wear flannel as a way to express their sexuality, talking about how gay their fashion is. And yeah, of course plenty of queer women don't wear flannel and dress in ways you moght consider "straight." And no matter how you dress doesn't literally define your sexuality and you should dress however you like. But the fact is that for a sizable portion of the LGBT population, certain things become something we positively mark as being "gay" and for a lot of gay people that becomes a really important part of expressing themselves and loving themselves. And when we talk about these things we love that have become part of our shared gay culture, you get concerned straight people coming in warning us "But clothing and hobbies and music and hair don't have a sexuality!! Stop perpetuating stereotypes!" And you might be well-intentioned in that, but I can't help but feel this is another example of straight people being uncomfortable with us and expressing that discomfort in progressive language.