Y’all ready to watch something besides a race of drag for LGBTQ+ Pride this year?
Not gonna lie, each year Pride gets harder and harder. When your community is being decimated and there are several people at the top doing their best to erode your right to exist, it makes one want to slide under the bed and hide until Armageddon rolls ‘round more than anything else. And the fact that queer representation on our screens is taking a downturn this year rather than going up and up isn’t helping matters. This is definitely not the time to slow down, folks. What the heck happened? Is the zeitgeist over already? Was woke gay content too much for the public to handle? Whatever it is, if season 2 of Pose doesn’t save us, I’m throwing in the towel. More on that later.
But! I haven’t given up just yet. There’s still some gems out there, even if a couple of them are a bit old and… rather unexpected:
1) Killing Eve: series 2 (2019)
This one was no surprise. I’m well aware that I hold the unpopular opinion that Killing Eve trades in on the same tired bi tropes I can’t stand when they’re featured in otherwise heterosexual media. But damn if I don’t tune in every Sunday for my messy bisexual assassin soap opera. And you know what, season 2 surprised me. We saw the relationship between Eve and Villanelle take a much different turn, punctuated with Eve’s newfound power-tripping (so she thinks) and Villanelle being in outright peril. I was genuinely stressed while watching the strong, flamboyant, cocky Villanelle get taken down some pegs and even more stressed when it was Eve doing the pe—wait, I won’t say it.
The series wrap-up was shocking and painfully final. I didn’t quite get the fantasy ending that I wanted and I’m glad and sad at the same. What adventures will our favorite femme ladykiller embark on next now that she’s fully unfettered?
2) Gemini (2017)
Gemini officially premiered at South by Southwest but didn’t get any theatrical run until 2018. I wouldn’t blame you for missing it or skipping it entirely. Much in the vein of Killing Eve, Gemini wraps up sexuality in violence and ties on a nice little bow of obsession and mystery. But, being a movie, Gemini leans more into Hitchcockian noir and aesthetic. There’s a bit more style than substance, but I’m always intrigued by a good murder mystery.
Plus, it has Zoë Kravitz and John Cho looking pretty and menacing. After the year we’ve had so far, I think I’m allowed to be shallow.
3) Yu Yu Hakusho (1992-1995)
Thank goodness this show was rescued from the pits of obscurity by a new animated special last year. What’s that you say? Hear me out. If you’re an Oldtaku you probably remember the occasional joke about the incredibly shipable cast of YYH. But you know what, in retrospect, this anime was… pretty damn gay.
You might take one look at Kurama and think, “it’s yaoi time!” But don’t let appearances fool you. One or two bishounen characters queer subtext do not make. The relationships Yusuke has with his nakama veer over into platonic queer territory. Ironically, having well-rounded female characters that aren’t just for window dressing or to be pursued and kidnapped reinforces those relationships. Yusuke is contractually bound by the rules of Shounen Law to Keiko, but he drops her for Kuwabara or Kurama and even Hiei more than a few times. As the show and manga go on, the subtext eventually just becomes text. We have a gay villain interested in another gay villain, and an actual trans woman demon. And don’t try to convince me that Kuwabara wasn’t using Yuki to circumvent his true feelings for Kuwabara. Okay, maybe I made that part up. Or did I? You might want to talk to Togashi Yoshihiro himself, who historically just loves writing gay isht.
4) Knife + Heart (2018)
Un couteau dans le coeur has been officially out since 2018, but didn’t make its way over to the US until the following year. I attended an art theater showing of it because sometimes I like watching stylized ‘70s porn with strangers.
You don’t have to take me seriously, but take this movie seriously because it’s fantastic. It’s so weird and offbeat and the most unqueer queer film. It’s problematic. It will make you cringe so hard you might vanish off the face of the Earth. It has a little contemporary commentary. Mostly though, it’s wrapped up in its own little warped world of cynicism, sex, drugs, and a heavy blanket of sleaze. And it’s a good thing. If you like slasher films and supernatural, bizarre giallo mysteries like I do, this is for us.
5) Vida (2018 – current)
Okay, we’re out of Weirdsville. Vida is a criminally slept on show that deals with queer identity and Latinx culture, family trauma, family secrets, generational lies, and just living as a brown queer person in this complex, mixed up world. I figured that would be enough to get people in the door, but I was wrong! Sadly.
Vida features a wide range of representation. The characters don’t always get things “right” the first time. There’s not a lot of big soapbox moments, even if there is a lot of sass. But it’s real. Real even for someone like me that doesn’t necessarily come from that background. In fact, watching Vida has taught me a lot about politics and queerness from a different cultural lens. Ah, if only everyone had that learning. Did I mention it’s streaming?