Deadpool or Who Was On First, First?

A new Deadpool movie is coming out, and the filmmakers are promoting this as the "first" queer superhero movie.

Now personally I've never read the Deadpool comic books. In fact the only comic book or rather, graphic novel, that I've ever read is Watchmen. But the word is that Deadpool is bi/pan/omnisexual (depending on who's talking) because he... flirts with both men and women.

Admittedly, this is a case where the movie hasn't come out and thus this is all speculation, but the trailers show the character Deadpool exchanging one liners with other characters, while talking about how he has to save the girl (who at least declares she doesn't do damsel in distress).

The thing is, if flirting is all it takes to make a superhero queer, then the first queer superhero arrived in cinema decades ago with the black and white silent film The Mark of Zorro (1920). It also bears remarking that all around flirting tends to a major feature of well, just about every super hero ever. So if all Deadpool does is flirt, then he's not going to be the first omniqueer superhero by a long webshot.

On the other hand, I do like the flippant gallows humor on display in the trailers. It should at least make for a nice change of pace from the ultra-vanilla Marvel Avengers flicks we've been getting a steady supply of for the past few years.

Queer Review: X-Men - Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men - Days of Future Past
Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Daniel Cudmore, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart

Overview
With a glimpse into a grim future filled with holocaust-esque imagery, Days of Future Past can be said to open in a similar fashion to the first X-Men film. Following that grim opening though, is the best film in the series since X2 - X-Men United.

Synopsis
In the year 2023, the last surviving mutants of a war to eliminate their species find hatch a desperate plan to avert that war. They decide to send back on of their own, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to alter the past. This means inserting his future conscience into his past body. Once Wolverine goes back, his job becomes reuniting Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart) with Magneto (Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellen) in order to prevent Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from setting in motion the events that could potentially lead to the extinction of all mutant kind.

The Queering
The opening of Days of Future Past is the rockiest part of the film, particularly in an exposition heavy scene where Charles Xavier lays out the backstory and explains key details primarily for the benefit of the audience. Fortunately the film improves dramatically after that. While a story featuring centered around a post-apocalyptic future might seem rather entirely grim, there is plenty of fun to be had in the 70's timeline. The best parts include a brilliant sequence set to Jim Croces' Time in a Bottle and a clever reference to John F. Kennedy being a mutant whom Magneto tried to save (which is why the "magic" bullet curved).

X-Men - First Class ended with the break up of Professor Xavier and Magneto. While Professor Xavier believed that peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants was possible, Magneto instead held to a hard line anti-assimilationist stance. Mutants like Mystique whose blue skinned appearance fail to endear her to mainstream society are drawn to Magneto because he advocates being able to live as a mutant openly without persecution. On the flip side, mutants like Beast and Xavier live in the closet, covering up their appearance in order to avoid being detected. Xavier even went so far as to sacrifice his powers in order to be able to walk. These differences of opinion leads to their relationships' inevitable split. This means that in addition to bringing out the mutant abilities of Beast and Xavier, Wolverine spends the middle section of the movie acting like a couples counselor in order to get Magneto and Xavier to reconcile their irreconcilable differences.

On the queer subtext front, this may have the strongest LGBTQ political subtext of any of the movies. The sentinels that lead to the future war, are robots that are designed to hunt down, detect, and kill mutants. The scene where the Sentinels designer Dr. Trask (Peter Dinklage) demonstrates their abilities evokes the U.S. government programs of the 50's and 60's to eradicate gays and lesbians from civil service jobs. This parallel is made particularly clear in the scene reveals that there is already a mutant in the room where Dr. Trask is making his presentation.

Many people were disappointed back when X-Men III - The Last Stand and it was viewed as a less than desirable send off for characters. Here Bryan Singer takes full advantage of the opportunity to give many of the characters from that trilogy a better wrap. However, many of them, such as Storm (Halle Barry), are given little more than extended cameos. For the most part however, the action is more epic than anything we've seen before in this series and many of the primary characters are given a bigger chance to shine.

In particular the characters of Magneto, Professor X, and Mystique are all given much better development here than in past efforts. I found the development of Xavier to be the most interesting. In the original movies, Professor Xavier is pretty much the all knowing, wise old mentor without a flaw. There's nothing wrong with such character but it's one we've seen in many other movies. First Class showed Xavier as an immature frat boy, who was willing to play around in the minds of others without a thought to the consequences or ethics of such behavior. Not to mention his inability to acknowledge his privilege as a mutant who could easily pass in public as a non-mutant. This time around he is shown to be a broken man who has given up his telepathic abilities along with all hope for the human race. While 1973 Magneto is still pretty much the angry mutant leader we were shown in past efforts, the one who was willing to kill anyone (including his fellow mutants) in order to protect all of mutant kind, future Magneto is shown to be more reflective and introspective.

As for Mystique, here she is shown to be a women driven by the murder and torture of her fellow mutants into taking extreme actions. What makes her interesting is that she believes absolutely in the righteousness of her actions, which are shown to be entirely justified, even if the consequences will be devastating. However, the queer/trans subtext regarding Mystiques' character is downplayed here compared to First Class (there is no utterance of "Mutant and Proud"), although it is still possible to see it given a broad enough reading.

Recommendation
This is one superhero film that would be worth skipping a few days into the future in order to see.

The Rating
3 and 1/2 out of 4 stars.

Trailer


Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.

Queer Review: The Mark of Zorro (1920)

The Mark of Zorro
Director: Fred Niblo
Writer: Johnston McCulley. Based upon his novel The Curse of Capistrano
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite De La Motte, Robert McKim, Noah Beery, Charles Hill Mailes, Tote Du Crow, Walt Whitman, Claire McDowell, George Periolat

Overview
This 1920 silent film about Señor Zorro (Mr. Fox) contains more subtexts then one can shake a saber at. While not completely subverting the macho hero/effeminate villain paradigm, The Mask of Zorro does manage to come close.

Synopsis
The year is approximately 1820 and the oppressive Governor of California, Alvarado (George Periolat) has found his authority challenged by a masked vigilante, Señor Zorro (Douglas Fairbanks). His right hand man, Capitán Juan Ramon (Robert McKim), vows to capture Zorro, only to find himself humiliated when Zorro beats him in a dual. Meanwhile, the effete Don Diego Vega (who is really Zorro) is being pressured by his father, Don Alejandro (Sidney De Gray) to marry Lolita Pulido (Marguerite De La Motte), whose family is being persecuted by Governor Alvarado. This leads to an unfortunate love triangle when Capitán Ramon also falls for the beautiful Lolita.

The Queering
If you noticed any similarities between Zorro and Batman in the synopsis, they are not coincidences. Bob Kane admitted that the character of Zorro inspired the development of Batman. Here, in The Mark of Zorro the similarities can be seen everything from a proto-Bat cave to the trusty servant, Bernardo (Tote Du Crow).

Other elements that can be observed to have been mimicked in later superhero stories is the secret identity, Señor Zorro/Don Diego Vega, concept. It has been commented on that this element of the superhero mythos mimics that of the closeted gay or lesbian. That is, many superheros present themselves as "normal" during the day but at night, take on a different personality to fight crime. What makes Zorro interesting to me, is just how feminine Don Diego Vega was presented. In his first entrance, he is shown making a theatrical entrance to a bar using an umbrella. He even snorts tobacco (smoking it was considered "unladylike", so woman of the time would sniff tobacco instead). More importantly, he feigns a disinterest in girls, much to his father's consternation.

At the end, when Zorro is forced out of the closet, it can be seen as a reversal of the normal "coming out" experienced by LGBTQ people. Here, it's the effeminate, sub-textually gay personality that is revealed to truly be a heterosexual, butch avenger.

Further subversiveness is found in the role of Capitán Juan Ramon, who demonstrates sexual interest in Lolita. Granted, this is not a complete subversion of the butch hero/femme baddie, but Ramon is not shown to be any less masculine than Zorro and is certainly more butch than Don Diego Vega.

There is one element I found interesting that does not get replicated very much in the superhero genre, which is that Zorro is very specifically fighting a governmental authority figure, not a criminal enterprise. Superman fights "for truth, justice, and the American way". While Gotham's Police Department is shown to be utterly corrupt in Batman Begins, during The Dark Knight Rises Batman is shown fighting side by side with Gotham's Law Enforcement. Spiderman pretty much exclusively fights criminals and mad scientists. Professor Xavier in the X-Men films actually support the status quo, while Magneto is the one who attempts insurrection.

However, in spite of it's subversiveness, The Mark of Zorro is not a great film as the writing and plot were fairly simplistic overall. I must admit though, that the fight scenes with their over the top stunts and Zorro engaging in bizarre behavior in order to taunt his enemies, were certainly fun to watch. For the time period, the acting seemed fairly sedate from my perspective, although that might have been because I had recently watched Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Recommendation
Overall, a lesser silent film, but one worth taking the time to seek out for it's subversiveness and the absurd fight sequences. Would be worth getting marked with a "Z" upon one's flesh in order to see.

The Rating
*** out of ****

Trailer


Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.

Of the Day (12/28/12)

The Amazing Sassy


Links
The Young Protectors a comic about a closeted young superhero. I'm intrigued even though I have my doubts. I have a lot of concerns about the direction The Annihilator might go, but there's also a lot of potential as well.

Scapegoating Schizophrenia: Paul Steinberg’s Shameful New York Times Op-Ed Column

ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives Photograph Collection

Historical Queer Poem
Love in Bloom by Abu Nawas

I die of love for him, perfect in every way,
Lost in the strains of wafting music.
My eyes are fixed upon his delightful body
And I do not wonder at his beauty.
His waist is a sapling, his face a moon,
And loveliness rolls off his rosy cheek
I die of love for you, but keep this secret:
The tie that binds us is an unbreakable rope.
How much time did your creation take, O angel?
So what! All I want is to sing your praises.

Silver Demon: On Creating a Queer Superhero

To look at the mainstream media's depictions of LGBTQ characters is an exercise in watching a never ending stream of victims, villains, with a few sidekicks here and there and the occasional nod to the fact that some of us are "normal" folks with day jobs, families, etc.

As far as I can tell, there are almost no queer superheroes in existence. Well actually technically there are a few. Recently, the X-Men recently got to have a big gay wedding and one of the Green Lantern incarnations got to come out. I also came across a YA novel Hero by Perry Moore

To be frank, it can be exhausting evaluating queer orientated media. In the past two decades there has been an uptick in depictions of LGBTQ individuals. Some of these have been quite good, while others have a slew of problematic elements associated with them. But the queer superhero is, for all intents and purposes, practically an endangered species. Which is why I wanted to create one.

Initially I waffled on whether or not to include homophobia in my story and/or having the character deal with their sexuality. One of the earliest versions of the main character had them repressing their attraction to other men and this in turn causing them to lose their super powers. The character would then have only regained their powers when they had come out and acknowledged their true identity. This idea eventually went off and died where all bad ideas should go to die.

Then I had the character existing in a world where homophobia did not exist (or at least was not referenced and had little impact on the story itself). This idea was eventually abandoned after I decided that my two main characters should meet at a bar called The Stonewall Tavern, a reference to the real life Stonewall Inn.

I forget exactly why, but this eventually led to a whole lot of other changes, namely the decision to incorporate homophobia and transphobia directly into the story itself. This in turn resulted in setting the main part of the story in 1969. Given that the main characters still get to meet at a place the Stonewall Inn, most people can probably accurately guess one of the major elements of the climax.

Since Batman got Gotham and Superman got Metropolis, I thought it only fair that my characters got their own city to run around in. Thus the City of Noche was born. At this point things might have gotten a bit out of control. By creating a fictional city, I was able to create a world that would allow me to metaphorically build the concept of the Isophyls directly into the story itself. This also meant I could have the Stonewall Inn overshadow the Compton Cafe, while sitting across the street from an institution I called the White Knight Tavern. Rioting in my story? Never! Ignore my shifty eyes least they deceive you! *cough*

This was probably the one part of the story I went overboard with. As I talked about earlier, I used historical figures as the basis for several characters. But I didn't stop there. Streets, business, various locations, pretty much everywhere I could reasonably do so became a reference to some element of LGBTQ history. Whether it be in reference to a significant protest, a tragedy, or our communities contributions to society, be it scientific advancement, governmental, economic, the military, technology, the arts, religion, or civil rights, if I could find a place in the story to acknowledge LGBTQ history, I did. My partners copy of Queers in History by Keith Stern became so dog eared and worn that he ended up bequeathing it to me.

Of course there is the question of what kind of personality or job would be most appropriate for my characters. I had something of a debate with myself about how masculine or feminine to make my characters. I did not wish to perpetuate the stereotype that all gay men are feminine sissies, but the problem is that in rejecting this stereotype, means enforcing the unfortunate notion of the "feminine = bad". I got around this issue by making the main cast of characters as diverse as possible.

Some people might ask the question of whether or not the world is ready for a LGBTQ superhero story, particularly one of such a nature as one I have created. Personally, I think this is the wrong question to even be asking. The never ending tide of queer victims and villains I mentioned at the beginning, requires a counterpoint in order to be turned. Ready or not, the world needs queer heroes.