Mom, Seanbaby's Picking On Me!
Seanbaby, mohawked videogames opinionist and contributor to Cracked, wrote up a listing the other day that leaves me... I wouldn't say offended, but confused. Yeah, pretty confused. The 5 Worst Comic Book Sidekicks of All Time lists a few superhero sidekicks of antiquity who had their shortcomings, and calls them out on being either useless, fat, gay, or racist. While it's obviously a comedic listing, and Seanbaby never implies that a character's orientation is a detrimental asset to crime-fighting, I still think the writing is a cheap grab at a few laughs. As all of the characters listed are from the Silver Age or older, none of the figures are actually gay- the grander picture I take from the list seems to be that given today's cultural filters, the boys he lists as 'gay' were written so flamboyantly, we render them as ridiculous. But when you can have a post that denounces the racism behind the infamous "Whitewash Jones", it seems to me like you're condemning one form of bigotry while advocating another. So what's your say? Is it insensitive, or am I just being a big gay butthurt?
Rubber Justice
Posted to Say What? on 22 May 2010
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: Homophobia, opinion, sidekicks, wonder woman
His piece smacks to me of that passive-aggressive sort of talk one gets from someone who's afraid of looking like a homophobic ninny but can't quite contain the part of him that's still squicky about same-sex sex. His whole criticism of sidekicks who are useless because to modern sensibilities they trip the gaydar ends up as a self-contradictory mish-mash attempting to feign being down with teh gay and unable to resist making fun of it, acknowledging that it exists while simultaneously trying to draw the boundaries of "normal" such that they exclude it. The line about "gay" not even being "invented" for a decade or two? Bitch, please.
If his shtick is that he's supposed to be a bawdy teenager then the piece is pitch-perfect in the way it sounds like someone who doesn't really dislike queers but still isn't quite mature enough to think of us without imagining himself doing it and getting a little freaked out. Seriously, how else are we supposed to take a line like, "If you walk through the Boy Buddies turf wearing a purple suit and carrying a purse, that’s 70 different kinds of implied yeses," anyway? Haw haw, those gays and their rape; that guy totally asked for it!
If he's supposed to be read as a functional adult, though, he's failing. Most of the other criticisms read as sarcastic but also meaningful ways in which writers insulted or belittled their subjects with ridiculous stereotypes and in those sections he goes for the easy fag joke every time. Man, that portrayal of Wing sure was offensive... they made him look gay! Really? This is how we present ourselves as sensitive to the cultural tunnel vision of another time? No thanks. I get that Cracked is a comedy site and I have often laughed at their work but nobody's going to convince me that piece was funny.
Well after looking up Seanbaby any homophobic vibe from him can be explained like this:
Its like a black person using the N word
Because if that man isn't gay then I'm not.
OK. First, all the stuff about "gay" sidekicks? Toss it aside. Trying to impose today's "gay subtext" meanings on stories that were (1) primarily meant for pre-adolescent kids, and (2) written and drawn with no eye for what they might look/sound like 30/40/50 years later, is a pursuit similar (in waste-of-time potential) to masturbating while watching yourself in a mirror. Nothing says "sexually PC dork with too much time on his hands" like trying to determine if sidekicks in Golden Age comic stories were gay.
As for Wing and Whitewash? While their portrayals are offensive to today's racial/ethnic sensibilities, they do, sadly, reflect the sensibilities of their time. They're useful to look at, in terms of a "people used to think like this in the past, but most don't do so any more" object lesson. (1) and (2) above apply here, too.
So no, you're not being a big gay butthurt. Seanbaby's trying to have it both ways - saying "aren't these racial stereotypes awful?" and saying "ho ho ho, look at how funny these sexual stereotypes are!"
I find the term 'big gay butthurt' to be insensitive and insulting.
Actually, I don't. But I trust you get the point I'm making, right?