Re: Is Tom Hiddleston’s Loki gay?

[carolinelamb]

Of course he is :D but the interesting question is, did Tom Hiddleston deliberately play him gay? Was it intentional? I can't trust my own instincts since I am a slash lover, and to me 99,9% of men are gay or bi, (even The Beau, who I tried to match with some of my gay friends and encourage to experiment with his better looking friends

Comments

[lokifan]

That belief that Odin is disappointed in Loki exists in Loki's perception-it's what he says to his father before Odin goes to sleep.

Well yeah, that's not fanon. What I said was it's fanon that he's disappointed specifically because he doesn't find Loki masculine enough. And yeah, it's not that I think Loki's close to the W4 - I definitely think they're Thor's friends, not his - and I don't think he's especially popular in Asgard, but again that's not because of the Jotun thing.

Not sure if that rape threat can be a proof for either his homosexuality or the contrary.

Agreed. I brought it up because it is a moment when Loki's sexuality is at least mentioned, as opposed to him being a total blank slate, but I think it can be interpreted in loads of ways. Totally agree that it's a threat against Thor and to give him another Real Villain moment rather than any kind of useful statement on Loki's preferences.

I agree on the Norse myths thing, but I'll also note that the Loki of the movies doesn't have much to do with myth!Loki. Hiddleston has talked about the myths in interviews and is obviously very aware of them (I would not be at all surprised if he's playing Loki as bi/queer, a la the myths) but they're really not a big influence on his characterisation as far as I can see. But then what with my love for the god Loki from childhood (I mean, hi, username) I am terribly biased about this :)

See, the evil!gay trope actually makes Loki-was-deliberately-played-queer slightly more believable for me. I still find it implausible but homophobic tropes are of course a thing. And while comics!Loki to my knowledge is straight, there's something appropriate in a skeevy way to the Thor-vs-Loki thing being partly this golden young god and icon of warrior masculinity who meets the girl vs the suspiciously, quietly queer, evil younger brother. Not least because it's a fight over succession: I'm quite glad they didn't go for evil-gay but the golden-boy-who-continues-the-line vs the evil-younger-brother-who'll-selfishly-have-no-children keys into a lot of... stuff the English have around stories of royalty and succession. Like, if you'd like some help fanwanking stuff to your preferences, Kenneth Branagh having gone for queer!Loki would not surprise me all that much because it's one of those faintly Shakespearean resonances.

I had forgotten (!!!) that Loki was a villain in Thor and Avengers.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

You're my favourite. I am going to go and read the Starry Nights update now :D

[carolinelamb]

What I said was it's fanon that he's disappointed specifically because he doesn't find Loki masculine enough.

Yes, but this kind of hint we only get in movies that are either spefically aimed at an LGBT audience or have the homosexuality of an character as a main theme, which was neither the case with Loki. It's only hinted at.

In the end it's only an assumption, but I don't think it's an unfounded one, given the way Asgard is depicted in the film. It's not detailed, but for example Thor's uniform emphasises a very tribal idea of masculinity, and Loki is his opposite in everything. From what we can see Hopkin's Odin, is an older version of Thor, a martial, patriarchal ruler, although the script lets him at least be wisened up (when he speaks on the idea that war has to be avoided-a very Sun Tzu based saying).

I think that "I'll pay Jane a visit myself" threat was probably needed in the eyes of the director, because so far Loki has not behaved like a common villain-we saw him cry, break down, being treated with distrust by Thor's friends, speaking with his mother in a loving, gentle tone ... so that line was here to enforce his role as The Evil Guy and to stop the audience (me) rooting for him, hahaha :D

Haha, I was writing on something and at some point I turned around to The Beau and asked, "Hey, who were they fighting against in Thor?"

And he looked really blankly back at me, "Really? Are you serious?"

I: "Yeah, wasn't there a big monstrous thing that nearly killed Thor? Destrucionist-something!"

Beau: "That was The Destroyer. Sent by Loki. Who was the Evil Guy."

I: NOOOOOOOooooooo .... oh, maybe you're right.

Beau: *shakes head and continues reading*