sexuality, jokes, and deniability
I've been re-reading the current X-Factor series, and I wandered over to Wikipedia at one point to get a little more background on Rictor.
I was somewhat relieved to discover that he and Rahne once had a thing, as this allows me to hope that their current sorta-kinda-flirtation is just nostalgia rather than the beginning of a romance. (Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I like Rahne, okay? But I'd been hoping to see Rictor's apparent bisexuality, and/or Jamie Madrox's possible bisexuality, get a little development.)
I was somewhat less relieved to see what Peter David has to say about his take on Rictor's sexuality. In fact, I was really fucking annoyed.
For the context, have a look at these two scans from X-Factor #14, in which Rictor seems to come out as bi:
I was pleased to see this until I read David's comments (from Wikipedia, which got them from an interview at livewireworld.net):
I have much more fun tweaking the fans than actually spelling anything out. If I definitely ... I certainly don't think we could say at this point that Rictor is definitively gay. I think we could make the argument that he's bi, but I don't see the point at this juncture in spelling it out - not because of any sense of homophobia or anything like that but out of a sense that I think it's more entertaining and more thought-provoking if we keep it ambiguous.
Rictor made this passing comment in #14 where he talks about gayness and then he says ‘not that I have any problem with it myself' and there are some people who interpreted it as a Seinfield ‘not that there's anything wrong with that' kind of thing and there are some people, including Rich Johnson (who reported that this exchange definitely made clear that Rictor was gay) ... I think it's much more interesting to have Rictor's comments be a litmus test for the agenda of the readers than if you just show him involved in some sort of bisexual relationship.
Tweaking the fans. Tweaking the fans. Because it's all about entertainment--in fact, it's all about Peter David's entertainment as he jerks fans' puppet strings and watches us dance. And if we say "hooray, a fairly major character has come out as bi!" that's a litmus test of our agenda??
Because, of course, having a vast comic book universe in which virtually every character is heterosexual1--that's not an agenda. Insisting, as Marvel did until quite recently, that gay characters could only appear in "adult" titles isn't an agenda. It's not an agenda if it's heterocentric normal.
Treating gayness or bi-ness as a titillating little game best left on the level of "is he or isn't he?", well, that's not an agenda either. That in no way plays into homophobic ideas that gayness is laughable and ridiculous. And, of course, playing around with hints that a character might be gay/bi, while always keeping things deniable, in no way insults fans who want to see more LGBT characters.
I'm so glad Peter David doesn't have an agenda. I mean, think how boring it would be to have a complex, well-developed character who happens to be bisexual and whose bisexuality was treated as just a part of his life. Not funny, not weird or embarrassing, and not a problem either, but . . . normal.
Thanks heavens Peter David spared us that!
1Yes, I know about Billy and Teddy. But the fact that Marvel has an out gay couple in one title doesn't mean that there need be no LGBT characters in other titles.
*****
I was somewhat relieved to discover that he and Rahne once had a thing, as this allows me to hope that their current sorta-kinda-flirtation is just nostalgia rather than the beginning of a romance. (Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I like Rahne, okay? But I'd been hoping to see Rictor's apparent bisexuality, and/or Jamie Madrox's possible bisexuality, get a little development.)
I was somewhat less relieved to see what Peter David has to say about his take on Rictor's sexuality. In fact, I was really fucking annoyed.
For the context, have a look at these two scans from X-Factor #14, in which Rictor seems to come out as bi:
I was pleased to see this until I read David's comments (from Wikipedia, which got them from an interview at livewireworld.net):
I have much more fun tweaking the fans than actually spelling anything out. If I definitely ... I certainly don't think we could say at this point that Rictor is definitively gay. I think we could make the argument that he's bi, but I don't see the point at this juncture in spelling it out - not because of any sense of homophobia or anything like that but out of a sense that I think it's more entertaining and more thought-provoking if we keep it ambiguous.
Rictor made this passing comment in #14 where he talks about gayness and then he says ‘not that I have any problem with it myself' and there are some people who interpreted it as a Seinfield ‘not that there's anything wrong with that' kind of thing and there are some people, including Rich Johnson (who reported that this exchange definitely made clear that Rictor was gay) ... I think it's much more interesting to have Rictor's comments be a litmus test for the agenda of the readers than if you just show him involved in some sort of bisexual relationship.
Tweaking the fans. Tweaking the fans. Because it's all about entertainment--in fact, it's all about Peter David's entertainment as he jerks fans' puppet strings and watches us dance. And if we say "hooray, a fairly major character has come out as bi!" that's a litmus test of our agenda??
Because, of course, having a vast comic book universe in which virtually every character is heterosexual1--that's not an agenda. Insisting, as Marvel did until quite recently, that gay characters could only appear in "adult" titles isn't an agenda. It's not an agenda if it's heterocentric normal.
Treating gayness or bi-ness as a titillating little game best left on the level of "is he or isn't he?", well, that's not an agenda either. That in no way plays into homophobic ideas that gayness is laughable and ridiculous. And, of course, playing around with hints that a character might be gay/bi, while always keeping things deniable, in no way insults fans who want to see more LGBT characters.
I'm so glad Peter David doesn't have an agenda. I mean, think how boring it would be to have a complex, well-developed character who happens to be bisexual and whose bisexuality was treated as just a part of his life. Not funny, not weird or embarrassing, and not a problem either, but . . . normal.
Thanks heavens Peter David spared us that!
1Yes, I know about Billy and Teddy. But the fact that Marvel has an out gay couple in one title doesn't mean that there need be no LGBT characters in other titles.
*****