Queerbaiting / Slashbaiting

[erilyn]

Yo, what are some good examples of queerbaiting / slashbaiting fans (eg shows/TPTB try to have their cake and eat it too, by appealing to fans who want to see non-heterosexual characters/couples/storylines, but without actually, you know, making it canon

Comments

[erilyn]

Yeah, I agree, I think Sherlock (along with SPN) are probably my picks for most egregious examples.

[erilyn]

I've seen very mixed reactions to Common Law, so haven't got around to checking it out, but if they're resorting to that, I'm not gonna bother anytime soon.

[veronamay]

Remember the SPN Paley festival panel waaaay back in 2006, when the boys were talking about how they were cast? Jared claimed that Jensen thought he was too hot for them to play brothers, and later when Bob Singer was talking about their chemistry, Jared leaned over with puckered lips and Jensen did the "not now" thing. I don't know if it strictly counts as baiting considering how new the show was, but it's an early example of RPS awareness from a non-musical source.

[veronamay]

Also, Starsky & Hutch. All of it. Although I can make a list of the more obvious episodes if you like.

[erilyn]

That's an interesting nomination. Would you put it in the same category is more modern shows, given it'd have been much much harder to put anything non-subtext to screen in those days?

[veronamay]

Definitely. The showrunners were well aware of the pairing's gay icon status, and there were a few episodes deliberately addressing political issues of the time and a fair amount of nudge-nudge-wink-wink stuff happening all over the place.

I'd say it was probably easier to get the subtext on screen, not harder, because the community was still pretty underground and they could get away with more. A lot of stuff is played for laughs, but it's still there regardless.

[erilyn]

Oh, I'd agree it'd be easier to have subtext, but given I'd think of it being pretty fucking hard for them to have any textual queerness (given the times), would you judge them by same standards as current shows, in terms of queerbaiting?

My viewing of S&H is patchy - was there much gay panic-style humour in their subtext?

Actually, a major piece of queerbait that pisses me off occurred to me - Ryan from High School Musical.

[iibnf]

Both The Professionals and Starsky and Hutch were referred to as Prime TIme Homos during their first run.

David McCullum was not allowed female companions in MUNCLE due to it upsetting female fans, but he was allowed interaction with Nappy.

[erilyn]

I guess I was thinking of it being more about modern media, in that people are sick of subtext/jokes instead of getting textual queer characters/relationships (when that wouldn't have really been an option for producers with older stuff). But that's why I'm asking the question, to see how others are using it :)

[iibnf]

I think Due South was the first time I saw it done deliberately.

An argument could be made for the first Star Trek movie - this simple feeling - but Due South was done tongue in cheek and deliberately.