This isn’t actually something I’ve done, but ever since I read up on gender studies in literature and came across the idea of queer readings or the queering of a text, it’s something I’d like to do someday.
I think there’s a cornucopia of homoerotic games out there, just waiting to be discovered by someone who’s got the queer reading glasses on. I’m pretty sure Trevor in GTA V can be read as a self-loathing, closeted, gay man, taking out all his self-loathing on himself by having purely sexual relationships with women he’s not attracted to, as well as taking it out on his surroundings by being violent against those he loves.
It could be an entirely new take on toxic masculinity, viewed through a different filter.
The reason I’m writing about this is of course because I think we need to look at the media around us in different ways sometimes, if nothing else just to be able to cope with the (still) rampant misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and ableism on display in some games. It might be a way to reclaim power. If nothing else, it’ll piss the GamerGate crowd off to no end.
What happens if we inject a homoerotic spin into an all male player character game? Perhaps it takes on a different connotation and context? Perhaps we can see something else in the game and learn from it?
To clarify, my intention is not to hang closeted gay men out to dry with this post. I don’t believe you’re Trevor. I do however believe that societal norms can be very harmful and that by standing a game on its head and read it entirely differently, that we can find issues with the way we see things and perhaps get some relief from the consistent barrage of heterosexual male power fantasies. If we skew our vision towards queerness and actively try to find a hidden meaning in games that might otherwise be harmful to us, it might become easier to survive the harsh reality of toxic masculinity and misogyny we currently have to live in. Just a thought.
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