Saving lives: one fat, brown, gay kiss at a time
According to hyperbolic tosspots at the premiere of Eternals, the representation of fat, non-white, and gay superheroes is affirming and will save lives.
I wish, I had that when I was a kid growing up to see this. My God. Like I wish. And so, can you imagine how many lives this is going to be saving? Kids, y'know, young queer folk, who are either being bullied, committing suicide, not seeing themselves being represented? And now, they get to see this? It's above and beyond. And the fact that Brian is also black, y'know, that's also beautiful to me. Like we're both people of colour, and to be part of this. And queer, representing that, is so huge.
Haaz Sleiman, talking to Adam B. Vary, Variety
Of course, none of this saving lives
nonsense is actually substantiated, or qualified in any way. It's quite laughable, because adult pretenders playing make believe don't change things in real life. Unless Sleiman is privy to psychological studies that I'm unaware of, it's highly likely that he's just blowing it out his arse. Mind you, he does then immediately follow up with this deep insight:
Marvel and Disney could not be any more global. There's nothing more global than that.
Haaz Sleiman, talking to Adam B. Vary, Variety
Clearly, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, or he hasn't read the memo, if he thinks his snogging will save queer kids in China.* And that's leaving aside the fact that it'll be edited out for any market where Disney's commitment to pandering challenges its commitment to money. After all, stunning and brave
can only take you so far, dahling; but money is always money.
It's not as if I give a particular damn about queer representation one way or the other, if it makes sense within the story. But I do get irritated by hyperbolic bullshit from the privileged Hollywoke elite. Their grandstanding makes it clear that they consider themselves, and their pretending, to be more important and relevant than they really are. In reality, they're nothing more than dance monkeys. If they fail to entertain, they have no value.
Nevertheless, luvvies will luvvy. Bless 'em.
* Only joking. Kids in China aren't allowed to be queer.