‘Queerbaiting? On Supergirl? Get a grip.’ - or Why I’m Tired of Being Ridiculed
I’m sure many of you are familiar with the quote in the title of this blog post. For those of you who aren’t, it’s from a tweet by Geoffrey Thorne, an American screenwriter. The tweet in question is part of a longer conversation, some of which has unfortunately been deleted now, about fan reactions to certain decisions that the writers of Supergirl have made. Queerbaiting, for those of you who don’t know, is the act of playing on the chemistry of two same sex characters in such a way that it appears to the audience that they might get together at some point without ever actually intending to follow through with it. Similarly, it can also be considered queerbaiting if the two characters would definitely have explored some kind of romantic/sexual relationship if one of them was the opposite sex.
In this blog post I’ll be talking about a few films and TV shows that have used queerbaiting to promote their show or gain views from LGBT+ audiences. Some of the queerbaiting is in the media itself (i.e. parallels with heterosexual couples, writing choices etc.) whereas some of it is the writers/other crew members posting things on social media that indicate the possibility of a queer storyline without actually following through.
(I would like to apologise in advance for the quality of some of these gifs/photos/videos. I am not a tech person and I don’t know how to make them better.)
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time (OUAT) is an ABC show that ran for seven seasons from 2011-2018. A show about ‘modern fairytales’ OUAT tells in-depth stories of several fairytale characters, splitting the narrative between the real world and the Enchanted Forest or ‘fairytale realm’. For the sake of brevity I’ll explain the plot of the first season only because all seven seasons would need its own blog post. The show opens in Boston with Emma Swan (who we later find out is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming) meeting Henry, the son she gave up for adoption 10 years ago, when he comes knocking on her door. She takes him home to Storybrooke, Maine to his mother Regina Mills (the Evil Queen). As the season progresses, we come to realise that the Evil Queen cast a Dark Curse on the Enchanted Forest, transporting all it’s inhabitants to the real world and robbing them of both their memories and their happy endings. Regina having been the one to cast the curse, Henry, being born in the real world, and Emma, who was put in a realm-transcending wardrobe as a baby before the curse hit (I don’t even want to get into all of that) are the only ones who are aware of this and Henry, believing his mother is evil, enlists Emma’s help to break the curse. The season ends with Emma breaking the curse with True Love’s Kiss when she kisses Henry’s forehead while he is sick in hospital. The following seasons find the heroes battling various fairytale villains whilst Emma and Regina try to find a balance in co-parenting their son together.
While there was a whole lot of other queerbaiting in OUAT, the biggest case was the way Emma and Regina’s relationship (SwanQueen) was portrayed throughout the time the show was airing.
Character Parallels
I should start with the biggest parallel, which actually comes from the final season of the show. Season 7 was considered a ‘soft reboot’ and starts several years after the end of season 6 with an adult Henry. He gets a knock on the door from a girl who introduces herself as his 10 year old daughter, Lucy. Sound familiar? Just wait, it gets better. Henry doesn’t remember her because of a Dark Curse, so she takes him back to her hometown of Hyperion Heights where he meets her mother, Jacinda (Cinderella) and is convinced by Lucy to try and break the curse. When it was announced that this was the direction the show was taking I remember myself, and a lot of other fans being incredibly angry. Having been told for years that just because they shared a child it didn’t mean there had to be romantic chemistry between Emma and Regina, only for the creators to then turn around and put a straight couple in the exact same situation AND have them get together by the end of the show was a bit of a slap in the face. How would you feel if you had been denied a piece of chocolate cake over and over again only for your sibling to be given a piece of red velvet cake the first time they asked because it was a different sort of cake and that was fine to have? That’s kind of what that felt like.
A lot of SwanQueen parallels involve Snow White and Prince Charming who are True Loves (an absolutely huge deal in Once Upon a Time). There are many parallels, such as clothing choices (as shown in the photos above), lines, and even camera angles and other cinematographic choices that I’ll mention later on.
From the beginning of the show we see Emma being paralleled specifically with Charming (her father), particularly during the scene where Emma has to kill Maleficent in her dragon form, and the scene is cut with Charming doing the exact same thing many years before. They are also both blonde, both sheriffs of Storybrooke, and are both the proactive ‘action hero’ type of character. This, of course, led to comparisons between Snow and Charming and Emma and Regina. Emphasising this is the age old ‘Royal Person falls for a Peasant’ trope. In OUAT it turns out that Prince Charming isn’t a Prince at all, but a shepherd boy called David who is the identical twin of the King’s dead son (it’s a whole…thing, just watch the show if you really want to understand it) and Emma, while technically a princess was raised in the American foster system and became a bail bonds person. Snow White is, of course, a princess and Regina marries into royalty but is noble by birth, leading to the obvious parallels between the two couples.
Cinematographic choices
These two characters start out fairly antagonistically, as Regina believes Emma wants to steal Henry away from her (this situation is a whole mess that Henry ends up in the middle of) and will break the curse she cast to get her happy ending. They go back and forth with, honestly, what can mostly be classed as petty inconveniences. Regina has Emma’s car clamped, Emma chops a branch off of Regina’s prized apple tree….silly things really. Their whole issue centres around Regina’s fear that Emma will take Henry away from her, as she is his birth mother and he has a better relationship with Emma than Regina over the course of the first season. There’s a whole debate around the legality and ethics of whether Emma has any right to Henry but that’s not what this blog post is about so I’ll not be discussing it.
Anyway, their first moment of understanding comes in Season 1 Episode 5, when Henry gets trapped in an abandoned, on the brink of collapse, mine (long story). Regina wants to go down and rescue Henry, but Emma volunteers to risk herself to save him, and it’s this moment that Regina realises that Emma does actually care about Henry, and isn’t just trying to spite her. However, there really is no need for them to stand that close together without some kind of romantic undercurrent.
As you can see from the above gif from Season 3 Episode 13, whoever it is in charge of technical camera things has employed the use of what’s known as the Rom-Com Zoom. It’s usually used to convey attraction between two characters by having the camera linger on one or both characters maintaining eye contact, and zooming in for emphasis. And honestly, what was the reason for this choice here if not to convey attraction? The scene in question is about Emma believing that Regina didn’t cast a curse on the entire town, despite all the convincing reasons that she could have done it. This is something that, were they a heterosexual couple, would be taken as romantic - one person believing in you when no one else does? We see that all the time in media. Emma and Regina’s belief in each other is one of the hallmarks of their relationship, and I’ll be talking more about that later.
Now, the last gif, from Season 4 Episode 12. I cannot describe the hold this specific shot had over me. Emma and Regina have just escaped the Chernabog (yes, like the one from Fantasia) after a being chased by it in a car and almost over the town line. (The town line includes a magical barrier that negates magic as soon as you pass over the border so, being made of magic, the Chernabog disintegrated when it crossed over.) I don’t know if this trope has a specific name, narrowly escaping injury and/or death but both making it through unscathed, but it’s seen a lot, usually accompanied by some kind of romantic gesture. In the film version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (loathe as I am to mention it, but it does illustrate my point nicely) Ron and Hermione are attacked by the Horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets and, after it dies, passionately kiss for the first time. It can also be seen in Tangled where we see Flynn Rider start to fall in love with Rapunzel after they almost drown. To me, this scene in OUAT is very romance-coded because no one looks at someone who is just their friend like that after they both almost die.
Also, the framing and camera shots of this scene. The first time I watched it it seemed so familiar to me. It took me a while to figure it out, but it finally clicked. It’s the same shots that are used in this scene from Imagine Me and You, which is definitely a romantic scene. The little sigh of relief/happiness from Regina and Luce, and the resultant smile from Emma and Rachel. Now, I’m aware that the actresses and crew of OUAT probably didn’t do this on purpose, but it is a striking coincidence.
Look at the True Love Potion. Now look at Emma and Regina. Notice anything? I’ve chosen to include this as a cinematographic decision as it’s a visual component and not part of the script. Emma and Regina’s magic are the same colours as the True Love Potion. Now, the funny thing about this is that this hasn’t always been the case.
As you can see, even just half a season (ish) previously, Regina’s magic is purple, and Emma’s used to be blue. So, what changed? This is definitely supporting evidence of them being True Loves. I, personally, believe that if True Love existed in the same way it did in OUAT, it wouldn’t just be a given. I think you would have to work for it, and I believe that’s what’s happened here. Emma and Regina fell in love, and their magic changed to reflect that.
Script Choices
Now, I’m going to talk about True Love for just a little bit longer. Script-wise, there are several instances where it can be assumed that Emma and Regina are True Loves, but I’m only going to talk about two.
Instance No.1: Emma and Regina accidentally open a portal to another realm
“True Love, Miss Swan. The only magic strong enough to transcend realms and break any curse.” - Rumpelstiltskin, Season 1 Episode 22
Well, would you look at that? For context, Regina attempts to open a portal to the Enchanted Forest by herself, but with no success. However, the second Emma touches her arm, the portal activates and transports Emma to the Enchanted Forest. I just feel like that’s too much of a coincidence to not be on purpose.
Instance No.2: Emma sacrifices herself to save Regina from darkness
“Love doesn’t work that way. love, true love, is magic. and not just any magic – the most powerful magic of all. It creates happiness.” - Regina, Season 1 Episode 8
“Love is sacrifice.” - Mulan, Season 2 Episode 1
“I made you a promise I intend to keep. Everyone deserves their happy ending.” Emma to Regina, Season 4 Episode 12
“You’ve worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed!” - Emma, Season 4 Episode 22
“That’s what true love is. It’s sacrifice. It’s giving up everything for the person you love.” - Regina, Season 5 Episode 21
An entity known as the Dark One attempts to take hold of Regina and snuff out any goodness in her. Emma decides to sacrifice herself and allow the darkness to consume her so that Regina gets a chance at a happy ending. And, as you can see by the multitude of relevant quotes: sacrificing your happiness and safety for another is usually a sign of True Love.
“I saved you. Now you save me.”
Emma and Regina make a habit of saving each other back and forth throughout the series. But this is a little different. This time Emma is asking, whereas before they would just do it because it was the right thing to do. Emma’s asking shows that she trusts Regina more than anyone else, even her own boyfriend (Captain Hook). This is a remarkable show of character development from the woman who said “The only one who saves me, is me.” (Season 3, Episode 22). The trust these two have in each other is hard fought for and I think that, more than anything, supports the fact that they’re True Loves.
I’m going to end my Once Upon a Time section here and move on to Supergirl or I will just keep talking about Emma and Regina forever because there is a lot more that I could cover.
(As a side note: Throughout the time Once Upon a Time was airing, and after, SwanQueen fans were consistently bullied by cast and crew members, other fans, and other celebrities, for shipping the two characters, which is probably why I’m still mad about this several years later.)
Supergirl
Okay, so here we have Supergirl, who’s real name is Kara Zor-El Danvers, and Lena Luthor, adopted younger sibling of the infamous Lex Luthor. Their ship name is Supercorp (Super from Supergirl and Corp from L-Corp, the business Lena owns.) We’re introduced to Lena during the second season of the show, after it moved to the CW (should I do a separate blog post about the sins of the CW?). Initially, Lena was only supposed to be a minor character, only appearing in 3-5 episodes. However, the fan response was so positive, and Katie McGrath is that good, that Lena Luthor became a main fixture within the show before the season was over.
There was chemistry between Kara and Lena from the moment they met, with many people pointing out that Kara’s first reaction to Lena was almost identical to when she first met James Olsen, Kara’s love interest in the first season. This could be counted as a coincidence, were it not for the many instances that follow in which other couples’ romantic gestures are paralleled by Supercorp in what’s supposed to be seen as platonic.
Firstly, we have the classic “You are my hero.” line.
In two instances, it is used by romantic couples; James Olsen and Lucy Lane, and Nia Nal and Brainy. And the one plantonic one? Supercorp, where Lena admits that Supergirl may have saved her life, but Kara Danvers is really her hero. I think this line, or something similar, is used in other shows within the Arrowverse, but I haven’t seen the others so I can’t comment. But, how are we supposed to believe that there isn’t romance, or at the very least chemistry, when they so very obviously parallel romantic lines in Supercorp interactions?
Secondly, the “Take me instead.” moment.
In Season 3, we see Kara (as Supergirl) offer herself up in exchange for Lena’s safety. This is paralleled in the next season when Brainy does the same thing after Nia is attacked. So, not only can Supercorp’s interactions be seen as romantic, but the writers are actually taking interactions that Supercorp had first and are giving them to couples, with little to no alteration, which can only lead us to the conclusion that they were romance-coded in to begin with.
Parallels between Clark/Lois and Kara/Lena
I couldn’t possibly have written this without mentioning the extensive parallels between Clark and Lois (from any iteration of Superman, really) and Kara and Lena. I’m not going to lie, my knowledge of Superman is below average at best, but I know enough to be able to see the similarities.
There are many, many parallels between these two couples, too many to talk about here (this blog post is already long enough at halfway through), but the pictures give enough of a demonstration to prove that either, it was done deliberately to draw in viewers and thus queerbait us all into believing Supercorp would become canon, OR the writers, costumers, and showrunners somehow just didn’t notice what they were doing. I find that hard to believe, though.
Quantum Entanglement and Colour Theory
Quantum Entanglement is the idea that particles that were generated close together remain linked, no matter how far apart they are. One day over lunch, Lena asks Kara if she knows what it is. And Kara (who, had her planet not exploded, would’ve been the youngest ever member of the Science Guild on Krypton, a planet far more advanced that Earth) tells Lena she has no idea what it is. I think this is a lie, and Kara does know what it is, she just wants to hear Lena talk about it. Quantum Entanglement also lends a scientific viewpoint to the concept of soulmates. Kara and Lena constantly orbit each other throughout the series, whether in a good or bad way, leading towards the idea that they are somehow connected.
To begin with this colour theory, you need to understand where the evidence stems from.
Kara asks her sister, Alex, which top she should wear on her date. Alex replies “Blue, always go with the blue.” Kara wears the purple top on her date.
Now, maybe Kara just doesn’t like the colour blue. That’s perfectly reasonable. However, that just doesn’t explain the red and blue of it all between Kara and Lena. Throughout all five seasons Lena is in, both characters are often wearing some kind of red or blue. I don’t know exactly what the point of this is because I’m not someone who analyses the choices of costume departments, but this seems very deliberate. Contrasting, yet still matching. No one else in the series has laid claim to a colour in this way. Perhaps it’s because red and blue are the main colours of the Supersuit? By invoking that, Kara and Lena are signifying that they are stronger together.
Finally, this video doesn’t really fall into any specific category I planned to talk about but it’s one of the gayest things I’ve ever seen so I’m including it anyway.
Season 5 Episode 8
As a closing thought on this one: the less said about SDCC 2017, the better.
Pitch Perfect
The Pitch Perfect trilogy, for those of you who don’t know, is a series of three films based around competitive acapella. And as two of the main characters, we have Beca, a sarcastic brunette who doesn’t even want to be at college, and Chloe, a bubbly redhead who basically eats, sleeps, and breathes acapella. But in a fun way, not in the stressed out way Aubrey, another character, does.
This is an interesting one, because we only see Beca and Chloe over the course of the three films instead of several seasons of a TV show.
Pitch Perfect
There are exactly zero heterosexual reasons for the shower scene in the first movie. Not only is it weird to barge in on someone’s shower, it’s just all the more weirder if they’re singing your ‘lady jam’. However, what’s normal has never stopped Chloe Beale before. Beca is, completely understandably, horrified at the intrusion. By the way, this interaction is only the second time they’ve met, second!! For whatever reason, Beca gives into Chloe’s request to sing (Titanium by David Guetta) and, to be honest, they do sound great. And I don’t know if this was an acting choice or something that was written into the script, but there is really no reason for Beca to have glanced down like that, not unless the reason is gay.
Hood Night, which is what the acapella initiation party is called, brings further questionable acting/script choices. Chloe finds Beca and, after getting extremely close to her, tells her that they’re going to be ‘fast friends’. Chloe is drunk in this scene, but I don’t know any drunk people that go around doing that. Therefore, we have to assume that it’s another choice to get everyone on the Bechloe train.
Pitch Perfect 2
Pitch Perfect 2 is the girls senior year in college, except Chloe, who has been there for literally seven years. Could not be me to be honest, seven years?! She deliberately fails Russian Lit like four times, just so she can stay with the Bellas. Also, Chloe is a vet student in the third film, why does she need to study Russian Lit anyway?
After a series of performance mishaps, the Bellas go on a retreat to ‘rediscover their sound’. The retreat is run by Aubrey (who graduated when she was supposed to) who’s become what I’m going to say is some kind of guidance counsellor for businesses doing team building exercises. Anyway, while there, Beca and Chloe end up next to each other in the tent. At this point we switch over from gay subtext to just text - it’s just there in the plot now. Chloe tells Beca that “one of [her] biggest regrets is that [she] didn’t do enough experimenting in college.” I mean ??? The only way they could get more obvious is to profess their undying love for each other. Also, note the framing of that particular scene. One upside down and one not? Very reminiscent of the Spider-Man kissing scene in the 2002 movie. This framing has to be deliberate; that positioning in Spider-Man is so iconic, and coupled with the lines spoken, it definitely comes across as romantic in Pitch Perfect 2.
Later on at the retreat, the Bellas ‘find their sound’ again with a reprise of Cups (When I’m Gone) that make an appearance in the first movie, and it does sound really pretty.
Pitch Perfect 3
Pitch Perfect 3 was the messiest, really. Not only is the plot a bit all over the place but we’ve also got this.^
At some point the Bellas decide to go out instead of laying around their hotel room. They’re also trying to spy on somebody and make it to an exclusive party. Anyway, Beca and Chloe almost get seen by someone they shouldn’t and, with quick thinking, Chloe decides they need to hide behind a big plant. Apparently, there’s no time to tell Beca this plan, because Chloe just ends up pushing her backwards by the boobs into the hiding spot before - as you can see in the gif - pretty much groping her. For what reason, we don’t know. Even if it is supposed to hint at a possible romance between the two, there’s better ways to go about that.
There’s nothing really to say about the second gif I’ve included here, besides the fact that it involves an awful lot fo eye contact, but I had two for everything else so I wanted to have two here as well.
The Swipe Up Promo
I remember when this promo was released. The most blatant act of queerbaiting I’ve ever seen. It teases the possibility of ‘more’, which had people flocking to buy cinema tickets, mistakenly under the impression that Bechloe was going to become canon in the final film. Not only is it an awful thing to do to fans, but it also doesn’t reflect well on the actresses.
Bechloe Kiss
For maybe two years after Pitch Perfect 3 was released, there were constant rumours about the fact that a kiss between Beca and Chloe had been cut from the film by Universal Studios. Several of the main cast members teased and/or confirmed this rumour as well. Everyone involved in the movie tended to swing one way or the other on the issue, either they 100% confirmed it, or completely denied having any knowledge about it at all. Obviously, after ‘will they, won’t they’ for three movies, it was a logical choice to have them end up together at the end of the third movie. After a while, the controversy died down. But then, on December 10th 2020 (I even remember exactly what I was doing), we were blessed with leaked footage. To this day, I still don’t know who leaked it, but the complete meltdown the internet had over it was extremely satisfying.
Now, I’m not delusional, it’s clearly part of a blooper reel of some kind, if the background laughter is anything to go by. But still, its enough for me.
To conclude this extremely long blog post:
This is only three examples of queerbaiting - there are obviously a lot more. Honourable mentions include: Clarke and Lexa from The 100, Betty and Veronica from Riverdale, RIzzoli and Isles, Rachel and Quinn from Glee, Emily and JJ from Criminal Minds, and (debatably) Villanelle and Eve from Killing Eve.
I’ve stayed away from what’s, honestly, a copious amount of evidence of cast and crew members getting involved in queerbaiting because I’ve been there, done that, and I’m choosing not to relive that trauma.
I think it’s worth pointing out that I’m not saying not to watch these things, but if you do, you shouldn’t get your hopes up. A lot of things are different now, but I don’t tend to watch movies and tv shows that have potential romances like this anymore because I’ve been disappointed one too many times in the last decade.
