you could make this place beautiful

ok i’ll bite. what’s less homophobic about the hannibal thing than the destiel thing

thank u Lee ily

First off, I want to start by saying that categorizing representation as “bad” or “good” when it comes to lgbt media is a flawed system because it implies that there’s only really one way to have that experience, but this only applies to media made by lgbt people. You can criticize lgbt rep without entirely writing it off. 

It also implies that all lgbt stories/characters are made inherently to be representation, which I also think doesn’t make much sense because every straight story isn’t "good” or “bad” straight representation. They’re just stories, and maybe you like them, maybe you don’t. And, again, this isn’t to say you shouldn’t watch things critically. (and this also doesn’t include stories that are genuinely harmful to the community, like CMBYN)

Hannibal was made by a gay man who (although his perception of bisexuality is due for some criticisms) didn’t make the story to be “good” gay representation. The story is about a cannibal who happens to fall in love with another guy. It’s almost as improbable as it is abusive. It’s a speedrun friends to enemies to lovers story with a lot of artistic gore, but what it is not is representation.

The writers added in flirting, and nuance, and metaphors, and they followed through with a literal love confession. And they didn’t even need to, because even without the words being said it was still more than subtext (i.e Hannibal giving will his “heart”). 

It’s a genre show, and that genre has some intense horror themes. The show does not, however, vilify Hannibal because he is gay. He’d still be doing awful shit even if he wasn’t. The show never tries to imply that Hannibal and Will are a good relationship. They’ve tried to kill each other multiple times, they’re clearly not.

Supernatural is different. It’s a genre show, too, but in a much different way. None of them (not counting when they’re being possessed) are the villains. A relationship between Dean and Cas wouldn’t be necessarily unhealthy.

The problem with the destiel thing is that it could be up for debate. Did 12 years of nuance actually lead up to this big reveal, or was this a final “fuck you” from writers who have admitted to killing off characters just because fans ask about them too much? Was it a genuine attempt, or was it an afterthought? Was it a gift, or was it done out of spite?

We’re talking about a show whose writers haven’t shied away from openly mocking their fans. Fan fiction, the episode in season 10, was a criticism of people who engage with the fandom. And while some of it was fair-- for example, shutting down people who ship w*ncest-- a lot of it was made to make the characters seem weird, or wrong for trying to find so much hidden meaning in the story they were watching. 

Plus, there’s Becky, a Supernatural fangirl who is written off as crazy and obsessed-- even going so far as to drug Sam with a love potion to get him to marry her. She writes Supernatural fan fiction, gets herself involved when she shouldn’t, and as soon as she doesn’t serve any use to God and starts to annoy him, he kills her. 

So, even if this was a genuine attempt from the writers, a final way to extend an olive branch, it still feels backhanded. It’s years too late, riddled with homophobic tropes like “bury your gays” and “gay guy confesses to his straight friend.” 

And the thing is, the story isn’t totally irredeemable. If they bring Cas back, they have a chance to settle with the fans. But, if they don’t, if they made this grand reveal for no reason other than to just have it, when they could have done what those of us still watching expected them to do-- that of course being, the same thing they’ve been doing for the past 12 years: nothing. It feels inherently malicious. Even if I personally liked the speech Cas gave, or got excited the confession happened, it’s happening on top of a long history of the writers treating LGBT people poorly (and POC, but that’s another, longer conversation), openly treating their fans like garbage for even considering there being subtext, and the fact that they killed Cas immediately. 

Also, we can’t forget that earlier in the same episode they killed Charlie (again) as well as her girlfriend.