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Great Big Gay Metaphor

64 statements
10 feature instances
0 referencing feature instances

Great Big Gay Metaphor	type	FeatureClass
Great Big Gay Metaphor	label	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor	page	GreatBigGayMetaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor	comment	This character is different. There's something about them, something that has a huge impact on their life and shapes who they are, but they have to keep it a secret. If anyone finds out they could be rejected by their loved ones, socially ostracized, or worse. They might hate this part of themselves and just want it to go away or they might embrace it and lament the fact that no one can ever know. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_3'); })No, they are not gay. Why would you even ask that? They have superpowers. They have magical powers. They can talk to animals or ghosts. They're not queer but something sets them apart from everyone else in their life in exactly the same way that being queer would. Obviously, someone wanted to talk about it without actually talking about it. The result is a story that looks suspiciously like a Coming-Out Story or a story about being outed or dealing with homophobia or accepting yourself even though it's ostensibly about something else. The character may be Ambiguously Gay or Ambiguously Bi, but you can bet they have a huge LGBT Fanbase. The trait that mimics sexual orientation will almost always be magical or supernatural in nature and will often be something that those around them have a legitimate reason to fear, leading to Unfortunate Implications. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_2'); })When done intentionally, this can allow a creator to explore queer themes in situations where queer characters aren't allowed or without alienating a conservative audience. When done unintentionally, it can make for some entertaining cell phone footage of flustered creators trying to answer expected gay questions at cons. In self-contained media, such as a movie, that uses this trope, the movie often begins with the character being "outed," leading to ridicule that sees the character at their lowest point. The character must then learn to accept themselves and use their power or ability to save the day, and the movie ends with their loved ones accepting them too. In longer-running media like TV shows, the character is more likely to completely accept themselves from the beginning and have some other reason to want to keep everything secret, inevitably leading to drama when other characters come close to finding out. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_1'); })Compared to Fantastic Racism, where a fictional species is used as a stand-in to talk about problems faced by people of color, and Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?, where any group of fantasy creatures or people with powers are used as a stand-in to talk about any marginalized real-life group, this trope is usually used on a more individual level. The character may be the only person with their power or ability that they know of, and if they are part of a larger community, the work will often focus more on their personal journey towards acceptance rather than the overarching societal repercussions. Also similar to Gay Aesop and But Not Too Gay.
Great Big Gay Metaphor	fetched	2019-07-06T20:45:44Z
Great Big Gay Metaphor	parsed	2020-06-24T15:45:48Z
Great Big Gay Metaphor	processingComment	Dropped link to ComingOutStory: Not an Item - FEATURE
Great Big Gay Metaphor	processingComment	Dropped link to GreenThumb: Not an Item - FEATURE
Great Big Gay Metaphor	processingComment	Dropped link to HarsherInHindsight: Not an Item - FEATURE
Great Big Gay Metaphor	processingComment	Dropped link to PlotParallel: Not an Item - FEATURE
Great Big Gay Metaphor	processingComment	Dropped link to Supergirl: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Great Big Gay Metaphor	processingComment	Dropped link to UnfortunateImplications: Not an Item - FEATURE
Great Big Gay Metaphor	processingUnknown	Supergirl
Great Big Gay Metaphor	isPartOf	DBTropes
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_170487d5	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_170487d5	comment	In ParaNorman, Norman can speak to the dead. His power has isolated him from his family and caused him to be ridiculed by his peers. When Norman's powers are exposed during a school play, his father, who wants him to be more "normal," grounds him. Norman is told by the ghost of his grandmother that it's okay to be scared as long as he doesn't let it change who he is. Norman is able to save his town after he is able to bond with the wrathful spirit over their shared status as outcasts, and in the end, Norman's family accepts him along with his power.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_17b5240a	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_17b5240a	comment	In Frozen, Elsa has magical powers that she was born with. Her parents hide her away and pressure her to try to control them until she's afraid of them and of herself. This leads to her being outed in front of a crowd of people and then fleeing as those around her suddenly turn on her. She only gains some control over her powers once she's alone in the wilderness and is finally able to be herself (after singing a song with lyrics like "Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I've tried," "I don't care what they're going to say," and "that perfect girl is gone"). She later learns that the key to permanently controlling them is love, but not before they cause her to be scapegoated, sentenced with a crime, and nearly killed.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_227431b6	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_227431b6	comment	Runaways: In the original series, Karolina's grappling with the discovery that she is an alien was a not-at-all subtle metaphor for her growing realization that she's a lesbian. The second series decided to stop beating around the bush and had her come out to her friends. Klara's Green Thumb abilities are weak when she is still a self-hating homophobe, and then get exponentially stronger as she learns to value herself and as her Romantic Two-Girl Friendship with Molly develops, with some of her more impressive displays of power occurring when she wants to protect Molly from danger. It's also worth noting that her power usually manifests itself in the form of red roses, which are traditionally a symbol of intense romantic love.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_6cb2d709	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_6cb2d709	comment	In the Harry Potter books, Remus Lupin is specifically coded as a gay man with AIDS. Because of his lycanthropy, he was almost unable to attend school as a child and cannot find a job. When he is exposed as a werewolf at the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he has to leave the school because parents won't want him teaching their children. Additionally, he acquired lycanthropy after being preyed on as a child by a revenge-seeking adult male werewolf who habitually targeted children in order to pass the condition to them, which, while not accurate to gay men with AIDS, was a common stereotype in the 1990s when the book was written.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_73dd3d5	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_73dd3d5	comment	In X2: X-Men United, after Iceman, surrounded by his mutant friends, tells his parents he's a mutant, his mother asks him when he first knew, blames herself, and asks him if he's tried not being a mutant while his brother storms out of the room and calls the police.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_75622e41	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_75622e41	comment	X-Men: In X2: X-Men United, after Iceman, surrounded by his mutant friends, tells his parents he's a mutant, his mother asks him when he first knew, blames herself, and asks him if he's tried not being a mutant while his brother storms out of the room and calls the police. In X-Men: The Last Stand, Angel's status as a mutant is a clear sexual orientation metaphor. The film begins with his anti-mutant father walking in on him trying to cut off his wings as a child to hide his mutation. His father throws himself into developing a "cure," which his son is supposed to be the first to test. At the last minute, he decides he doesn't want to be cured and flees, seeking refuge at Xavier's school, where he is surrounded by other mutants for the first time and learns to be proud of his status as a mutant.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_93b87ae5	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_93b87ae5	comment	In The Wild Thornberrys, Eliza can speak to animals, but telling anyone will cause her to lose her powers. She spends a great deal of time hanging out with animals and hiding it from her parents, who make nature documentaries. The emotional climax of the 2002 movie is Eliza being forced to out herself in front of her sister, Debbie. After Eliza's powers are restored, she swears Debbie to secrecy despite the fact that it's not at all clear that Debbie telling their parents will cost her her powers again.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_9c754612	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_9c754612	comment	While many have read the basic storyline of Spider-Man as queer, with hiding a part of your identity from those around you, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse takes it Up to Eleven, with Miles initially trying to ignore his new abilities being eerily similar to the denial and internalized hate many queer people feel, the spider-people sensing others like them as an allusion to 'gaydar,' and Miles asking his father if he really hates Spider-Man, just like queer people often ask their families how they really feel about LGBTQ+ people and issues before coming out.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_b3690647	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_b3690647	comment	In X-Men: The Last Stand, Angel's status as a mutant is a clear sexual orientation metaphor. The film begins with his anti-mutant father walking in on him trying to cut off his wings as a child to hide his mutation. His father throws himself into developing a "cure," which his son is supposed to be the first to test. At the last minute, he decides he doesn't want to be cured and flees, seeking refuge at Xavier's school, where he is surrounded by other mutants for the first time and learns to be proud of his status as a mutant.
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Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_de6659ec	type	Great Big Gay Metaphor
Great Big Gay Metaphor / int_de6659ec	comment	Once Upon a Time When Emma starts showing signs of having magic in season 4, her magic is treated this way. Season 4A sees Elsa, who has largely accepted her powers at this point, help Emma accept hers as well. In Smash the Mirror, Pt.1: This trope comes back in season 5A with some Unfortunate Implications. After Emma becomes the Dark One but before the plot gets derailed, much of the storyline consists of her family and friends trying to "fix" her darkness and get her back to the person they knew her as, while Emma insists that this is who she is and they need to accept her. We'd previously found out via Flashback that Snow had a vision that Emma might turn out to be evil before she was born, so she and Charming tried to cast all the darkness out of her as a precaution.
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