#and yes i get that this doesn't mean isaac is homophobic or anything

[chaoswillcalmusdown]

are you telling me ted lasso actually gave isaac the skam france yann (tm) reaction to his bff coming out?????

[jyndor]

If people want real queerbaiting they should have been part of the teen wolf fandom. Or speak to any one of the millions of people who ship destiel.

Anthony Mackie who plays Sam Wilson made a good point that men (especially POCs) are overly sexualized and, that we should allow male friendships to be represented without it being anything beyond that.

I think fandom is dangerously approaching a very strange place of wanting writers to be like fans. We should learn to suspend disbelief and also allow male friendships to be showcased.

If we want Melshcass, we gotta write it.

or bbc sherlock or doctor who or really any show with two guys as besties, especially from that time frame.

I'm gonna give what anthony mackie said more context because he's not wrong and I know he was viciously attacked by fans because they're racists - although i do think there's something kinda :/ about presenting mm relationships as overly sexualized and I do think it probably didn't come out in the best way possible, but I don't want to pile on him because I think he was coming from the right place. and yes undoubtedly men of color, in particular Black men, are fetishized. and diego luna, despite being a white latino is racialized differently in the us, is definitely fetishized and stereotyped in the broader star wars fandom along with pedro pascal and oscar isaac.

he was talking specifically about shippers, not mlm who might want representation. in fact he says "the exploitation of homosexuality" and it's pretty clear that means slash shippers who get off to stereotypes of gay men and then get mad when men end up being close friends without a romance involved.

these shippers, usually straight women tbh, then attack anyone who criticizes them or doesn't ship their mm ships and call those people homophobic for (gasp) shipping men and women, even if those people are LITERAL QUEER PEOPLE lol.

so he's definitely right in that regard.

that being said I'm gonna push back a bit. I do not think it is out of bounds for fans to demand better representation, and I think writers should listen to queer fans (not weird fetishizers) because they should listen to queer people on how to represent queer people. it is important to represent men's friendships with people of all genders. we can do all of these things - have healthy, intimate and supportive friendships that are platonic represented while also doing the same for queer relationships, and hell even platonic relationships between queer people.

it isn't taking away representation to have two men be friends. but it isn't disrespecting men to headcanon two men who are friends as romantic. the disrespect comes in when the headcanon is just fetishizing bullshit, stereotypes - and when people think that it's like idk doing something for queer people to attack literal queer people and actors and writers for not shipping their ships LOL that's ridiculous and toxic.

i don't think melshi and cass will get together because i don't think that's the dynamic they've set up but it wouldn't be taking representation away from men's platonic friendships if they did LOL