When will it be okay to write gay villains again?

[elfs]

I was re-reading Diane Wynne Jones The Tough Guide to Fantasyland shortly after reading a forgettable spy novel from the mid 1960's in which the villain was quite fey and enjoyed threatening the hero with sodomy before death and all that.

Jones asserts that many fantasy parties have a gay wizard (paging Lynn Flewelling!), who is always good for a casual footrub and sage advice.

It occurred to me that the whole "gay is villainous" thing swung so far over that the backlash ought to be done by now. All characters who interact with one another, at least romantically, must have a sexuality of some kind, so: when will it be okay to write gay villains again?

I suspect the answer is "never." Heterosexuality is assumed by default. Making a character gay is A Statement, regardless of who's making it, and not some by-the-by characteristic of the villain. You can play this for laughs or seriousness, but it's still tricky water to navigate (he said, mixing his metaphors the way one mixes crisco & j-lube).

Comments

[hydrolagus.livejournal.com]

It's still pretty common to write villains as effeminate or otherwise not quite "manly." Consider the change to Ozymandias in the film version of Watchmen--from Charles Atlas golden boy to a slight-bodied fashionista.

[shunra.livejournal.com]

You want villains who threaten sodomy? Look no further than Israeli security.

This time, however, the examiner probed the lower part of his body with a cloth-covered stick and began to insert it under Khattab's trousers.

Not fiction, alas. It's a report from this morning's Ha'aretz.

[slutdiary.livejournal.com]

Ya know, if Jonathan Kellerman can write stories for over 20 years featuring a major supporting character like Milo Sturgis, it shouldn't be that hard to simply flip the coin and write a similarly understated antagonist.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm quite sure I read about a gay villain in a romance novel (shut up) I read once.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

It's a few years old, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had a bunch of episodes taking place in the mirror universe, and in them, a villain called The Intendant is bisexual. And also rather narcissistic.

You could always make a gay villain as a statement against Statements.

[darrelx.livejournal.com]

I can recall two movies off the top of my head with gay villains: The remake of "the Jackal" with Bruce Willis (not really as much "gay" as sociopathic, though), and "Color me Kubrik" with John Malkovic.