Someday a professor will teach a one-credit elective in Queerbaiting in Early 21st Century American Media. (Heck, that professor might even be me.) And when that happens, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be the urtext.
Because by gum, Marvel has given us a PARAGON of queerbaiting with this latest show.
To be honest: normally I don’t recognize queerbaiting when I see it, and normally I’m inclined to look generously on authors who possibly didn’t mean it like that and/or didn’t know fans would read it that way.
However, even I cannot ignore the awkward, excruciating obviousness of what Marvel is doing with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
For those of you who don’t know: queerbaiting is when a work of media simultaneously hints at a same-sex romantic relationship and refuses to confirm that romantic relationship, in an effort to please everyone. The two (usually male) characters exchange intense stares. They come up with excuses to be physically close. They show intense depth of feeling for one another. Other characters joke about them being in a relationship. But they never kiss, and they never break up. Sometimes a coy one-liner at the last possible second confirms romantic feelings (Supernatural, Angel, Legend of Korra) and sometimes the tension is never resolved (Sherlock, Teen Wolf, Merlin) but either way we definitely never get any content that could be described as “representation.”
This is a classic Hollywood tactic to try and please everyone, or at least displease no one. The younger and/or more liberal fans can have ship fuel (material that allows for romantic interpretation), while the older and more conservative fans have nothing they can be offended about. Disney has this down to an art form. It includes the minimum amount of representation it possibly can, hiding its women of color in full-body makeup and its Unnamed Canonically Queer Man in a single easily-dubbed line. It queerbaits, in past instances that have been debatable (Captain Marvel, Captain America Civil War) and in the current instance that even I cannot interpret any more-generous way.
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There are two moments in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (so far) that have been queerbaiting at their finest.
#1. Sam yanks Bucky off an exploding truck, they go rolling into a field arm-in-arm. They stare at each other a second, faces a couple of inches apart, then separate. (S1E2)
How we know it’s queerbaiting: If this was a crude comedy (e.g. The Boys) then this would be an opportunity for Bucky to make a homophobic and/or racist comment while shoving Sam off of him. If this was a show made by a production company with any courage (e.g. Arrow) then this would be the lead-in to a kiss. Instead, neither happens.
What’s notable is that this moment adds literally nothing to the show. It could be a chance for Bucky and Sam to have an emotional beat (e.g. “Holy crap we almost died” or “We dislike each other but we’ve been united in our hatred for that new Cap”) but neither happens. Instead they stare at each other, breathe a few seconds, and move on.
Ergo, the only possible interpretation is queerbaiting. The audience members that so choose will read this as the lead-in to a kiss. The audience members that so choose will read this as a homophobic joke about eeeww, we hugged each other.
Everyone’s happy. The status quo is maintained. Nothing is ventured, nothing is gained, and everyone's existing worldview is reinforced.
# 2: Bucky’s therapist drags Sam into a therapy session, forcing him and Bucky to confront their issues with each other through intense stare-offs and trust exercises. (S1E2)
How we know it’s queerbaiting: There is no other possible interpretation, because the character actions do not work on a literal level in context. Dr. Raynor says that she "use[s] this exercise with couples" who are having communication problems.
If Bucky and Sam were a confirmed couple (see: Runaways) that line would make sense. If this was the setup for a homophobic joke (see: Jessica Jones) then the line wouldn’t make sense, but at least we’d know how to interpret it.
But Dr. Raynor’s explanation doesn’t feel like a real thing a person would say in context, because Bucky and Sam don’t know each other that well. They’ve fought side-by-side a handful of times, but they’re not close friends and they’re not roommates and they’re not lovers. They’re coworkers.
A therapist forcing troubled coworkers to sit practically in each other’s laps, stare into one another’s eyes, and confess their deepest desires for a "miracle"? That just feels like sexual harassment, but a bizarre and overly specific form of sexual harassment that could only ever exist if the character simultaneously knows that these two could be a couple and that they never, ever will be. Not in any way that truly matters.
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Part of what I find so frustrating about all of this is that (on top of being homophobic drivel) it makes the whole show worse for its inclusion. If Sam and Bucky were simply presented as friends-of-a-friend who find each other aggravating but want to work together anyway, the characters would feel more coherent and the dynamic more tension-inducing. We wouldn't get weird moments where the thrilling action sequence screeches to a halt just to show them looking at each other. We wouldn't have Bucky's therapist violating every ethical boundary ever created, for no discernible purpose. We could have more organic and in-character relationship building, and a more interesting show.
Or we could have a show about an actual same-sex romance between two cyborg bros who punch aliens together. Which would be even better, but I know by now that is too much to ask for and (when it comes to Disney) probably always will be.
—Bug
