Contents:
THE HANNIBAL FALE NEARLY END ON A GAY KISS, SAYS BRYAN FULLER
Bryan Fuller's Hannibal seri is nsired by some to be one of the most famo exampl of queerbag TV history, but almost gave the gay kiss we wanted and served.
"I was jt followg the lead of the actors, as opposed to havg a gay agenda. The gay agenda me later. That subversn is Hannigram—the fandom ship name referrg to the eply passnate but so far non-sexual relatnship between Hannibal and FBI profiler Will to season 3, creator Bryan Fuller spoke often about the show’s overt homoerotic subtext.
In a narrative that queerbas, queer sexual overton are nstantly teased at, explicly, non, only to be negated aga and aga wh a subtle rea of “no homo.
HANNIBAL & THE GAY ELEPHANT THE ROOM
If Hannigram beme overtly sexualized rather than jt strongly hted at, would turn the nnibal Hannibal Lecter, one of the bt-known villas pop culture history, to a gay villa. Such a twist uld arguably be read as part of a longstandg homophobic trope that associat queer sexualy wh evil or crimal behavr. So given how damagg and dangero the relatnship uld be wh the show’s storyle, and s potential receptn as homophobic outsi of , why are fans so exced?
Bee of this dismal batn of vast unrreprentatn and subsequent tratn and prsure om fans who embrace subtext-heavy narrativ, be difficult to read dynamics like Hannigram whout fallg to rigid bary terpretatns: Eher the characters lock lips onscreen, beg sexualized a way that unequivolly leav no room for terpretatn, or that relatnship is nsired a platonic relatnship between straight people whose homoerotic tert is “subtextual. People have been readg homoerotic subtext to stuff for so long now that when somethg is tentnally provotive they might miss that the timacy is not meant to be sexual. As pictns of homosexualy have bee progrsively ls prohibed televisn and movi, portrayg timate emotnal relatnships that don't volve sex seems to have bee even more plited.
Aled Hchck's 1951 film Strangers on a Tra featur a relatnship between two male characters that is parable to that between Will and Hannibal, and is wily regard as havg strong homoerotic subtext. Yet Strangers on a Tra was ma an era where, thanks to the Hays Co, wasn't possible to have explicly gay characters Amerin films.