How HBO's The Last Of Us subverts the Bury Your Gays trope

Contents:

• GAYNGST
• THE LAST OF US FOUGHT BACK AGAST THE PAFUL BURY YOUR GAYS TROPE. IT PAID OFF
• FANTASTIC BEASTS 3 FAILS DUMBLEDORE BY PEDDLG THE TRAGIC GAY TROPE
• 'HOE OF THE DRAGON' FANS ACCE SHOW OF PARTAKG ANTI-GAY TROPE

GAYNGST

GLAAD revealed at a panel Augt that 62 gay and bisexual televisn characters were killed off on televisn the past two years, cludg on Orange Is the New Black, Hoe of Cards, Pretty Ltle Liars, The Walkg Dead, and Empire. From Aled Hchck's oedipal Bno Strangers on a Tra to his Leopold and Loeb stand-s Rope to the serial killer offg gay men the servedly much-maligned Cisg to the recent French film Stranger by the Lake, the praved homosexual has been a mastay of the big screen. While few expected a perfect endg, many saw Villanelle’s ath as another sordid entry the “Bury Your Gays” trope bee, like other televisn and film moments unted among the offenrs, an LGBTQ+ character was killed off dub narrative fashn, and a way that unfortably centered on her sexualy.

Dpe the olr meang of the word "gay, " gay characters fictn tend to be a miserable lot, and not by simple cince — their misery n be attributed largely to their sexualy or, more accurately, other people's attus towards .

Characters sufferg om gayngst are prone to alholism and other forms of substance abe, self-loathg, Self-Harm, rampant homophobia towards themselv and others, rejectn by homophobic fay members, fallg tragic unrequed love wh heterosexuals, ntemplatg (and often mtg) suici, and wishg that they were straight.

THE LAST OF US FOUGHT BACK AGAST THE PAFUL BURY YOUR GAYS TROPE. IT PAID OFF

Gayngst is a Pet-Peeve Trope of many bee while ually portrays gay people sympathetilly and addrs an issue many gay people Real Life go through, n be terpreted as sayg that 's impossible to be gay whout beg miserable, or that gay people don't serve Happy Endgs, or at s very worst and most eptly-handled, gay relatnships are nately disastro.

If the story wants an upliftg tone, the character will eventually e to terms wh their sexualy, have the obligatory Comg-Out Story, and eher live Happily Ever After wh their love tert or morph to some other gay archetype (ually Straight Gay or Lipstick Lbian; eher this is their natural personaly or they still have some lgerg secury).

FANTASTIC BEASTS 3 FAILS DUMBLEDORE BY PEDDLG THE TRAGIC GAY TROPE

Don't e up que as often works wh a Cast Full of Gay — even if a uple of characters are of the angsty persuasn, they're ually balanced out by the rt of the st such a way that the Unfortunate Implitns are done away wh. Dependg on how they're played, n be a Sub-Trope of Bullied to Deprsn, Why Couldn't You Be Different?, Internalized Categorism, Boomerang Bigot, and You Are What You Hate, and a Super-Trope of Inpatible Orientatn, Armoured Closet Gay, Out of the Closet, Into the Fire, Homophobic Hate Crime, and Gayngst-Induced Suici. Sayaka Saeki is mostly ntent wh beg gay, even though her feelgs for Too go unrequed, but took que hard when her senpai at her old school broke up wh her and apologized for makg her like gays, due to seeg homosexualy as a "phase" (which is actually a pretty monly held belief Japan; see Gay Romantic Phase for more tails).

'HOE OF THE DRAGON' FANS ACCE SHOW OF PARTAKG ANTI-GAY TROPE

In Octave, Shri go through two rounds of gayngst: the first wh her girliend, who dumps her and returns to her former lover and the send wh Yo, to whom she offers a muddled nfsn mixed wh love and lt, and is met wh rejectn.

Averted spe the explic Inpatible Orientatn on Outlaw Star; Fred Luo is perfectly fortable wh his nature as a Camp Gay merchant and even though he profs his undyg love for Gene Starwd, he's perfectly aware of the fact the heterosexual Gene don't reciprote and fact seems to enjoy teasg him by flirtg. Probably the most extreme example of gayngst Milk Moraga's work would be Miu's angst about her feelgs towards Fujiwara Secret of the Prcs, which nearly rults her jumpg off their school buildg's roof before Fujiwara talks her down.