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.

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

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. 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). 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.

FANTASTIC BEASTS 3 FAILS DUMBLEDORE BY PEDDLG THE TRAGIC GAY TROPE

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).

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.

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

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. Army regulatns require the discharge of any soldier nfirmed to be homosexual, and Kate's refal to lie about herself rulted her beg "separated" om the army, endg the only dream she has had sce she was ten years old.

His suatn is even worse an alternate realy where he never left Mars: the people of his village shun him for his homosexualy and force him to live the hospable wilrns, and they eventually try to kill him by burng down his home, mortally woundg his lover the procs. The disntued Chick Tract "Wound Children", f this to a T (although is also full of Narm), bee of his views of homosexualy Chick's tracts on the subject had the msage "There is nothg gay about beg gay" before shiftg to "Those who support or tolerate homosexualy are evil".

They have several stanc of Unrolved Sexual Tensn and Distracted by the Sexy until she dnkenly tells Megane her feelgs, but that mak Vicky realize that she n never be happy sce her parents are homophobic and clearly stated they wouldn't hate to disown her if she was gay ('s actually the only thg they still agree on). Inversn: In "Lovg Gay Men", a rewre of the Swan Lake/Crella story, "A Heart Full of Dreams", by Jeanne Martet (found Ter Than Te Romance), Lora falls for Alex before disverg that he is her gay hoemate's new boyiend. Gay superhero uple Midnighter and Apollo were created to avoid this trope like the plague, wh pecially Midnighter beg a very "out and proud" Manly Gay but his lover/hband Apollo also beg pletely unnflicted about his sexualy.