Bohemian Rhapsody's homophobia: how the film fears gay Freddie Mercury - Vox

Contents:

• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: ALL THREE MUT OF THE FILM’S GAY SCEN CENSORED CHATHE QUEEN BPIC WAS FALLY RELEASED CHE THEATERS, BUT REFERENC TO FREDDIE MERCURY’S SEXUALY DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT.BY YOHANA DTAMARCH 26, 2019COURTY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATN.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEBOHEMIAN RHAPSODY HAS BEEN CENSORED CHA, MUCH TO THE ANNOYANCE OF SOME CHE THEATERGOERS. ACRDG TO THE NEW YORK TIM, THE QUEEN BPIC H THEATERS THE UNTRY LAST WEEKEND, BUT WAS AN ALTERED VERSN THAT OMTED REFERENC TO LEAD SGER FREDDIE MERCURY’S SEXUALY. PER THE TIM, THOSE REFERENC CLU THE SCENE WHERE MERCURY, WHO WAS BISEXUAL, DISCS HIS SEXUALY WH HIS FIANCéE, AND THE SCENE THAT TRODUC MERCURY’S FUTURE PARTNER, JIM HUTTON. IN ADDN, A SCENE WHERE QUEEN PERFORMS WOMEN’S CLOTHG HAS BEEN OMTED. ALL ALL, THE CHE VERSN OF THE FILM IS ABOUT THREE MUT SHORTER THAN THE ORIGAL RELEASE.OTHER TWEAKS WERE MA, THE TIM NOT. IN THE SCENE WHERE MERCURY REVEALS HE HAS AIDS TO HIS BANDMAT, THE DIALOGUE WAS SILENCED AND NO SUBTL WERE PROVID. MERCURY LATER DIED OF BRONCHOPNMONIA RULTG OM AIDS. A SPOKMAN FOR TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX, THE STUD BEHD THE FILM, TOLD THE TIM THE PANY HAD NO MENT ON THE CENSORED RELEASE OF BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY CHA.CENSORSHIP OF HOLLYWOOD FILMS IS FAIRLY MON CHA. THE MOST EXTREME RECENT EXAMPLE WAS THE UNTRY BANNG THE WNIE THE POOH FILM CHRISTOPHER ROB, LIKELY BEE POOH HAS BEEN ED AS A SYMBOL OF THE RISTANCE BY CHE ACTIVISTS. STILL, THE CHE THEATERGOG DIENCE IS A LUCRATIVE ONE FOR HOLLYWOOD, SO STUDS TYPILLY YIELD TO THE CENSORS.BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY WAS A MASSIVE BOX-OFFICE H, STARRG RAMI MALEK AS THE BAND’S LATE, GREAT LEAD SGER. MALEK WENT ON TO W A BT-ACTOR OSR FOR HIS PERFORMANCE. HE DITED HIS SPEECH LARGELY TO MERCURY, SAYG, “WE MA A FILM ABOUT A GAY MAN, AN IMMIGRANT, WHO LIVED HIS LIFE JT UNAPOLOGETILLY HIMSELF.” THAT, APPARENTLY, WAS TOO MUCH FOR CHE CENSORS; THE MASSIVE MEDIA PLATFORM MANGO TV REPLACED “GAY MAN” WH “SPECIAL GROUP” SUBTL, THE TIM NOT.WHILE THE CENSORSHIP IS G TRATN AMONG CHE VIEWERS, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY WAS CRICIZED UPON S STATI RELEASE FOR FAILG TO RPECTFULLY EXPLORE AND CELEBRATE MERCURY’S SEXUALY. THE BPIC ALSO DRASTILLY MIMIZED THE SUPERSTAR SGER’S RELATNSHIP WH HUTTON, WHO WAS HIS PARTNER FOR SEVEN YEARS, UNTIL MERCURY’S ATH 1991.MORE GREAT STORI OM VANY FAIR—  “I WILL GET YOUR CHILD TO LLEGE.” INSI RICK SGER’S PCH TO L.A. PARENTS.— THE WAR THAT ULD TRANSFORM—OR TEAR APART—HOLLYWOOD— “I AM A FAT LADY, AND I SERVE RPECT”: LDY WT ON HULU’S SHRILL— WHY JORDAN PEELE MIGHT NOT WANT YOU TO TOTALLY UNRSTAND USLOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.JAY-Z, TA KNOWL, ANGELA BASSETT AND MORE TOAST 20 YEARS OF DEFG THE SOUL OF BLACK ART1 / 19CHEVRONCHEVRONPHOTOGRAPH BY ROGER KISBY.TA KNOWL AND MARK BRADFORDMOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHBILL MAHER BEEFS WH “PREACHY, MAN-HATG” BARBIE MOVIEBY SAVANNAH WALSHJAMIE LEE CURTIS DIGS HERSELF OUT OF COMMENTS ABOUT SAG-AFTRA STRIKEBY EVE BATEYYOHANA DTA
• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY OPENS CHA, M ALL THE GAY BS

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: ALL THREE MUT OF THE FILM’S GAY SCEN CENSORED CHATHE QUEEN BPIC WAS FALLY RELEASED CHE THEATERS, BUT REFERENC TO FREDDIE MERCURY’S SEXUALY DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT.BY YOHANA DTAMARCH 26, 2019COURTY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATN.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEBOHEMIAN RHAPSODY HAS BEEN CENSORED CHA, MUCH TO THE ANNOYANCE OF SOME CHE THEATERGOERS. ACRDG TO THE NEW YORK TIM, THE QUEEN BPIC H THEATERS THE UNTRY LAST WEEKEND, BUT WAS AN ALTERED VERSN THAT OMTED REFERENC TO LEAD SGER FREDDIE MERCURY’S SEXUALY. PER THE TIM, THOSE REFERENC CLU THE SCENE WHERE MERCURY, WHO WAS BISEXUAL, DISCS HIS SEXUALY WH HIS FIANCéE, AND THE SCENE THAT TRODUC MERCURY’S FUTURE PARTNER, JIM HUTTON. IN ADDN, A SCENE WHERE QUEEN PERFORMS WOMEN’S CLOTHG HAS BEEN OMTED. ALL ALL, THE CHE VERSN OF THE FILM IS ABOUT THREE MUT SHORTER THAN THE ORIGAL RELEASE.OTHER TWEAKS WERE MA, THE TIM NOT. IN THE SCENE WHERE MERCURY REVEALS HE HAS AIDS TO HIS BANDMAT, THE DIALOGUE WAS SILENCED AND NO SUBTL WERE PROVID. MERCURY LATER DIED OF BRONCHOPNMONIA RULTG OM AIDS. A SPOKMAN FOR TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX, THE STUD BEHD THE FILM, TOLD THE TIM THE PANY HAD NO MENT ON THE CENSORED RELEASE OF BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY CHA.CENSORSHIP OF HOLLYWOOD FILMS IS FAIRLY MON CHA. THE MOST EXTREME RECENT EXAMPLE WAS THE UNTRY BANNG THE WNIE THE POOH FILM CHRISTOPHER ROB, LIKELY BEE POOH HAS BEEN ED AS A SYMBOL OF THE RISTANCE BY CHE ACTIVISTS. STILL, THE CHE THEATERGOG DIENCE IS A LUCRATIVE ONE FOR HOLLYWOOD, SO STUDS TYPILLY YIELD TO THE CENSORS.BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY WAS A MASSIVE BOX-OFFICE H, STARRG RAMI MALEK AS THE BAND’S LATE, GREAT LEAD SGER. MALEK WENT ON TO W A BT-ACTOR OSR FOR HIS PERFORMANCE. HE DITED HIS SPEECH LARGELY TO MERCURY, SAYG, “WE MA A FILM ABOUT A GAY MAN, AN IMMIGRANT, WHO LIVED HIS LIFE JT UNAPOLOGETILLY HIMSELF.” THAT, APPARENTLY, WAS TOO MUCH FOR CHE CENSORS; THE MASSIVE MEDIA PLATFORM MANGO TV REPLACED “GAY MAN” WH “SPECIAL GROUP” SUBTL, THE TIM NOT.WHILE THE CENSORSHIP IS G TRATN AMONG CHE VIEWERS, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY WAS CRICIZED UPON S STATI RELEASE FOR FAILG TO RPECTFULLY EXPLORE AND CELEBRATE MERCURY’S SEXUALY. THE BPIC ALSO DRASTILLY MIMIZED THE SUPERSTAR SGER’S RELATNSHIP WH HUTTON, WHO WAS HIS PARTNER FOR SEVEN YEARS, UNTIL MERCURY’S ATH 1991.MORE GREAT STORI OM VANY FAIR—  “I WILL GET YOUR CHILD TO LLEGE.” INSI RICK SGER’S PCH TO L.A. PARENTS.— THE WAR THAT ULD TRANSFORM—OR TEAR APART—HOLLYWOOD— “I AM A FAT LADY, AND I SERVE RPECT”: LDY WT ON HULU’S SHRILL— WHY JORDAN PEELE MIGHT NOT WANT YOU TO TOTALLY UNRSTAND USLOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.JAY-Z, TA KNOWL, ANGELA BASSETT AND MORE TOAST 20 YEARS OF DEFG THE SOUL OF BLACK ART1 / 19CHEVRONCHEVRONPHOTOGRAPH BY ROGER KISBY.TA KNOWL AND MARK BRADFORDMOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHBILL MAHER BEEFS WH “PREACHY, MAN-HATG” BARBIE MOVIEBY SAVANNAH WALSHJAMIE LEE CURTIS DIGS HERSELF OUT OF COMMENTS ABOUT SAG-AFTRA STRIKEBY EVE BATEYYOHANA DTA

This moment is one of several Bohemian Rhapsody that almost giv you a glimpse of the profound paradox of gay life before and durg the AIDS crisis, when queer culture, subversive and life-embracg, built self triumphantly at the edg of a society that refed to legimize queer inty even as gleefully exploed queer entertaers like Freddie Mercury. The rult is far more hurtful than your average unnscly homophobic film. Bohemian Rhapsody is a movie that nscly tri to posn a gay man at s center while strategilly disengagg wh the “gay” part as much as n, fltg briefly over his emotnal and sexual experienc and fixatg on his platonic relatnship wh an ex-girliend stead.

It tak a hell of a lot of work to make a queerphobic film about one of the greatt queer ins history, but even though Bohemian Rhapsody was sort-of directed by Bryan Sger, who himself is openly gay, the movie somehow retreads queerphobic stereotyp stead of givg a fascatg, plex look at a real gay man. It also builds a whole annoyg subplot around the “predatory gay villa” trope, which is a tired, obnox cliché that Bohemian Rhapsody is even more problematic than ual bee ’s ed to imply that Mercury, a real-life gay man, was somehow rpted to beg queer by an opportunistic mic dtry parase who don’t really re about Freddie at all. And then, a few scen later, he haltgly nfs to his wife that he might be bisexual; she is the one who has to rm him, rponse, that he is gay.

Bohemian Rhapsody also ref to pict gay men havg meangful and eply emotnal relatnships.

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY OPENS CHA, M ALL THE GAY BS

And the pictn of AIDS as a punishment for gayns, which has found voice everythg om doomsday preachers to Stephen Kg novels, has historilly ntributed to the aths of lns by creatg a huge stigma around the disease, makg difficult for rearchers to ga public support the fight for the cure and g nsirable obstacl for many who are diagnosed to receive equable treatment. After they break up — bee Mercury is gay — Mercury p for At.

Bohemian Rhapsody has to al wh the very real aspects of Mercury’s life, but don’t know how to, bee that way li homosexualy. The effect of this is that the film strongly impli that Mercury chose to be gay, to surround himself wh other queer people, at the risk of losg his “te” iends, his “fay. It perpetually relegat queer inty to the celluloid closet and then is baffled when queer people wd up intifyg wh horror film villas and wrg fanfictn that rests straight characters as gay.