So, What Exactly Is 'Queer Coding'?

QUEER WORD
QUEER CODED

What It Means:

The use of subtext, stereotypes, and visual cues to imply a fictional character is LGBTQ+ without ever explicitly stating it. 

Let’s Use It In A Sentence:

Whilst Robbie's brother was learning how to decipher morse code at Boy Scouts, he was learning how to decipher queer coding in front of the family TV.

How Did We All Know?

One of the things that's always fascinated me about the pre-Internet age is how so many queer kids, isolated and alone in their shitty little towns, all somehow gravitated towards the exact same pieces of media, and resonated with the same characters.

• Wizard of Oz

• Xena: Warrior Princess

• Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune from Sailor Moon

• She-Ra

• The villain in practically every Disney film

But how did we all find and love the same things?

We weren't getting recommendations from strangers halfway across the world. We weren't on forums comparing notes. We weren't secretly googling ‘movies with queer characters.’ We just stumbled upon these TV shows and films and somehow knew. Like we were all part of this big, beautiful hive mind.

Well, turns out it might be a little more than intuition. What we were all picking up on was queer coded storylines and characters.

Queer Coding? What's That?

Queer coding is a term used to describe when a character or storyline is implicitly queer (and this is coded through subtext, mannerisms, aesthetics) without any explicit confirmation.

The term itself wasn't coined until the mid-to-late 90s, but queer coding has been happening for ages.

And it’s most often associated with the Hay's Code era of Hollywood.

The Hay's Code

In the 1930s, the Motion Picture Production Code (aka the Hay's Code) set out strict rules about what could and couldn't be shown in movies. It was brutally restrictive. Some of the things it banned included:

1. Pointed profanity, including the words God, Lord, Jesus, Christ (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd, and every other profane and vulgar expression;

2. Any licentious or suggestive nudity, actual or in silhouette;

3. Drug use;

4. White slavery;

5. Miscegenation;

6. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases;

7. Scenes of childbirth(!);

8. Sex perversion or any inference to it

That last one was code for homosexuality. And, so, faced with this restriction filmmakers had to get creative with what they showed.

Mannerisms. Costume. Dialogue. A little bit of theatricality and swishiness. Coded glances.

If you knew how to read it, the subtext was there.

After the Code

The Hay’s Code was repealed in the 1960s, but that didn’t actually lead to much difference when it came to queer characters.

Sure, there was more childbirth and drug-taking shown, but society was still fairly queer-phobic, and so writers and film makers kept playing it safe.

Disney Ups The Ante

We can’t really talk about queer coding without talking about Disney films. And, more specifically, Disney villains. 

Perhaps because of the Hay’s Code, where homosexuality could only be shown if the character was also being ‘punished’ for it, there’s a long list of effeminately villainous characters throughout cinema history. But, Disney really turned it into a fine art. To name a few, there’s: 

• Ursula, the sea witch in The Little Mermaid (modelled after drag queen Divine)

• Scar from The Lion King

• Captain Hook in Peter Pan

• Jafar in Aladdin.

All of them coded as queer. All of them evil. All of them punished.

(but, also, let’s face it, all of them are the best characters of their respective films).

So, Is Queer Coding A Good Or A Bad Thing?

I know it sounds a little odd after highlighting that most queer coded characters were villains, but… they were still important. They gave queer kids something. A way to see themselves on screen. Permission to exist, however hidden.

But, yeah, on the other hand, it was also deeply limiting. Queer coded characters were usually exaggerated caricatures playing on the absolutely broadest stereotypes. Which meant straight, cisgender audiences likely absorbed those same stereotypes as ‘what gay people are like.’ And you no doubt already know how problematic their opinions of us can be.

So, I don’t know. My verdict here is probably... it's complicated?

But what about you? Let me know your thoughts in the poll below.