Smash the heterosexual orthodoxy
Jul. 27th, 2005 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
donnaimmaculataFollowing the confirmation of the Remus/Tonks canon and the subsequent - to use a polite term - discussions about whether or not Rowling has merely submitted to society's heterosexist pressure, I would like to ask a question that's always interested me: What makes Remus gay?
I am asking this, because there are many readers who read the character Remus Lupin as gay. And I don't mean the character's being coded as representing the idea of homosexuality on an allegorical level, which is quite a different thing. (A worrying one as well if people assume that making someone a vicious man-eating monster means that they stand for homosexuality, but this is neither here nor there.) What I am interested to know is what, exactly, about Lupin's characterisation makes readers think he's as gay as a tree full of monkey.
Because, as much as I like writing and reading Remus in slash pairings, I've never read the character in the novel as gay. (He reminds me far too much of my ex-BF for that, but this, again, is neither here nor there.) He's polite, understanding and witty, which, I realise, are qualities that are often contributed to gay men, because they are oh so full of understanding for us women, quite unlike their rude, insensitive, grumpy straight counterparts.
This is a serious question. I'm honestly interested.
I am asking this, because there are many readers who read the character Remus Lupin as gay. And I don't mean the character's being coded as representing the idea of homosexuality on an allegorical level, which is quite a different thing. (A worrying one as well if people assume that making someone a vicious man-eating monster means that they stand for homosexuality, but this is neither here nor there.) What I am interested to know is what, exactly, about Lupin's characterisation makes readers think he's as gay as a tree full of monkey.
Because, as much as I like writing and reading Remus in slash pairings, I've never read the character in the novel as gay. (He reminds me far too much of my ex-BF for that, but this, again, is neither here nor there.) He's polite, understanding and witty, which, I realise, are qualities that are often contributed to gay men, because they are oh so full of understanding for us women, quite unlike their rude, insensitive, grumpy straight counterparts.
This is a serious question. I'm honestly interested.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-27 04:41 am (UTC)OTP is distinguished, indeed remarkable, for showing grown-up friendship
Yes. That is so true. This is one of the things I liked about the book - we get an insight into how the adults are relating to each other. But with regard to Remus and Sirius, I've always felt that they simply fall back on one another because they have no-one else who is close to them. Old school friendships do that for people, I think. I fall back into the old patterns when I meet old friends from school, even when I haven't seen them in a long time.
I don't mind the lack of foreshadowing in HBP - most of their action happens off-screen, and there is no way Harry could spy easily into Remus' love life. And it's not as though the Remus/Tonks thing was important in the great scale of things.