“Token” Diversity as a Straight Cis White Guy
My partner and I are big fans of a variety of interesting shows and movies. Recently, we were on the edge of our seats for the final episode of Owl House, recently we went on a date to see the Dungeons & Dragons movie, and we rather enjoyed (albeit a bit late) Glass Onion, the sequel to Knives Out. We’re a couple of weird nerds is what I’m saying. One of the things we rather enjoy is representation in popular media despite us both being white, straight (more or less), and cis (more or less). We have a fairly heteronormative relationship, and while we both have a handful of hangups around our respective gender expression, we by and large fall into the male/female married couple genre. The thing about it is, we both have a bunch of friends in a range of colors, shapes, orientations, and identities. And you know what? It’s nice to see them represented in popular shows as well.
Benoit Blanc, the genius detective in Knives Out and Glass Onion, is gay. This is not a major plot point in any way — his partner is in the movie for at most a minute, mostly as a voice. He’s just a gay man who happens to be a genius detective.This is a far stride from popular media from even five or ten years ago when the “gay best friend” trope was prevalent and being queer in an action movie was a good way to wind up dead by the third act. Being queer used to be a much more obvious and forward-facing thing in movies — that is, most gay characters gave off major “gay vibes,” generally with affected speech and effeminate body language. Generally, they didn’t get much characterization beyond “very gay.” Benoit Blanc is gay, but he is allowed to be a person with complex character traits, quirks, and flaws. Being gay is not his whole personality, it is merely a facet of his personality that informs his character’s actions and motivations, even if only a little.
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