Why pop culture keeps falling for the “Gay Liar” | Y756PJK | 2024-04-12 14:08:01
Why pop culture keeps falling for the "Gay Liar" | Y756PJK | 2024-04-12 14:08:01
googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1636628330016-0'); );
The extra horrible issues Tom does (and he does many), the extra his lies hold piling up. Netflix's recent tackle this story is well timed, as a result of our culture on this moment is particularly fascinated by liars. Typically, their motivations seem clear — money, energy, fame — however other occasions, we're much less positive. Now, a specific subset of fabricator is being welcomed into the content material stream: the Gay Liar. From the corridors of Capitol Hill to real-life scammer tales, novels, and prestige TV dramas, cultural representations of gay men are leaning towards figures who lie, betray, after which lie some more.
Regardless of the lengthy historical past of queer individuals being mischaracterizsed and certainly demonised by the media, I discover myself drawn to those villains — and never simply because they're so typically dramatic in a distinctly homosexual approach. Their tales, both actual and fictional, are complicated and tap into decades-old tensions still at the heart of queer life at present. In a sea of tepid LGBTQ+ illustration, even probably the most prolific Gay Liars can spark more trustworthy conversations.
On the second and most up-to-date season of& The White Lotus, one guest from season one returned to HBO's cursed resort. Tanya McQuoid — the damaged and delusional millionaire performed by Jennifer Coolidge — ended up lured to her dying by a British aristocrat named Quentin. Spoiler alert: It turned out "high-end gay" Quentin was secretly broke and plotting to scam Tanya out of her fortune with the help of Jack, a sex worker posing as his nephew. Coolidge's memeability achieved new heights when, aboard Quentin's palatial yacht off the Sicilian coast, Tanya finally realised what was happening, and disclosed her plight to the boat's captain:& "These gays, they're trying to murder me!"
Related: The Coolidge factor
It amused me that, out of all of the horrible individuals on this show, probably the most deceptive and evil have been a gaggle of gay men. (British& homosexual men, specifically — a subset I belong to.) The scene's similarities to& Ripley& are apparent: a shocking Italian backdrop, a financial scam and brutal murders, but in addition the depiction of Gay Liars as well-dressed sophisticates with a sure fabulosity. Watching Scott's psycho-chic tackle Tom Ripley, I was reminded of Andrew Cunanan — the real-life killer whose last victim was Gianni Versace. Within the 2018 FX& American Crime Story& season devoted to the murder, Darren Criss portrays Cunanan as a pathological liar, who used his magnificence and appeal to his benefit.
Gay Liars, each real and fictional, are sometimes pushed by the pursuit of money. Cunanan would invent false aliases and life tales, racking up large payments on stolen credit cards — a gateway to more critical violent crimes. Watching& Ripley, I used to be struck by how far more subtly Tom's romantic and sexual obsession with Greenleaf is portrayed in comparison with the 1999 movie. Scott's version of Tom seems more clearly driven by financial craving and jealousy—not solely of Greenleaf, but in addition his queer-coded good friend Freddie, played by Eliot Sumner. There are clear parallels right here with& Saltburn,& too — Emerald Fennell's a lot kinkier British take on class and envy, during which queer villain Oliver Quick enjoys the company (and fluids) of men and women throughout a& Ripley-esque rise to the top.
In 2023, disgraced former congressman George Santos turned some of the well-known (and shameless) Gay Liars in America. Since being expelled from Congress amid fraud allegations, the record of federal expenses towards him has grown to 23—a critical docket by anyone's standards. The accusations embrace using campaign funds to pay for& designer clothes, OnlyFans, and Botox, stealing from the& credit cards of donors, and& falsifying campaign finance records& to secure extra funding from the GOP.
New York Occasions& reporters Michael Gold and Grace Ashford aired the inconsistencies in Santos's claims after pulling together a narrative on his election win. First, there was a& pet charity& he stated he'd founded, which didn't take a look at. Then, neither Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, the place he claimed to have worked, had any document of his employment. "That's when the dominoes started to fall," Gold tells me. Santos's complete backstory shortly unraveled, together with the rest of his employment historical past and his schooling, financial status, property ownership, ethnicity, and faith. His most weird claims have been that his mother had& died during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and that four of his staff had been murdered in the 2017& shooting at Pulse Nightclub. (Oh, and that his niece was& abducted by Chinese communists.)
Wanting back at how big the story turned, Gold thinks Santos matches right into a wider development of fraudsters making headlines, together with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and Fyre Pageant organizer Billy MacFarland. "There's an American fascination, I feel, with the best way that lying can get individuals into positions of power," Gold says. "Fraud and scamming have been at the middle of pop culture — and here comes this congressman, right on time."
There's a specific gay love for ladies who scam. I keep in mind my feed being filled with posts (semi-ironically) stanning& Determined Housewives& actor Felicity Huffman after she was arrested in the 2019 school admissions scandal. (#FreeLynette began trending, and there was even& court-themed merch.) The earlier yr, pretend New York heiress Anna Delvey served excessive style courtroom seems. A couple of months ago, a& photograph& went viral of Theranos's Holmes and& Real Housewives& star& and convicted wire fraudster Jen Shah together within the Texas prison where they're each serving jail time, not seems to be.
Queer educational& José Muñoz& calls the method of gay men figuring out with feminine icons& disidentification. He thinks it might be a "coping mechanism" for our emotions of exclusion from mainstream tradition. Historically, homosexual icons are vocal powerhouses like Cher and Patti LuPone, or tragic figures comparable to Judy Garland and Princess Diana, but there's additionally a gay love for villains. Fictional scammers like Rosamund Pike in& Gone Woman& faucet into a survivor spirit that is similarly relatable or even inspiring to a gay viewers. At a time of larger queer inclusion within the mainstream, stanning real-life criminals comes with a good higher sense of taboo, or being "in on the joke."
Talking of survival, I'm wondering how the closet matches into the Homosexual Liar archetype. Growing up, I don't keep in mind a selected second once I realized I used to be gay, but I do recall lying about& not& being gay on a regular basis. In truth, I still keep in mind the very first time I was requested immediately and gave a response that I knew, deep down, wasn't truthful. (Perhaps a lie was my second of realization? Whew.) To be in the closet is to create a "straight" version of your self, who may need fabricated pursuits and hobbies particularly designed to throw others off the scent, or even a companion of the other gender. Probably the most messed-up a part of that is that, while we train youngsters not to lie from a young age, this specific sort of mendacity is encouraged when our society either promotes heterosexuality as superior or assumes it as the default.
In his 2023 novel& Confidence, writer& Rafael Frumkin& explores these concepts by way of the lens of a queer scammer duo. The guide is a queer Robin Hood story, through which besties (and occasional lovers) Ezra and Orson unite to start out an organization that promises "prompt enlightenment." Frumkin argues that queer and trans individuals is perhaps "uniquely nicely positioned" for scamming, exactly because they are used to "being totally different individuals to totally different individuals" in a more acutely aware method. "In the event you didn't grow up in an accepting place, you're immediately pressured into a sort of chameleon-ism," he says. "In the event you're 12 years previous and in the closet, you've obtained to maintain your story straight!"
Frumkin thinks this sort of "assimilationist intuition" is grounded in self-preservation. In a wider sense, assimilation has been at the heart of intercommunity political disputes because the 1969 Stonewall rebellion. Ought to LGBTQ+ individuals assimilate inside present techniques like capitalism and buildings like marriage? Or should we search to liberate ourselves from them? On this debate, gay scammers might be read as disruptive or even liberationist. By gaming the system, they're subverting it, certainly?
I feel the other is true. The vast majority of the homosexual scammers we see in popular culture are American, and in her ebook& Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino argues that scamming is central to American life. She writes that to be American is to study that "among the best bids an individual can make for monetary safety" is to get "really good at exploiting other individuals." She positions scamming as, moderately than subversive, "the quintessential American ethos." Homosexual scammers merely symbolize queer inclusion into, or assimilation inside, a capitalistic interpretation of the American dream. "Queer individuals can now be a part of the military they usually can get married—they usually can fucking con individuals, too," Frumkin says. And there is a pressure here, between inclusion in the American ethos of individualism, and the supposed collectivism of the LGBTQ+ group. "Gay scammers are kind of saying, nicely, who provides a fuck concerning the collective? It's about me," he says. "Eager to be on the prime of the pyramid scheme? That's as American as apple pie."
Initially, Santos's historic 2022 election win seemed like a sign of a altering America. He turned the first-ever Republican to be brazenly homosexual& before& election to federal office. Santos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman, one other homosexual man, also making the race doubtless the first time that "out" gay candidates from the two primary parties had confronted off. "A gay Brazilian Republican was operating for Congress, and ultimately gained, at a time the place the Republican Social gathering was talking lots about profitable over totally different kinds of voters," Gold remembers. "It was undoubtedly an fascinating story."
Consultant George Santos is surrounded by journalists as he leaves the U.S. Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel him from the Home of Representatives on December 01, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Santos's transition from corrupt politician to superstar is the subsequent chapter of his story. Reflecting on Santos's newfound fame, Gold thinks it was partly driven by how "brazen" his lies have been — even towards the backdrop of former president Donald Trump, who& made over 30,000 false statements& while in workplace—but in addition the "tech and media ecosystem" he's shrewdly navigating. "When you possibly can arrange a Cameo account and make more cash than you ever did in Congress," he says, "that may be a pretty distinctive thing." Santos alluded to this himself throughout& an interview& with Ziwe, who asked: "What can we do to get you to go away?" He replied that folks should cease inviting him to issues. "But you'll be able to't," he added, "because individuals need the content material." Santos does in truth symbolize a altering America — one the place lies are a form of monetized entertainment.
When discussing any trope in queer representation, it's necessary to say that the road between archetype and dangerous stereotype has all the time been fairly skinny. Some may interpret representations of Gay Liars and scammers as homophobic — part of the lengthy lineage of queer-coded characters who are additionally villains. I grew up watching characters like Scar in& The Lion King — a curiously British and very flamboyant lion who sends Simba's father, Mufasa, falling to his dying. Devious characters like Oliver in& Saltburn, or Francis Underwood in& House of Cards — another Machiavellian man who had sex with men, and was recognized for pushing his enemies in front of shifting trains — might be interpreted as perpetuating a harmful link between queer men and hazard. This narrative has been reappearing with varying intensity in the media right again to the trial of Oscar Wilde, when the author's affair with a British aristocrat sparked a moral panic in 1895 Britain.
Irish poet and novelist Oscar Wilde
I don't assume that is what is occurring right here at present. Gay Liars having a cultural second feels more like a response to a wave of queer representation that has ceaselessly produced pedestrian and risk-averse characters. In 2023, historian& Ben Miller& and novelist Huw Lemmey revealed& Bad Gays: A Homosexual History, a guide based mostly on the authors'& podcast& of the same identify. Each tasks strategy queer history with a central thesis: If we analyz]se the previous solely from the attitude of queer heroes like Wilde, then we're getting only half the story. The duo argues that the homosexual gangsters and evil twinks from queer historical past — like Lord Alfred Douglas, the young lover who betrayed Wilde — have contributed just as much to what we'd recognize at the moment as a cohesive Western gay id.
Miller thinks that the newfound cultural prominence of "dangerous gays" comes from a want among queer audiences, particularly, for a extra "grown-up" conversation than #PositiveRepresentation typically allows. "Precise queer individuals are curious about more complicated tales which might be by, about, and for grown-ups—as opposed to the type of infantile or adolescent narratives that make up a whole lot of queer representation." It's great to have cute TV exhibits about gay teenagers holding palms in class, queer way of life gurus (influencers) giving individuals makeovers, or& Glee& youngsters shrieking their means by means of "Defying Gravity." But there's higher inclusivity and worth in putting a stability with queer people who find themselves complicated and flawed. How does someone go from being& a drag queen in Brazil, to advocating towards& same-sex marriage& and talking at a "Cease the Steal" rally& wearing a stolen Burberry scarf? Santos asks us these questions. "We might very very similar to it to be true that dwelling by means of repression sanctifies individuals, or makes them better," Miller says. "When in truth, it may typically make individuals worse."
Watching& Ripley, I was struck, as I typically am watching scammer stories, by how much I ended up rooting for Tom. There's something about his capacity to shape-shift that makes him addictive to observe. Reinvention comes up typically when discussing Gay Liars. Gold thinks Santos faucets right into a fascination that all of us have with individuals who use daring lies to "reinvent themselves in large, big methods," while Frumkin says Homosexual Liars share America's central premise: "You'll be able to continuously remake your self." Reworking oneself in pursuit of more, or higher, is as shut as you will get to a common homosexual experience — one that these tales take to the darkest extremes. If Homosexual Liars tell us one fact, it's that reinvention is the queerest type of fantasy.
Associated: Why conmen like Tom Ripley are so preoccupied with fashion
This article initially appeared on Harper's BAZAAR US.
</div> </div> The submit Why pop culture keeps falling for the "Gay Liar" appeared first on Harper's Bazaar Australia.
More >> https://ift.tt/GRi6nlZ Source: MAG NEWS
No comments: