#as an English major I think hamlet was queer coded

[tellmewhytheyswoon]

hi, so i see a lot of posts talking about how dps is queer-coded, but i’m confused as to why. i never interpreted it as a metaphor for being gay or anything like that, so i was wondering exactly why many people call it a queer-coded film

hi! thank you for asking! apologies for how long this post is going to be, i just finished finals and i’m an english major with too much time on my hands. take everything i say with a grain of salt, this is just how i approach analyzing the film. 

to preface, i don’t think that reading dps as a queer-coded movie (or as a metaphor for being gay) is the only way to read the film. i think there are many, many different perspectives on the film that hold validity and importance. 

that being said, let’s talk about queer-coding in dps, and why a lot of people (including myself) feel like the film has queer themes!

the most important part of this (for me at least) is understanding the difference between authorial intent and a reading of a film. it’s objectively true that peter weir and tom schulmann didn’t intend for dps to be gay (unless someone is lying, lol). i think that here is where some folks get confused, because if the director and writer didn’t intend for the movie to be gay, it can’t be, right? i respectfully disagree with this perspective, as i think that authorial intent isn’t the only valid way to understand a movie. i also think that real, material instances of queer-coding do crop up within the film due to its anti-conformist themes.

dead poets society’s main theme is about finding yourself, and struggling against a normative society that wants you to conform. this is something that is really connected to the queer struggle, and for me makes it a lot easier to read the film outside of a heteronormative lens. the film is asking its viewers to understand it outside of the norm. all of the characters are asked to think for themselves, and to stand against the status quo. this can be easily applied to what it’s like to be lgbt+. basically, it feels a lot like a coming out narrative. 

some specific examples of queer-coding within dead poets society would be for instance the choice of walt whitman as the primary poet discussed within the film. whitman is famously queer, and wrote a lot of poetry about finding himself outside of the norm. the specific line “i’m being chased by walt whitman!” as todd chases neil around the room with his poetry is one moment of queer-coding, another is todd’s poem in front of the class, which he directs to uncle walt himself, referencing walt literally chasing him, which can be interpreted as todd’s sexuality being a truth he is struggling with. 

in addition, a really, really powerful moment for me as a queer person is the scene between keating and neil in keating’s office. if you listen to the way that they’re talking about neil’s acting, it sounds exactly like a coming out scene. neil feels like he can’t be himself in public because his “acting” goes against the norm. obviously neil really is worried about his acting and what his father will think, but it can easily be argued that he is also worried about being himself, about being gay. at one point, neil says he can’t talk to his father about this, and keating says “then you’re acting for him too.” this is a painfully queer concept - acting straight, acting “normal” in order to be safe. neil feels trapped by the conformity that his father and welton implement. 

this is supplemented by the fact that neil is playing the role of puck. i think this choice feels very deliberate. he isn’t playing a stereotypically masculine role, like romeo or hamlet. he’s playing puck, the gender ambiguous fairy. many people have argued that this is an added upset to mr. perry, to see his son in a more ‘feminine’ or ambiguous gender role. mr. perry’s choice to send neil to military school is not just about making him conform to society as a whole, but about making him conform to the masculine, heteronormative ideal. 

obviously, there is also a LOT of anderperry stuff that i’m not going to get into. i think that anderperry are definitely queer-coded and can be read as romantic, but i also think it’s important to talk about how the film is still very queer-coded even without anderperry as evidence. 

here are some posts that further examine queer-coding: this one is mine and li’s , and i just think this one is very neat and insightful. tw for both because they talk about suicide. 

thank you for indulging me with this question!! i don’t ever want to act like this is the only way to read dps, i just think it’s a very interesting and important perspective for a lot of lgbt+ folks who enjoy the film. 

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

Mercutio and Prince Hal

Mercutio

who? | only know their name | loathe | ugh | overrated | indifferent | dead | alive | just okay | cute | badass | my baby | hot | want to marry | favorite

Who doesn’t love Mercutio! I think that Benvolio and Mercutio are probably Shakespeare’s most well-known queer-coded relationship, even before Hamlet and Horatio (I did not say better I said well-known). I aspire to be in a fit state of mind to make death puns while I’m actively dying. Taking life easy all the way up to the end that’s how you got to do it! also he doesn’t die! Benvolio is kissing him right now he’s immortal, so. 

Prince Hal

who? | only know their name | loathe | ugh | overrated | indifferent | dead | alive | just okay | cute | badass | my baby | hot | want to marry | favorite

Why do I have both overrated and favorite highlighted? Bc the Henriad traces the rise and fall of the iconess of Prince Hal. Prince Hal? Great. The only royal I can respect, knows where the true party is, not a classist, has absolutely iconic speech about lowering everyone’s expectations so that when he performs averagely they’ll all be impressed, but in the end, has a heart of gold and proved his valor on the battlefield. My favorite part of Henry IV Part 1 is that even though it is Prince Hal who kills Hotspur, he lets Falstaff take credit. He’s fine with no one knowing this... major badge of honor and accomplishment. He’s fine with ceding it to this fat cowardly knight. He doesn’t want to be known as the hero. Your fav could never. 

Where is he during Henry V? Where is he? Fucking watered down “Mr Noble” English progandist is NOT a good look and so much for be a “cool” royal who values all of his people equally when he’s talking about English dead is like “none else of name.” Like Bitch! You bitch! Those “none else of name” were some of your drinking buddies! Henry V was not growth. That play is not my play it must be said, I can’t stand all the “ra-ra England”.

But it’s ok. I’ve fixed it. It recently came to my attention that in Henry VI Part I there is a character by the name of Sir John Falstolfe, who is extremely minor but has all the characteristics of Sir John Falstaff, and gets disgraced for being a coward. The impulse might be to say “Falstaff is alive” or “Henry VI was written first so Falstolfe is just a literary prototype for what began Falstaff” but I reject that. I think the most plausible theory is that Henry V got tired of being a boring snot-nosed spoiled ass prejudiced bitch, and wanted to go back to living as a rogue with a heart of gold just like the good old days. So he FAKED his own death and assumed the alter ego of his good friend, who he betrayed and went under cover. He roamed the countryside until his death, getting drunk, making love, and occasionally, just when it was really important and no one was looking, doing good and helping people in need.

#my ask is still open for this game #shakespeare #romeo and juliet #prince hal #henry iv part 1 #mercutio