Mike's Musings: My Improbable Defense of "Thor: Love and Thunder"

In some circles, "Thor: Love and Thunder" has been under some harsh criticism.  Normally, I'd be jumping for joy at this, since the movie is absolutely terrible and the MCU has lingered long past its sell-by date.  Not this time.  This criticism has nothing to do with its abysmal quality or that it's pre-packaged fan service.  This is over allegations of "queer-baiting" on part of the filmmakers.  So as much as I disliked this movie and loathe the MCU in general, I cannot let this stand.

"Queer-bating," as it is known, is promising certain audiences that a film or product will be sufficiently "gay enough" to represent the LGBTQ community and then not delivering.  I'll be the first to proclaim that representation of LGBTQ people is so low it's shameful, but I was surprised at this response.  At first, but then I thought differently.

In my opinion, "Thor: Love and Thunder" was the most LGTBQ-accessible the MCU has ever been.  If'll give the MCU credit on this one.  Valkyrie's attraction to Jane Foster was both visible (even to someone with gaydar as awful as mine) and amusing.  More importantly, everyone else seemed to notice and react positively.  What's wrong with that?

I think the sticking point is that Valkyrie didn't explicitly state that she is LGBTQ.  This is a common attack on many forms of fiction with allegations of queerbating.  After all, when J.K. Rowling announced that beloved Hogwarts headmaster was gay, there were a few, such as John Cloud, who argued that wasn't enough.  He wrote: "...along came Rowling with Dumbldore--a human being, a wizard even, an indisputable hero and one of the most beloved figures in children's literature.  Shouldn't I be happy to learn he's gay?  Yes, but: why couldn't he have told us himself.  The Potter books add up to 800,000 words before [spoiler], yet Rowling couldn't spare two of those words to define a central character's emotional identity: 'I'm gay.'  We can only conclude that Dumbledore saw his sexuality as shameful.  His silence suggests a lack of personal integrity that is completely out of character."

Nothing could be further from the truth.  The fact of the matter is that many LGBTQ people don't announce their sexuality at every turn.  Just yesterday I was talking with someone (whom I had just met) and told him that when I saw the atrocity that was "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising," I was on a date and that he told me that he got more entertainment value watching me writhe in physical agony than anything on screen."  I said he, so if he was paying attention, it would be obvious that I was gay.

But that's how people talk.  Some people wear their sexuality as a badge of honor.  More power to them, but they're not all people.  Most people feel the same way about being gay that straight people do about being attracted to the opposite sex.  It's just who they are and that's that.

Which brings us back to "Thor: Love and Thunder."  Did Valkyrie explicitly say she was a lesbian?  No.  But her attraction to Jane Foster was evident and she did little to hide it.  More to the point, she had an integral part to play in the plot (if you can call it a story).  She wasn't there just to appear for a scene so Marvel could please the LGBTQ community and cut the scene out for other, more conservative markets.  Having an out character is a big risk for a $250 million superhero flick that makes most of its money overseas.  Like China, a nation in which homosexuality is still taboo and is arguably Hollywood's primary market.  I'd also put Russia on there, since they are even more conservative on the matter, but Disney has ceased all operations there over Putin's brutal invasion of the Ukraine.

Exactly what do these people want?  A hot and heavy encounter between Valkyrie and Jane?  Valkyrie with a crew cut and wearing armor saying "I am a lesbian" or something?  It's ridiculous.

A movie character's only responsibility is to be true to themselves.  Valkyrie doesn't seem like any kind of political activist, so to expect her to be such is unfair.  She is herself.  She doesn't hide her attraction to Jane Foster, but doesn't act on it.  Rather than, as Cloud accused of Dumbldeore, we can conclude two things: she came out to her friends before the movie began, and while she is attracted to Jane, she is mature enough to respect that her feelings are reciprocated.

And that's fine.  A movie character doesn't need a sex scene or explicitly tell everyone their sexuality to demonstrate visibility and acceptance.  Thor and everyone else know of Valkyrie's preferences and are completely cool with it.  What could be more powerful than that?