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Gay subtext in fiction
Or rather, people's reactions to it. I don't really like to play the homophobia card, but it's always annoyed me how whenever someone interprets something from a show/manga/game/whatever as being ho yay, people get so goddamn defensive about it. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people shriek about how interpreting a particular character as being gay is "disrespectful to the creators" or something. These same people are almost always completely neutral to other fanon ideas, but it seems like the minute you say "Hmm, I think [male character A] and [male character B] would make a cute couple," they completely lose it.
For example, there's that episode of Adventure Time where Marceline sings that song to Princess Bubblegum, and many people have interpreted it as implying romantic tension between the two. But if you so much as mention that, people will bite your head off about how they're most certainly just friends and you're jumping to wild conclusions and you're probably a pervert--completely ignoring the fact that the song has lyrics like "I wanna drink the red from your pretty pink face." 
So yeah.[/rant]
Comments
I've found that it often comes from hetero-shippers (yes, such people exist, the sick fucks).
>goddamn defensive
>shriek
>lose it
>bite your head off
Uh huh...
But yeah, I'm no stranger to this. I still don't have a clue how people can watch K-On and not think that all the characters are lesbians.
It's fine if it's intentional.
But imagine you like a character, and someone starts writing weird fruity little fanfics about them, when it's clear that the creators didn't intend for that sort of thing to happen. It's uncomfortable. They're changing something you like, and they don't have the right.
That's the logic.
And it doesn't really seem like the Adventure Time is an example of this, but it can be really really annoying when somebody will start going on and on about how, say, Harry and Draco are so obviously gay for each other when there's absolutely no evidence for such. I'm not trying to imply that it's only same-sex shipping where this happens, but it seems like it happens with them a lot more than with straight shipping, and when there's no evidence of the characters even swinging that way. Like how every interaction between two males characters is potholed to Ho Yay on TvT.
Calling it "disrespectful to the creators" instead of just annoying is stupid though.
@DonZabu Yeah, I tend to engage in hyperbole when I rant. :V
@Forzare Well, I'm not really talking about hardcore shippers so much as just people who throw it out there as a possible interpretation.
Eh I'm all into Death of The Author and from a literary perspective making characters with upped homosexual subtext can be played for reasons other than fap material. Sherlock is a pretty great example of this.
I'm annoyed by people who deny ho yay when it's obviously there, but I'm just as annoyed by delusional fans who constantly shove ho yay in everyone's face.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that they don't have the right to write their creepy fanfic, but other than that I agree.
On another note, I tried to read The Picture of Dorian Gray recently, but I stopped at about halfway because the gay subtext was incredibly pervasive without actually being important except in one instance. That's the point where I'm surprised the characters didn't actually get into relationships (which would have been fine, don't get me wrong; I can understand why Wilde wouldn't have gone that far, though, seeing how badly people of the time reacted to just the subtext). All the beating around the bush impeded the narration and made the already-slow plot move that much slower without really adding anything. It would be equally as annoying if the characters involved had been male and female, but I bring this up because the part where it's gay subtext actually renders this marginally relevant to the topic at hand.
I'm annoyed by the word ho yay, it has to be said.
goddamnit, why can't you say "homoerotic subtext" internet.
With that said, it bothers me that people deny that this is a thing when plenty of legitimate works do it (Fight Club comes to mind)
On an unrelated note, A Separate Peace.
Fuck shipping, and fuck whatever subtext you're scrapping off the bottom of the barrel for.
^^ Bluh, that book.
^ There's nothing wrong with normal shipping. It's just when people get militant and annoying about it that it gets bad.
I repeat.
Also for those of you who don't know the song I was talking about in my first post, here:
I think the creators already said there wasn't necessarily any subtext, but I'm still not sure why people have trouble comprehending how anyone could see it that way.
CompassionateSadist,
I'm annoyed by people who deny ho yay when it's obviously there, but I'm just as annoyed by delusional fans who constantly shove ho yay in everyone's face.
That seems like a logical way to look at it to me.
I hope I am not repeating myself about this (if I am, feel free to tell me), but I feel like continual references to "ho yay" and "les yay" in a work that does not clearly encourage that subtext can cheapen the idea of friendship. Basically, if any friendly interaction between two characters is considered romantic (whether the two both are of the same sex or of different sexes), then I wonder if there is no longer room for friendship as an important type of relationship.
What DonZabu mentioned about the characters in K-On! kind of reminded me of that idea, since I feel like K-On! is really more about friendship than romance (no offense meant to those who disagree).
I agree with Juan_Carlos about "ho yay" (and "les yay") being annoying phrases too.
Wise Louie speaks truth.
The W in LouieW stands for Wise.
While I agree K-On! is more about friendship than romance I have a really really hard time seeing scenes like 'moe moe kyun!' and not thinking of sexual subtext.
While I agree the type of fangirl that sees homosexuality everywhere because 'squee!' is annoying I think that people overstate the phenomenon on occasion to justify their homophobia.
I think a clear case is the people who insist there's no way Kanji in Persona 4 is gay. His mindscape ens up being a sauna house and his denied self is a flamboyant stereotype of gay men. You might be able to read interpretations of him not being gay, but the creators have stated an intentional ambiguity and his voice actor has stated he is gay, which makes the insistence that he's not gay smack more of homophobia than 'preserving his character' or whatever nonsense as though some fanfic is going to affect the original text.
I've seen people insisting Dumbedore isn't gay because Rowling didn't make it explicit in the books proper.
That's more because it's hardly relevant to the story and because it was mentioned outside of it. It doesn't stop Dumbledore from being gay, but if he was really gay and Rowling intended him to be such from the beginning, not making it clear seems more like a dick move to me. Or at least, poor writing, anyway.
Plus Dumbledore/Grindlewald in the last book was pretty much the first time I'd ever noticed subtext like that.
The way I see it, sexuality isn't important enough (or at least, shouldn't be important enough) that it should have been specified outside of the story in the first place, if it wasn't there in some important way originally.
@K-On!: I guess it's a sort of friendship that a lot of people aren't used to, or something. Which is sort of unfortunate, when you think about it.
The thing is, by making Dumbledore's feelings romantics, it both cheapens the message of friendship through all that the books seemed to be going for (Hell, how many times didn't Harry think that he wouldn't be nowhere without Hermione or Ron?) and that it simply doesn't matter and it's irrelevant to the story.
And if you have it in your mind that your character is homosexual, then you should at least try to convey it, the same way you convey any other trait they might or might not possess, like, for example, by making an scene that brings such a point up.
I tend to be annoyed that any sort of interaction gets spun into a romantic one. Same sex relationships are no different in this regard. If it's not relevant to the story, then I don't see why people should go on about it as if it is, and it is especially irritating when people bring politics into it. In other words, I hate shipping.
The thing about the Dumbledore being gay is that it has impact on the stories or characters whatsoever. It doesn't change interactions or why the characters have their goals It might as well have been Crookshanks that was gay.
I think Abyss makes a good point that any kind of connection is spun into a romantic one. Still, I see much less bitching about heterosexual interpretations.
Fuck shipping, and fuck whatever subtext you're scrapping off the bottom of the barrel for.
There's a difference between shipping and subtext, you know. And not all subtext is sexual in nature.