Yora
Maester
There is this idea in fiction criticism and theory of coding. It means that instead of outright saying or showing something about a character, the writers include several seemingly harmless details that in combination conjure up associations with certain traits in the audience. For example, sometimes you will encounter characters who show absolutely no behaviors indication affection but you still can't shake the impression that the creators made that character obviously gay.
When this is discussed, it often comes up in regard to villains and by that making the implication that gays are evil. Especially when the onl characters who appear maybe slightly gay are villains but there's nothing similar with the heroes.
Now I am in the situation that I would really like my setting to appear very sexually diverse, but I don't actually like dealing with sexuality in fiction. I'm not a fan of romance in adventure stories in general, and I admit that I have rather conflicted feelings when it comes to casually showing signs of queer relationships in the background. On the one hand it should be so normal it's not even worth mentioning, but by the very fact that I do mention it I feel like I am portraying it as noteworthy.
You see my problem? If I don't mention it, we have a case of queer erasure. If I do mention it, I am automatically highlighting it. Neither feels natural to me.
Which is where coding comes in and why it's interesting me. Being able to make readers feel that the stories are full of queer characters without having to state that any characters are queer would be perfect.
And now my problem. How do you actually pull that off? I feel it's a bit of an Elephant Definition situation. It's really hard to actually describe, but I know it when I see it. Knowing it when we see it is fine enough on the audience side. They don't need to be able to state why they think there are queer characters, as long as they think it. But as writer I need to know which attributes to give characters in order to create this impression in the readers?
One thing that I can think of is having a larger and more extrovert woman in a relationship with a smaller and quieter man. It's still a mixed-sex relationship but, I don't know... It feels like there are certain implications about the nature of their relationship and preferences. And it doesn't matter if nobody can articulate what it might imply specifcally. it's enough to make readers take notice that they don't conform to default assumptions about male and female relationship roles. Readers taking notice without me having actually stated is the whole idea here.
Do you know of other cnaracter traits and implicit behaviors that are used in media to raise queer associations in audiences?
When this is discussed, it often comes up in regard to villains and by that making the implication that gays are evil. Especially when the onl characters who appear maybe slightly gay are villains but there's nothing similar with the heroes.
Now I am in the situation that I would really like my setting to appear very sexually diverse, but I don't actually like dealing with sexuality in fiction. I'm not a fan of romance in adventure stories in general, and I admit that I have rather conflicted feelings when it comes to casually showing signs of queer relationships in the background. On the one hand it should be so normal it's not even worth mentioning, but by the very fact that I do mention it I feel like I am portraying it as noteworthy.
You see my problem? If I don't mention it, we have a case of queer erasure. If I do mention it, I am automatically highlighting it. Neither feels natural to me.
Which is where coding comes in and why it's interesting me. Being able to make readers feel that the stories are full of queer characters without having to state that any characters are queer would be perfect.
And now my problem. How do you actually pull that off? I feel it's a bit of an Elephant Definition situation. It's really hard to actually describe, but I know it when I see it. Knowing it when we see it is fine enough on the audience side. They don't need to be able to state why they think there are queer characters, as long as they think it. But as writer I need to know which attributes to give characters in order to create this impression in the readers?
One thing that I can think of is having a larger and more extrovert woman in a relationship with a smaller and quieter man. It's still a mixed-sex relationship but, I don't know... It feels like there are certain implications about the nature of their relationship and preferences. And it doesn't matter if nobody can articulate what it might imply specifcally. it's enough to make readers take notice that they don't conform to default assumptions about male and female relationship roles. Readers taking notice without me having actually stated is the whole idea here.
Do you know of other cnaracter traits and implicit behaviors that are used in media to raise queer associations in audiences?