Question to queer men: before/after watching HR did you think it was just gna be smut, no plot for the female gaze? What changed your mind and actually made you like the show in its entirety.
I’m a queer woman and basically I got into a little disagreement with someone comparing BBM to HR saying that queer films like BBM is what we need more of when it comes to authentique representation that doesn’t need explicit sex scenes to grab an audience or make a point. And in comparison HR id just smut, over sexualized, Saturated depiction of queer men as sex freaks n ppl like HR cuz of the sex and it targeting the female gaze. Ofc I contested it saying that there’s no one way to depict authentic queer stories. Yes HR is based off a smut novel whose audience is mostly women but because it’s not cuz it necessarily targets women its just that romance and smut books in general have a wide female audience. I digress. I then went on abt how sex in HR is very plot driven.
The presences of sex esp in a show like HR doesnt take away from the nuance n rich layers of plot n storytelling it has. If anything it adds to it. Also why must queer stories only be told with tragedy? Why can’t we embrace in queer joy and horniness. Queer sex without punishment. Sex in HR is way more than just for shock value, the thrill of it. Ofc you can talk abt how hot and steamy those scenes are but it’s all very important and integral to the over arching story let alone the development/growth of the characters. Not every queer story is going to resonate with every queer person and that’s fine. But I don’t see how that makes HR bad? He basically told me he wasn’t reading anything I said and I wouldn’t get it cuz I wasn’t a gay man so I don’t know what its like n so many gay men have been calling out HR on this issue?? Which I’m just confused and don’t get. I think it’s fine not to like HR if it’s not ur thing but I find a lot of ppl who have these criticisms of HR especially other queer men aren’t really engaging with it in way that’s actually trying to understand the show n what it’s conveying especially with the sex. They see sex and immediately think thats all there is.
My main question is to queer men. why were you hesitant abt HR or thought it was just smut(for better or worse) but realized it was much more. what made you realize that and why do you think other queer men may have such a big issue with how HR tells this story in particular?