Tbf, Utena is ambiguous before the movie. It’s got a lot of gay vibes going on but literally no one ever expresses any attraction toward anyone of the same sex at any point. The gay stuff is all in the vibes, symbolism and whatnot.
that just isn’t true! this is what i’m talking about, as a society we need to be able to understand when queerness is just textually on screen even when the character never says out loud “i’m gay” or kisses their same sex love interest.
juri is a lesbian. that’s the text of the show, the other characters discuss her queerness openly. kozue and utena both kiss anthy on screen!!! kozue in the car crash and utena in the second ed. just because their mouths are blocked doesn’t mean it’s not obviously the text. miki fantasizes about being in bed with touga with touga’s shirt seductively unbuttoned, and is constantly blushing in the same way he does around anthy when being close to other men. nanami says out loud with her mouth “i prefer girls” in a bit that is technically subtext but i mean come on. it comes in the same episode where she turns bright red after utena feels her face for a fever in a scene that has no heterosexual explanation, and it immediately starts touga on a homophobic rant, in the same arc where he (again technically not onscreen, but like. if it was a man and a woman literally no one would argue something else was going on) is constantly having sex with akio and saionji.
if you wanted to argue those last few are subtext i guess so, but not any more subtextual than, say, akio having sex with utena. that’s not shown on screen either, and yet i’ve never once seen someone say it didn’t happen. when you get into actual subtext you have to add the entire rest of the cast to the mix. mikage, shiori, wakaba, tsuwabuki, basically no one in this show is straight
See, when you say stuff like this, you give people the wrong idea about the show and then they go watch it and end up being really disappointed. That’s my experience
i’m sorry that you were disappointed but everything i mentioned is in the show, on screen and in dialogue. when you say no one expresses any queer feelings outside of subtext that is untrue.
i suppose you could somehow watch the show and ignore most if it if you were dedicated to the idea that it didn’t have gay people in it, but even then there’s juri!!! who is explicitly stated to be in love with a woman!!! it’s the focus of every episode she’s in!!! and also kozue makes out with anthy on screen, and utena kisses her in the end credits! you would have to watch with blinders in not to find at least some textual queerness on the screen
Tbf, Utena is ambiguous before the movie. It’s got a lot of gay vibes going on but literally no one ever expresses any attraction toward anyone of the same sex at any point. The gay stuff is all in the vibes, symbolism and whatnot.
that just isn’t true! this is what i’m talking about, as a society we need to be able to understand when queerness is just textually on screen even when the character never says out loud “i’m gay” or kisses their same sex love interest.
juri is a lesbian. that’s the text of the show, the other characters discuss her queerness openly. kozue and utena both kiss anthy on screen!!! kozue in the car crash and utena in the second ed. just because their mouths are blocked doesn’t mean it’s not obviously the text. miki fantasizes about being in bed with touga with touga’s shirt seductively unbuttoned, and is constantly blushing in the same way he does around anthy when being close to other men. nanami says out loud with her mouth “i prefer girls” in a bit that is technically subtext but i mean come on. it comes in the same episode where she turns bright red after utena feels her face for a fever in a scene that has no heterosexual explanation, and it immediately starts touga on a homophobic rant, in the same arc where he (again technically not onscreen, but like. if it was a man and a woman literally no one would argue something else was going on) is constantly having sex with akio and saionji.
if you wanted to argue those last few are subtext i guess so, but not any more subtextual than, say, akio having sex with utena. that’s not shown on screen either, and yet i’ve never once seen someone say it didn’t happen. when you get into actual subtext you have to add the entire rest of the cast to the mix. mikage, shiori, wakaba, tsuwabuki, basically no one in this show is straight
See, when you say stuff like this, you give people the wrong idea about the show and then they go watch it and end up being really disappointed. That’s my experience
i’m sorry that you were disappointed but everything i mentioned is in the show, on screen and in dialogue. when you say no one expresses any queer feelings outside of subtext that is untrue.
i suppose you could somehow watch the show and ignore most if it if you were dedicated to the idea that it didn’t have gay people in it, but even then there’s juri!!! who is explicitly stated to be in love with a woman!!! it’s the focus of every episode she’s in!!! and also kozue makes out with anthy on screen, and utena kisses her in the end credits! you would have to watch with blinders in not to find at least some textual queerness on the screen