Mackie has played Sam in 6 movies and a TV series. He absolutely has good authority over who Sam is. Implying that his perspective is low value because he’s not the writer/director/Kevin Feige is an illogical argument.

“(of course this isn’t me saying “they have to give in to every fan’s whim and make every character officially and canonically gay” or whatever so don’t start that)”

I think the problem that Mackie was trying to get at (even if it was somewhat jumbled in his response) is *why* do you and others read these characters as “gay” even when the creators say that wasn’t the intention?

Your reply starts by assuming the ultimate question - is there a queer subtext in the plot, or does it reflect themes that may be familiar to the queer community? I haven’t seen the show (nor read the comics) so I don’t know what it looks like as a matter of plot, but the point Mackie made is that his view is there is …

There’s no question of a need for more and better representation of homosexuality in media. But the central thesis of this article is, “What it means to you is what it means to you, and nobody can touch that.” It’s a nice sentiment, but it begs the question of does that apply to all interpretations of a work,…

it doesn’t feel particularly appropriate to pontificate on the sexuality of characters who are minors

I’m a huge believer in death of the author and I think it’s totally fine for audiences to react however they react to a work without being judged for it. If you see queer subtext in a work, there’s queer subtext in it, and the opinion of the work’s creator is not especially relevant. What I think is weird, and mostly…

Despite what Mackie said, regardless of Casarosa’s intent, if you viewed Luca as a queer allegory—and, in doing so, it enriched your understanding of the Pixar film, and maybe even the way you look back on your own coming-of-age story—embrace that. You didn’t view the movie, or the series, or the piece of art wrong;…

Saying homosexuality is beautiful is just weird. It doesn’t come across as a compliment exactly. Saying so and so are a beautiful couple or love between any two people is beautiful sounds fine, but specifying homosexuality as beautiful just comes across wrong.

In your equally as valid/invalid opinion about subtext from a text that doesn't have any intent yes.

Correct.

Does this argument mean that the opposite situation is acceptable, where characters intended to be gay, but not directly stated as such by the creators, are then perceived by the viewer as straight? Because I have a feeling it wouldn’t be.

Who is this “us” that you speak of and for? Because there is also a lot of “us” as well that agree with Bart and that it’s just silly projection and that it’s real hypocritical of you to accuse him of doing the same thing that you’re doing as well.

Sure, imagine all you want, that’s perfectly healthy.

I think the point Mackie was trying (and admittedly failing) to make is that the insistence that male characters must want to fuck each other if they are vulnerable, emotional, or caring towards one another is just a well-meaning but still pernicious form of homophobia that contributes to and reinforces toxic…

Nope, not what I said. Queer kids are not creepy. Adults who impose their own wishes on someone else’s story are creepy, especially if the author of the story says, “hey, that’s not what I’m writing about” and the person leans on their own intepretation of “the subtext” to continue to hijack the story or the…

Having friends is so gay. 

“Marc Cherry" is quicker.

This is definitely an aspect that gets ignored a bit in the discussion: this type of shipping typically isn’t done by gay men, it’s done by straight women. And while I don’t have a problem with straight women having their fantasies, I do have a problem with framing it as an LGBT rights/representation issue. It’s like…

Sebastian Stan knows what side his bread is buttered on. Fan enthusiasm for the character has made him a main character in the MCU. If it’s because they all think Bucky is super gay for whoever is currently Cap, so be it.