Warning: I never use expletives in my posts, but this one was written in anger and I am not going to take them out. So deal with it.
Problem one is people are upset over that Bohemian Rhapsody, a movie about the band Queen that heavily focuses on their frontman, Freddie Mercury, is supposedly going to "straight-wash" Freddie's story.
Freddie Mercury's sexuality is WIDELY speculated. Was he gay? Was he bi? People need labels. And Freddie never gave himself a label for his sexuality and people struggle with that. Even over twenty years after his death.
From what I have seen in the trailers alone and from the cast list, it doesn't seem like the movie is "straight-washing" anything. One of the trailers shows a somewhat queer scene between Freddie and another man. And according to the cast list, Freddie's partner, Jim Hutton, is going to be portrayed in the movie.
So I don't think they are "straight-washing" Freddie. Calm down.
Another problem people are having is Rami Malek, who is portraying Freddie, apparently refused to call Freddie a gay icon. The anger over this makes me so livid.
As you may know, if you have followed this blog for a while, I am a HUGE Queen fan. In my opinion, Queen is the greatest band and Freddie is the most talented singer who ever lived. But that's just my opinion.
I, an openly queer person, is angry that people want to label Freddie as a gay icon. Because to me, he isn't a gay icon. He's not a bisexual icon. He's not a queer icon. Freddie Mercury is just a fucking icon. That is all. Why do you have to put him into a box? He's not just an icon for the queer community. He is an icon for music. Hell, I'd even say he's an icon for fashion as well. He is an icon. You shouldn't have to specify.
Don't insult him, by tieing his sexuality to every single achievement he made.
Plus, I feel like calling him a gay icon, is alienating all his other fans who are not queer.
As far as I am concerned, Freddie Mercury never labeled himself based on his sexuality, so why do we need to?
Also, I want to add a big ol' PS-fucking-A: THIS IS NOT A MOVIE MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY!!!!!!!
That may be a hard pill to swallow because I know the community LOVES claiming every queer icon they can. Not this time, guys. Sorry.
This movie was made with Queen fans in mind. People who love the band and people who love Freddie.
And I only wanted to add that because most of the hate I see towards this movie is from the LGBT+ community and it angers me to the point where I couldn't sleep tonight so that's why I'm writing this blog post. It just makes me kind of sad because all of 2018 I have been distancing myself more and more from the LGBT+ community because of toxicity and this new bullshit is just proving to me that this is not a community I wish to be a part of.
Also just a little fun fact: "I Want to Break Free" is not a gay anthem. Freddie didn't write it. John Deacon did. Stop reading too much into things or you may always be disappointed.
I am aware I dropped the f-bomb a few times, but I'm not sorry.
The final problem I am seeing people have is the inaccuracies within the film. I do not know what exactly are the inaccuracies, but it's really not that series.
When has Hollywood ever made an accurate movie about someone's life? Give me one movie that is TRUE to the person they are depicting. Please.
And I get it. I am a history nerd. I watch documentaries for fun. I have watched several on Queen and Freddie. But I wasn't even expecting this movie to be accurate. And I'm not mad if it's not.
I am not going to watch this movie for its accuracy. I'll tell you why I am watching this movie. Queen is one of my favorite bands and the most played band on my Spotify. Freddie Mercury is someone I have always admired and looked up to. I have a HUGE crush on Roger Taylor and I am excited to see Ben Hardy play him. And Rami Malek. I have been following Rami Malek's entire career since his first film and I know he's going to do a good job portraying Freddie. I trust him to play Freddie. Plus Gwilyn Lee resembles Brian May so much it's almost scary.
I have been waiting for this movie for forever. I remember when it was first announced that someone was planning to make a movie about Freddie Mercury's life. I remember when they originally were thinking of casting Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie but then dropped him because they didn't think he was taking it seriously. I have been waiting for this movie since the very beginning. I remember when they didn't even have a title. I remember when they announced the title and I was less than impressed. It's cliche. I'm sorry. There are other Queen song titles that could have fit better.
I have been waiting and now that the movie is finally out, I am so fucking excited to go see it. And I am planning to see it in theaters. I cannot wait.
To those who want to boycott the movie for the ridiculous reasons, I stated above, fine. Boycott the movie. If you're getting triggered or offended by this movie, then maybe the movie isn't for you. Maybe you're not the target audience.
Writing this out on this post made me less angry. It's currently 3:38am on Halloween, but this will probably be posted on Nov. 8. I just thought I, a queer person who is also a Queen fan, should give out my opinion on the ridiculousness. Because it is all just ridiculous bullshit.
I will most definitely be making a post about the movie when I finally see it. Also, there will be future posts about Rami and Roger and maybe even Freddie.
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