Bohemian Rhapsody And Stereotypes Of Bisexuality
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) is a biographical film following the adult years of rock legend and frontman of “Queen”, Freddie Mercury and the band’s rise to fame leading up to his death in 1991. Directed by an alleged rapist, Bryan Singer, the film was released in the summer of 2018 and was considered the biggest film of the year, which was a considerable feat for a film starring one of the most prolific queer icons in contemporary music history. Bohemian Rhapsody was the sixth highest-grossing film in 2018 cashing in at an egregious 903 million dollars (“Bohemian Rhapsody: Queen biopic surpasses $900m at box office”) and shining particular light on a squeaky clean version of the personal life and the eccentric attitude and magnetic, campy stage presence of Mercury while creating a confusing, sterilized, and dangerous presentation of queerness. In an attempt to highlight Mercury’s homosexual tendencies, the film erases the nuances of his sexuality and the inherent fludity in his identity thus perpetuates harmful stereotypes of bi+ (those who identify as being attracted to more than one gender) individuals and reflects a very real and ongoing struggle of bi+ people and their attempt to convince the world of the validity of falling outside the usual bounds of binary attraction. One particular scene portrays a newly internationally famous Mercury “coming-out” to his wife, Mary Austin, as bisexual. This scene begins the slippery slope of the films challenged portrayal of Mercury’s sexually fluid experience.
To understand the implications of lackluster, simplistic, stereotypical, and harmful portrayals of sexually fluid individuals, one must understand what the phrase “Bi Erasure” means. Bi Erasure is a result of a society that visualizes sexuality as being inherently within the binary of homosexual or heterosexual, and one seeing the other as directly oppostional. When one engages in sexual acts or persues romantic relationships with members of multiple gender identities, the homo/hetero-centric society will always place them into a box of gay or straight, taking into consideration one side of ones identity and invalidating the other. Bisexuality challenges traditional societal structures of what love is and what it should be, thus it is perceived as being an impossible and by extension, invalid experience. In “Queering Queer Theory and Why Bisexuality Matters” the authors claim that ”...bisexuality, like homosexuality, is a significant threat to heteronormativity. More troublesome, though, is its refusal to acquiesce to what has evolved into a neatly packaged opposition to that system.” (Laura Erickson-Schroth et al. pg. 298). Bi Erasure, or the lack of acknowledgement of one’s fluid sexuality is a method used to ignore the uncomfortability the monosexual society feels towards those who don’t align with their particular brand of normalcy, essentially putting them into a comfortable box that they deem appropriate and digestible. This erasure, particularly in contemporary media, bleeds into the real world understanding of fluidity. Freddie Mercury’s portrayal in Bohemian Rhapsody directly reflects this concept.
The scene in question, which will be referred to as the “coming-out scene” for the sake of conciseness. A young, newly world famous rockstar Freddie Mercury sits down with his wife in their dimly lit, comfortable home, surrounded by their cats and a television screen lighting half the room. He speaks tenderly to her, reflecting on “Love of my Life”, the song he wrote for her and about her and how it seemed to connect very strongly to the audience he was performing for, and how it moved him. She seems distraught, and says to him that “Something has been wrong for a while now.” She pleads with him to fully disclose what she seems to already know. He softly says after a long silence. “Ive been thinking about it a lot, I think I’m Bisexual” she coldly responds “Freddie, you’re gay.” This is the pivotal turning point in the film, taking it from a straight man’s (or a compulsory heterosexual gay man’s) story to the story of a gay man. She has the last say on Freddie’s sexuality, and the film follows suit. Her response, putting Freddie into a box in which she could fully comprehend is understandable from an 80’s historical context, but the fact the film does nothing to counteract this claim is what crosses the film over from reflection of realistic reactions to open sexual fluidity to the erasure of his bisexuality. Throughout the film, Freddie expresses his adoration and love for his wife Mary Austin with various “temptations” of male suitors throughout, implying a convuluted closeted gay story, and that Freddie Mercury, was just a closeted gay man who never truely was attracted to or loved Mary to the true extent he did. The film, after Mary leaves him after concluding that he was homosexual, becomes the story of a gay man who finally caves into “homosexual temptation” and has a platonic obsession with his ex wife rather than one of a man who is capable of love and appreciation of the bodies of more than one sex. It the line between heterosexual and homosexual waging a war within itself, for the sake of a concise, easily consumed narrative, not making any room for any exploration of the binary and the grey is rejected for the black and white. It is not inaccurate to portray a story of a man who lives a compulsory homosexual life, and begins living the life he was meant to live, as a gay man, but this is the wrong story for Freddie Mercury. Mercury’s personhood has an essence of queerness, and fluidity, and his love for Mary Austin was not a placeholder until he found his “true self.” The portrayal of someone who exhibits sexually fluid characteristics as simply gay or straight and implying that Mercury is a “tempted homosexual” is a dangerous precedent and harms not only Bi+ individuals but the greater LGBTQ+ community.
To further understand the implications of Bohemian Rhapsody’s particular portrayal of the icon, it is important to know some contextual items of information. Born to Conservative Parsi parents as Farrouk Balsara (“Biography” Freddie Mercury), Freddie Mercury was infamously private about his sexuality, opting to keep his sexual preferences vague and ambiguous. At one point, he was approached by a commentator, who asked if he was “bent,” he responds with 'You're a crafty cow. Let's put it this way: there were times when I was young and green. It's a thing schoolboys go through. I've had my share of schoolboy pranks. I'm not going to elaborate further.” (Sommerlad) Whether this response is rooted in distancing himself from labels or from the persecution he would face at the explicit expression of queerness, is unclear, but it is clear that he was not one to explicitly state his sexual and romantic preferences. The one aspect of his life that was not ambiguous was his outward expression of queerness in his gender performance both onstage and off, dislike of labels and boxes, and sexual promiscuity. The core of Mercury’s mission and art is that of an open, sexually grey life, free of labels and restrictions, and to portray his life as binary to single-gender attraction is not only to discount the very real love he had with not only his ex wife who he referred to as the love of his life up until his death (Bertram), but also his lover, Jim Hutton (Barnes) and the various other male partners he shared connections with throughout his life. Freddie Mercury is a quintissential symbol of transgression, considering he was a sexually ambiguous man, wearing drag in music videos, and wearing eccentric outfits in a country that only recently had outlawed homosexuality (Dryden). To create a binary, stringent and monochrome portrayal of such a transgressive, and comtemporary queer figure is to discount his legacy and impact.
Films are made through the perspective of the director, and stories are told through their eyes first and foremost, thus their influence can make or break a film. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was directed by Bryan Singer, a well established director that has been shuffled around Hollywood, making various blockbuster films for over 10 years. Singer himself identifies as “quite bisexual” (Boardman) and has had a history of dating men and women, so he seemed like an adequate candidate for tackling the complex story of Freddie Mercury and his fluid sexuality. Singer was actually only present for 3/4ths of the films production, before he was kicked off of set for “bad behaviour” which included throwing a piece of electrical equipment out of rage, repeated lates and absences and creating an overall tumultuous experience for the actors and crew involved (Masters). Regardless of being fired, he still retained his directorial credit and made 40 million dollars off the film (Kit, et al.). Not long after the films release, though, Singer’s past allegations came back to light. A series of lawsuits have been filed against Singer since 1997 accusing him of a slew of inappropriate interactions with various young boys, ranging from 14 to 17, including rape (Potter, et al). Like many powerful men in the Hollywood machine, he managed to continue working despite these allegations being public record. He was hired to create a piece easily consumed by a straight audience that lightly touches on the uncomfortable truths of Freddie Mercury’s legacy just enough to create a sympathetic narrative, but not enough to confront an audience that has little to no education on LGBTQ+ people and their struggles. Bohemian Rhapsody is a product of mainstream media and aims to appeal to the largest number of paying customers, letting bi+ people and Freddie Mercury’s story suffer at the films expense. Bohemian Rhapsody was created in an attempt to bait queer audiences but with no intention to empower them, or to push any boundary that would dare to make an average theater-goer question their own prejudices and morals. Straight people leave Bohemian Rhapsody feeling as if they are better allies, when in fact they only appreciate a diluted expression of queerness. It is a film created with the goal to make as much money as possible, and convince the audience that they have an even a miniscule understanding. First and foremost, Bohemian Rhapsody is a product, and a symptom of consumerism and Hollywood greed, ignorance of predators and sexual misconduct and denying fluidity to avoid alienation of the common straight viewer.
Most media portrayals of Bi+ people in mainstream media have been less than ideal, but Bohemian Rhapsody serves as a perfect and current example of denying the identities of sexually fluid people and refusing to acknowledge anything that defies the binary. Representation is so important because the media has the power to shift public opinion, and creating positive portrayals of disenfranchised groups has a history of creating a more accepting culture. Bi+ Erasure continues to be a substantial roadblock in the quest for positive, nuanced, and expressive media representation.
