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Event Website
https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-2024.htm
Start Date
2-17-2024 1:00 PM
End Date
2-17-2024 1:50 PM
Description
A decade after its finale, online fandoms have started labeling Merlin (2008-2012) as “date your bully 101” (theroundbartable), a story written by people “giving each other blowjobs while they talk about how much they deserve servants” (vhagarswattle). In light of the most recent models of queer representation, such takes are to be expected. Even so, Merlin is not a mere case of “hoyay” (Kohnen 201-2012) nor does it engage in queerbaiting or use the “Bury Your Gays” trope. The text is tied to the socio-political landscape of the late 2000s which serves as foundation for the show’s tragedy and, although Merlin disavows happiness, it does not disavow queerness. Within the show, magic is used to identify the ‘queer other.’ Its illegality becomes the point of convergence of all tensions and allows Merlin to blur the lines between outsiders and insiders. This results in the lack of subversion of the status quo and the audience’s complicity with Merlin (Colin Morgan) and his self-serving attempts to stop Morgana (Katie McGrath). It follows that this paper aims to reassess the queer politics in Merlin using an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on the varieties of queer experiences which remain valid and representative even now.
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Closeted Gays Take Hide, a Lamia Has Been Untied: BBC Merlin and Queer Experiences Beyond Queer Joy
A decade after its finale, online fandoms have started labeling Merlin (2008-2012) as “date your bully 101” (theroundbartable), a story written by people “giving each other blowjobs while they talk about how much they deserve servants” (vhagarswattle). In light of the most recent models of queer representation, such takes are to be expected. Even so, Merlin is not a mere case of “hoyay” (Kohnen 201-2012) nor does it engage in queerbaiting or use the “Bury Your Gays” trope. The text is tied to the socio-political landscape of the late 2000s which serves as foundation for the show’s tragedy and, although Merlin disavows happiness, it does not disavow queerness. Within the show, magic is used to identify the ‘queer other.’ Its illegality becomes the point of convergence of all tensions and allows Merlin to blur the lines between outsiders and insiders. This results in the lack of subversion of the status quo and the audience’s complicity with Merlin (Colin Morgan) and his self-serving attempts to stop Morgana (Katie McGrath). It follows that this paper aims to reassess the queer politics in Merlin using an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on the varieties of queer experiences which remain valid and representative even now.
