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If you haven’t seen the latest iteration of the Fast and the Furious franchise, you are somehow missing out on everything all at once. As has been stated in an earlier review, the newest installment, Fast X, is bigger, faster, and, heck, even more car-packed than previous entries. However, the problem is that it is also more homophobic.
In the new movie, Jason Momoa stars as Dante Reyes, the Portuguese son of former Fast Five villain, Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). Almeida first made his appearance as the then-antagonist in Fast Five when the Fast family stole his safe and took it on an excursion through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, likely killing a bystander or two. Now, following Almeida’s late character, Momoa’s performance can easily be deemed exceptional, yet campy and charming.
Momoa plays the maniacal Reyes with the intensity of Heath Ledger’s Joker and the subtle corniness of every Schwarzenegger villain circa 1985–1990. Where things get weird, however, is when Momoa, the writers, or both, throw in a dash of queer coding to make Reyes that much more “menacing.”
For those new to the term, “queer coding” is when a character is played as fitting the stereotypical trappings of being LGBTQ+ without the connection ever being made explicit. Further, queer coding in particular seems to occur most frequently when the character is meant to be a strange, villainous “other.” Think Jafar from Aladdin being depicted as an eyeliner-wearing, primly dressed sorcerer placed opposite a plucky, makeup-free street urchin modeled more like a California surfer bro. Think Scar from The Lion King being given more effeminate mannerisms, a lithe figure, and arched eyebrows as opposed to Mufuasa and an adult Simba being broader in physique and stereotypically coming off as distinctly more masculine. Heck, think Ursula of The Little Mermaid being modeled after drag queen Divine. And of course, Disney is not the only company to have engaged in this practice (although they really seem to enjoy doing it); they are just a part of a larger problem — our view that queerness, homosexuality, or anything that runs against heteronormativity is creepy, weird, or scary.
Enter Jason Momoa.
Now, to say Momoa plays Reyes as queer-coded is not a stretch. Just a brief glance at reviews will reveal some interesting word choices. Vanity Fair applauds Momoa’s “flamboyant” take on the character. Forbes similarly uses the very same word. And The Verge notes that Reyes’ wildness “smacks more of gay panic” than anything. “Flamboyant,” of course, could be applied to straight people as well as queer people, but when the character, like Momoa’s, is the only male character in the film to don pig-tails while he paints his toenails and the nails of two male corpses he has propped up next to him, then, well, “flamboyant” just seems like a polite euphemism.
People that have seen Fast X will likely point out that Momoa’s character is never shown to be attracted to other men (although one wonders what ended up happening with those spa-day corpses) and, indeed, that Reyes only ever flirts with Isabel (Daniela Melchior), a woman who does not reciprocate his feelings. But the thing about subtext is that it’s, you know, subtext. It is a point made at the periphery of stated intention. At its best it is meant to evoke a feeling in an audience without insulting their intelligence by spelling out every single intention behind a work of art. At its worst, whether done consciously or not by an artist, subtext can lead audiences to a series of harmful equations like “nail polish + man = bad,” or “long hair + outlandish style = strange,” or, most interestingly, “atheist = villain.”
I bring up this last issue because it underlies the main conflict in Fast X; while all the main heroes like Dom (Vin Diesel), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), or their son Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) reiterate that they “have faith,” Reyes is presented as explicitly atheist in a monologue where he explains that he was legally dead for two minutes and saw nothing. As a result of this experience, he seemingly “lost” faith, and he has become a nihilistic terrorist since.
So, on one hand, we have the faithful, family-oriented group wherein “family” implies a mom, a dad, and children surrounded by a loving network of other equally straight, equally faithful mommies, daddies, and children. On the other hand, we have the “flamboyant” atheist-terrorist who literally tries to blow up the Vatican at one point while doing a sacrilegious Christ-like pose. I lied — it’s not subtext. It’s overtext. It’s beating us over the head with several points, and it really just won’t stop. Add to this that Dom’s crucifix necklace becomes the currency various characters exchange with one another to show that they, too, have “faith” and that Reyes explicitly taunts Dom for trying to be a “saint” who must perform miracles to save his only begotten son. All these factors combine to result in a film so wildly anti-queer in its effect that Mel Gibson making Satan a hairless, effeminate weirdo actually comes off as subtle.
Now, none of this is to say that Jason Momoa or the screenwriters set out to revitalize a harmful trope that was on the decline. Likely, homophobia is so ingrained in our society that, in order to make a character truly villainous or “other-ized,” they must seemingly flow against the currents of our social order. That means foes who are presented as “queer,” in every sense of the word, are usually done so with an emphasis on the sexual connotation of the word.
Yes, Fast X is a big-budget Corona and car commercial that probably spent about a week or so really working out its script beyond getting its characters in position to set up parts two and three, but that doesn’t mean it’s beyond criticism. The Fast movies have combined to make a $7 billion franchise; that means, however silly they are, they are getting millions of views, and often those views are children who are soaking up the themes these films impart. If the theme is “gay atheists want to destroy the world,” that’s a huge problem, and the overly stereotypical push of queer misconceptions in the film is an understatement. Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes is a harsh example of a meltdown when it comes to adequate LGBTQ+ representation.
Fast X is currently in theaters.
If you haven’t seen the latest iteration of the Fast and the Furious franchise, you are somehow missing out on everything all at once. As has been stated in an earlier review, the newest installment, Fast X, is bigger, faster, and, heck, even more car-packed than previous entries. However, the problem is that it is also more homophobic.
In the new movie, Jason Momoa stars as Dante Reyes, the Portuguese son of former Fast Five villain, Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). Almeida first made his appearance as the then-antagonist in Fast Five when the Fast family stole his safe and took it on an excursion through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, likely killing a bystander or two. Now, following Almeida’s late character, Momoa’s performance can easily be deemed exceptional, yet campy and charming.
Momoa plays the maniacal Reyes with the intensity of Heath Ledger’s Joker and the subtle corniness of every Schwarzenegger villain circa 1985–1990. Where things get weird, however, is when Momoa, the writers, or both, throw in a dash of queer coding to make Reyes that much more “menacing.”
For those new to the term, “queer coding” is when a character is played as fitting the stereotypical trappings of being LGBTQ+ without the connection ever being made explicit. Further, queer coding in particular seems to occur most frequently when the character is meant to be a strange, villainous “other.” Think Jafar from Aladdin being depicted as an eyeliner-wearing, primly dressed sorcerer placed opposite a plucky, makeup-free street urchin modeled more like a California surfer bro. Think Scar from The Lion King being given more effeminate mannerisms, a lithe figure, and arched eyebrows as opposed to Mufuasa and an adult Simba being broader in physique and stereotypically coming off as distinctly more masculine. Heck, think Ursula of The Little Mermaid being modeled after drag queen Divine. And of course, Disney is not the only company to have engaged in this practice (although they really seem to enjoy doing it); they are just a part of a larger problem — our view that queerness, homosexuality, or anything that runs against heteronormativity is creepy, weird, or scary.
Enter Jason Momoa.
Now, to say Momoa plays Reyes as queer-coded is not a stretch. Just a brief glance at reviews will reveal some interesting word choices. Vanity Fair applauds Momoa’s “flamboyant” take on the character. Forbes similarly uses the very same word. And The Verge notes that Reyes’ wildness “smacks more of gay panic” than anything. “Flamboyant,” of course, could be applied to straight people as well as queer people, but when the character, like Momoa’s, is the only male character in the film to don pig-tails while he paints his toenails and the nails of two male corpses he has propped up next to him, then, well, “flamboyant” just seems like a polite euphemism.
People that have seen Fast X will likely point out that Momoa’s character is never shown to be attracted to other men (although one wonders what ended up happening with those spa-day corpses) and, indeed, that Reyes only ever flirts with Isabel (Daniela Melchior), a woman who does not reciprocate his feelings. But the thing about subtext is that it’s, you know, subtext. It is a point made at the periphery of stated intention. At its best it is meant to evoke a feeling in an audience without insulting their intelligence by spelling out every single intention behind a work of art. At its worst, whether done consciously or not by an artist, subtext can lead audiences to a series of harmful equations like “nail polish + man = bad,” or “long hair + outlandish style = strange,” or, most interestingly, “atheist = villain.”
I bring up this last issue because it underlies the main conflict in Fast X; while all the main heroes like Dom (Vin Diesel), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), or their son Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) reiterate that they “have faith,” Reyes is presented as explicitly atheist in a monologue where he explains that he was legally dead for two minutes and saw nothing. As a result of this experience, he seemingly “lost” faith, and he has become a nihilistic terrorist since.
So, on one hand, we have the faithful, family-oriented group wherein “family” implies a mom, a dad, and children surrounded by a loving network of other equally straight, equally faithful mommies, daddies, and children. On the other hand, we have the “flamboyant” atheist-terrorist who literally tries to blow up the Vatican at one point while doing a sacrilegious Christ-like pose. I lied — it’s not subtext. It’s overtext. It’s beating us over the head with several points, and it really just won’t stop. Add to this that Dom’s crucifix necklace becomes the currency various characters exchange with one another to show that they, too, have “faith” and that Reyes explicitly taunts Dom for trying to be a “saint” who must perform miracles to save his only begotten son. All these factors combine to result in a film so wildly anti-queer in its effect that Mel Gibson making Satan a hairless, effeminate weirdo actually comes off as subtle.
Now, none of this is to say that Jason Momoa or the screenwriters set out to revitalize a harmful trope that was on the decline. Likely, homophobia is so ingrained in our society that, in order to make a character truly villainous or “other-ized,” they must seemingly flow against the currents of our social order. That means foes who are presented as “queer,” in every sense of the word, are usually done so with an emphasis on the sexual connotation of the word.
Yes, Fast X is a big-budget Corona and car commercial that probably spent about a week or so really working out its script beyond getting its characters in position to set up parts two and three, but that doesn’t mean it’s beyond criticism. The Fast movies have combined to make a $7 billion franchise; that means, however silly they are, they are getting millions of views, and often those views are children who are soaking up the themes these films impart. If the theme is “gay atheists want to destroy the world,” that’s a huge problem, and the overly stereotypical push of queer misconceptions in the film is an understatement. Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes is a harsh example of a meltdown when it comes to adequate LGBTQ+ representation.
Fast X is currently in theaters.
There was nobody like her. An unstoppable force, one of the fiercest performers of our time, Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, has passed away at 83-years-old.
It was that trademark alto voice that could detonate at any time on stage, her strong cheekbones and magnetic smile, and those legendary legs; more than 150 million records sold nationwide; 12 Grammys; honored at the Kennedy Center; etched in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her life became the basis for the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It, the HBO documentary Tina in 2021, and a Broadway musical that she called her public farewell.
Tina Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock, grew up in Nutbush, Tennessee, where the population just inches over 10,000 people. Performing came naturally for Turner, as she explained in her 2019 autobiography Tina Turner: My Love Story. She describes music-filled shopping adventures — being 4 or 5 years old and being paid by salesgirls to sing radio songs she had memorized — and the excitement of leading her cousins, half-sister Evelyn, and sister Alline in pretend stage shows.
At the age of 16, Turner moved to St. Louis, Missouri, with her mother and sister Alline. She began going to Club Manhattan where she first met Ike Turner. As depicted in What’s Love Got to Do with It, one night she joined Ike and his group on stage for an impromptu performance of B.B. King’s You Know I Love You, and well, the rest is history.
There’s been no secret about the abuse, both personally and professionally, that Turner endured at the hands of Ike Turner. She was one of the first celebrities to speak publicly about domestic abuse. “Looking back, I realize that my relationship with Ike was doomed the day he figured out that I was going to be his meal ticket, his moneymaker,” Turner wrote in My Love Story. She described how she was a last-minute replacement to sing on A Fool in Love — which became their first hit in 1960 — and was impressive enough that a record label executive told Ike to make Tina the group’s focal point. “What went through Ike’s head when he heard that advice?” she said. “He had to find a way to protect his interests, and that’s when the trouble began.”
Turner was forthcoming about the years of emotional and physical abuse, as well as being financially ruined by her 20-year relationship with Ike Turner. She described bruised eyes, busted lips, a broken jaw, and other injuries that frequently sent her to the hospital. She lost everything, including her money. Yet, in her forties, at a time when most of her musical peers were winding down their careers, Turner reinvented her image, and her life.
In 1984, her solo album Private Dancer was released. At the time, MTV music videos were new and a staple for artists, if they wanted any kind of exposure. It was all about the visual. It was the video for What’s Love Got to Do with It that reintroduced us to Turner’s greatness. She called love a “second-hand emotion,” as she did that signature strut through New York City streets, with spiky blonde hair, a cropped jean jacket, mini skirt, and stiletto heels. Hello!
Other hits on that album — Better Be Good to Me, Let’s Stay Together, and Private Dancer — all reminded us that Turner was a force to be reckoned with. The album solidified that she could not be denied; could not be ignored; and was not under Ike’s thumb anymore.
In 1985, she co-starred in the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which blessed us with another hit song, We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome). Her light just kept shining, even after her 50th anniversary tour. We can’t forget that Proud Mary performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards with Beyoncé, which has been circulating on social media since word of Turner’s passing. Looking back, it was as if Turner were passing the torch to the next generation. Queen Bey clearly understood the assignment.
What I love about Tina Turner is that second-act in her forties. It’s truly a masterclass for women, particularly Black creative women, as we often doubt ourselves once we’ve reached a certain age. We measure our level of success based on what we’ve been through. We give up dreams and goals because we think we’re too old. We wait for society to inform us when or if we can be relevant. We listen when told we should just have a seat and be quiet. Tina Turner showed us that our stories never stop being written; we can find the strength to reinvent, restart, and be triumphant in our own right.
As we celebrate Tina Turner’s incredible life, her legacy is not one of victimhood. She’s an example of how a little Black girl from Nutbush, Tennessee, came to own her truth in the midst of pain and trauma to become the woman she was meant to be. Her legacy is that of countless awards and accolades, for sure. But we will remember how we have been changed by her resilience, fortitude, and unmatched talent. We are grateful that we had the honor and opportunity to witness such a force in our lifetime. Tina Turner will always be simply the best.
Sony’s PlayStation Showcase this year came with some big announcements. Most prominently, a new streaming service and PlayStation’s first official wireless earbuds. Project Q will be a dedicated device launching later in the year. It will allow you to play any compatible1 game installed on your PS5 console using Remote Play over Wi-Fi2. The device will deliver crisp visuals and smooth gameplay streamed from your PS5 when you’re away from your TV. All the buttons and features of the DualSense wireless controller, including adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, are featured on the device3.
They also revealed PlayStation’s first-ever official wireless earbuds. Launching later this year, the earbuds will feature new wireless technology developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment and will deliver lossless audio with low latency for a high-quality audio experience. These will bring next-generation audio immersion to PS5 along with PC, and feature connectivity to smartphones via Bluetooth. Sony will reveal more details over the next few months. You can see the first images above. And below is an official statement from SIE president Jim Ryan about these new reveals:
“Our fans expect and deserve a steady cadence of amazing content. Today’s presentation demonstrates our unwavering commitment to offering them the best and most varied catalog of games possible. It also highlights the tremendous popularity and power of the PS5 as the global development community rallies to push its advanced capabilities to the limit. We’re investing heavily in the future with innovative best-in-class hardware like PlayStation VR2 and the newly revealed Project Q, and our expansion into PC, Mobile, and Live Service gaming is transforming how and where our content can be enjoyed.”
We expect Sony Interactive Entertainment to reveal much more in the coming months.
The post Sony Announces New PlayStation Handheld and First Wireless Earbuds appeared first on Nerdist.