What the Reaction to Bros got Wrong
UNIVERSALThe push for diversity both on screen and behind the camera has been a hot topic for the world of cinema over the last few decades. While underground and coded expressions of diversity has been around since the start of the art form, it has only been recently that the mainstream zeitgeist has truly embraced the concept of diverse voices with progress still being made every year. One of the many spectrums of diversity to get this call to action is the LGBTQ+ community. LGBTQ+ voices have been a constant throughout the history of film yet queer stories consistently lacked. If queer voices wanted to tell queer stories, the messages and emotions had to be hidden a coded which can be seen in features like James Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein. When queer stories were finally more accepted on the big screen, many of the major studio features would tend to follow the same frustrating pattern. Either the actors or the filmmakers, or often both, would be straight and the story typically ended in tragedy. This became a tired trope that saw backlash and thought pieces with many asking for better representation. This conversation naturally grew and in 2022, there was Bros.
Being touted as history in the making, Bros is one of the first gay romance films from a major studio to feature an openly LGBTQ+ principal cast and comes as a passion project for star and writer Billy Eichner. Featuring a modern gay love story with focuses on the larger scars and triumphs of the LGTBQ+ community, Bros seemingly had everything needed to be a massive hit and celebration of a culture rarely seen this openly on the big screen. Upon release, Bros took a very different narrative however as the film bombed at the box office and Twitter came together to crap on Eichner for his comments that stated the film bombed largely due to homophobia in audiences that didn't turn out to see the film.
This is a complex statement that obviously has some basis in reality. It is no secret that homophobia runs deep within the core of American society and it shouldn't be shocking that plenty refused to see the film due to this content. This is, after all, the same country that saw protests due a background scene with two men dancing together in 2017's Beauty and the Beast, with some theaters even pulling the film because of this one instance of background queer representation. While it might not have been the only factor, to say that this bias played no part in Bros' lackluster box office performance is utterly ridiculous.
Still, the narrative formed with even major publications and news sources demonizing Eichner's words as carrying the wrong message. The Los Angeles Times even used the headline "The real lesson of ‘Bros’: It’s OK to let gay art bomb" in an article where writer Matt Brennan goes on to call Bros and Eichner arrogant. The thesis regarding one of the first major mainstream LGBTQ+ stories that highlight queer voices is that it should have failed and that it was wrong to celebrate its own existence.
This message immediately felt troublesome. Just a year after many claimed The Power of the Dog, a queer film that ends in tragedy made by a straight director and straight actors, should win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, Bros has become the villain when it comes to cinematic queer representation. This frustrating sense of progress and acceptance is ironically a massive part of the identity within Bros. The feature in of itself makes a statement by structuring itself and basing itself within the romantic comedy cliches. Bros might highlight the uniqueness of the queer romantic experience, but it is also clearly trying to establish space that is not separated from heterosexual stories. It is a film that commands the room and claims that demands its voice gets heard. Bros directly calls out the lack of proper queer representation and draws clearly from Eichner's real experiences in trying to get his voice heard in an authentic sense.
This sense of ownership of storytelling and authentic emotions is, on paper, exactly what many claimed they wanted from diversity in cinema, so why is society so quick to let Bros flop and even celebrate its fall? The biggest fault of Eichner's statement is that it tries to give a clear answer. The truth is that there isn't a clear answer. Whether it is an uncomfortableness towards the queerness present within the feature or simply a desire to all join forces against a common enemy with the root narrative being formed from homophobic individuals who have problems with Eichner's political stands, something seen incredibly clearly in the replies to his tweet, there may never be a clear and direct answer. Regardless, this is one of the most frustrating conversations of the year.
I am a gay man. I have found myself moved deeply on screen by various features that reflect an authentic viewpoint that I share. Continually, it is clear that this power is found when there are queer creators creating a feature authentic to the queer experience. From Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name to Jonas Poher Rasmussen's Flee, these are poignant queer stories that have the power to change lives, they changed my life. Bros is one of those features. The soul of Bros, the heart of Bros, the emotions of Bros: these are all found within myself on a deeply personal level. When one says we should let Bros flop and fail, they are also saying they should let my story flop and fail. Yet this isn’t just my story. While there is no one type of queer narrative, and in no way do I intend to speak for others, there remains a population who share experiences with me.
I was a gay kid growing up with no one around me who was queer themselves or supportive of being queer. It was cinema that showed me who I could be, that made me feel ok with myself. To say gay art should be allowed to get ignored and allowed to be pushed under the rug is the same disease of ideals that has plagued Hollywood for centuries and make no mistake, it is the same plague that has cost queer individuals their lives. Suicide rates for LGBTQ+ youth are 4x higher than that of their peers. It is disgustingly normalized for queer individuals to go through times in their lives where they feel alone and alien to the world around them. While queer cinema isn't the final answer and while obviously the vast majority of those attacking Bros are not in the slightest purposefully playing into this, mainstream authentic queer representation genuinely has the power to save lives. It is fine to criticize queer media, but to villainize its existence is the opposite of what the world needs.
Beyond that, to say a gay individual cannot be proud or stand by their work is ridiculous. Specifically the straight audience and straight critics have tried to decide who can tell queer stories. To be honest, this conversation and these voices are something I cannot bear to value any longer. I am sick of having straight individuals try to tell my story. I am sick of having to validate and hear others claim to have a stake and understanding of my identity. I am sick of having to sit through award seasons watching those like Jane Campion get rewarded for telling lazy and bad stories of my love. Maybe like Eichner, this is me being arrogant and rude but I really couldn't care less at this point. Queerness and gayness are not things to play with to win Oscars or make straight actors kill each other on screen, it is a lived identity with complexions and emotions that deserve respect and authentic voices. Whether you love or hate Bros, one cannot argue that it accomplishes this task. For something like this to be attacked and allowed to be dragged through the mud like a meme when someone like David O'Russell can openly admit to sexually assaulting his transgender niece, yet have the narrative surrounding his film bombing be that it is a shame for the state of original cinema – honestly, fuck off.
Whether purposeful or not, the reaction to Bros specifically from the critical community has proven just how far this industry needs to go in terms of celebrating and promoting actual diversity. Maybe this is me being arrogant and bad, but this is my heart and soul and it is my job as a critic and as a human to stand for my heart and soul and I won’t apologize for that. Eichner shouldn’t have to either.
