It appears they won’t be able to escape accusations of queerbaiting (a practice used by screenwriters or media producers to attract the attention of a queer audience through “homoerotic allusions, jokes and symbols suggesting a relationship”). non-heterosexual relationship between two characters, which is subsequently refuted and denigrated.
Korean Action Film ‘Escape’ Director Lee Jong Pil Is Slammed by Fans for His Response to Whether Song Kang and Koo Kyo Hwan’s Characters Lee Hyunsang and Seon Woomin Were in a Queer Romance .
Thanks to Song Kang’s appearance, ‘Escape’ was praised by fans who interpreted the subtle glances between him and Kyo Hwan as being full of desire and romance, with many seeing it as a possible representation of the LGBT+ community.
However, during a recent interview, director Lee stated that he did not intend to code the relationship between the two characters as queer.
Lee explained that when he creates, he thinks about how to connect with the audience with his characters, but he didn’t want the audience to perceive them specifically as queer. He added that he initially considered writing a female role for Kyo Hwan, but ultimately changed it to a male character after careful consideration.
Lee continued by saying, “What is the relationship between this person and Lee Hyunsang (Kyo Hwan)? As a director who aims for a “subtraction” film with many empty [narrative] spaces, I hope the audience can fill in the answer to this question. Therefore, I do not want to specify [the relationship] in detail. I thought this was an ambiguous area that shouldn’t be revealed, so I removed it from the plot. »
The director’s response received backlash from fans, who claimed it was a classic example of queerbaiting.
“Am I the only person tired of this ‘leave it to your interpretation’ because you either give us a cannon or you stop, it’s getting really old. »
am i the only person who’s so tired of this “leave it up to your interpretation” bc either give us cannon or just stop its getting so old https://t.co/q5K7DhJcoo
“Replacing the original female character with a male character for ‘impact’ and then switching back once people start creating a romantic narrative is a way of stating that you were queerbaiting. »
replacing the original female character wa male character for “impact” but then backtracking on it once ppl start creating a romantic narrative, that’s one way to declare you were queerbaiting. https://t.co/uf6y0aVsGQ
“I’m not surprised they wouldn’t make the character overtly queer and I suspected it would be more subtle, but reading ‘I didn’t intend to code as queer’ is a bit .«
hmm while I’m not surprised they wouldn’t make the character openly queer and I kinda guessed it’d be more subtle reading “I did not intend to be queer-coded” is bit 😬 https://t.co/vaNwD2lat0
