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Recently the trailer for Dear Evan Hansen abandoned online and the internet was abuzz with emotions. Some people were excited, some people confused, and some felt a lot of different things.
One topic of conversation surrounding the trailer was the fact that many thought Evan Hansen was gay. (In this article, I will be using the term “queer” to describe the LGBTQ + community because as a queer person I feel comfortable with the term). An article, now not found online, describes Dear Evan Hansen like a gay musical. This article has sparked outrage from many people because there is nothing weird about Dear Evan Hansen. The only time anything strange is mentioned on the show is during “Sincerely, Me” with the lines “Our friendship goes beyond / your average bond type / but not because we’re gay”. Nothing else in the series discusses or mentions anything related to homosexuality or homosexuality. So why is this considered a gay musical?
The main argument of why Dear Evan Hansen is considered a queer musical seems to be due to the show’s audience that prompted their wish that the characters of Evan Hansen and Connor Murphy were together, even though Evan is in love with Connor’s sister, Zoe. I believe because of that people who have never seen or listened to the musical before assumed this ship was hot. Why do people talk more about the queer little moment in Dear Evan Hansen than discussing musicals with real LGBTQ + representation?
The most recent gay musical I can think of is Prom. It made its Broadway debut in October 2018 and ended in August 2019. This musical, while being funny, heartwarming, and backed by an incredible cast, has never reached the level of popularity some believe it to be. she should have. For years people have said they want more lesbian musicals, something that Prom at. This raises the question of why Prom has never been touted as the modern queer musical. Is it because it’s a lesbian musical and the love story isn’t about two men?
On the Internet, especially on some social media sites, gay male characters are more accepted and praised by people than lesbian characters. This fetishization of queer men has contributed to the rise of pseudo-relationships, like that of Evan and Connor in Dear Evan Hansen on hot lesbian relationships like Emma and Alyssa in Prom.
The queer representation is that any form of media is incredibly important, but we should support actual queer representation more than the non-queer characters we wish to be gay. I hope that in the future queer stories will be told, shared and enjoyed like any other story.
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