Much like the familiar “sissy stereotype” of early Hollywood, the idea of the evil gay has been one of queer representation’s longest-living bugaboos. And—much like the villains the trope spawned—it’s been strangely hard to kill. There’s just something about an evil gay that scratches a certain representational itch every single time.
Which is why we’re pretty lucky to be living in something of a gay representation golden age. In the past, the complaint about evil gays in film wasn’t that these villains weren’t fabulous and often the most interesting part of any film they appeared in. It was that, in the absence of good or even neutral gay representation, they painted a biased, depressing picture of queer people as having two personality options: being evil, or being pathetic.
RelatedBefore we had any other representation, we had the “sissies”
Today, we have so many different kinds of queer representation onscreen. We have romantic comedy gays and pick-me gays and gym gays and silly gays and asexual gays and Regency gays. Which means we can appreciate our modern queer villains for the fantastic characters they truly are.
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Perhaps no celebration feels as ecstatic as a recent supercut made by the account Film Laundromat on TikTok. Scored perfectly to Charli XCX’s 365, the cut gives us our full and absolute life through glimpses of Jodie Comer’s sapphic icon Villanelle, Interview With the Vampire‘s toxic couple Louis and Lestat, and even a nod to OG gay villain Judith Anderson in Rebecca. It’s glorious!
We, too, would like to thank all the evil gays. Where would we be without them? More importantly: where would we pull our entire personality from?
“The santana clip really elevates this edit,” one commenter said, referring to Naya Rivera’s incredible portrayal of the iconic Glee lesbian. We get Megan Fox from Jennifer’s Body, Amandla Stenberg from Bodies Bodies Bodies, Jinx Monsoon as Maestro from Doctor Who, and Gustavo Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Not to mention icon gay villains from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope to The Little Mermaid’s Ursula!
Basically, it’s one of the finest 19 seconds of film ever compiled, and we’re eternally grateful for its existence. Because in this house, we support gay rights AND gay wrongs!