Gayngst: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Despite the [[Have a Gay Old Time|traditional meaning]] of the word "gay," homosexual characters tend to be a miserable lot, and not by simple coincidence - their misery can be attributed largely to their sexuality or, more accurately, other people's attitudes towards it. In short, they don't just have angst, they have ''gayngst''.

* ''[[Aoi Hana]]'': Poor Fumi, {{spoiler|losing two love interests in a row to other men}}. She begs Akira not think of her as disgusting after she first comes out (confessing that she's dating another girl), and brings this up again after {{spoiler|Haruka asks Fumi for advice over her sister possibly being lesbian, which finally drives Fumi to confess to Akira}} at the end of volume 4. Ramped up considerably starting about the end of volume 3.

* Most of the time Shuichi from ''[[Gravitation]]'' is comfortable with being in love with another guy. Occasionally though, he really gets hit hard with Gayngst and worries quite a bit that his relationship with Yuki is doomed because they're both male.

* In ''[[My-HiME]]'', this is played for brutal effect with {{spoiler|Shizuru}}, whose facade slowly starts to crack late in the series, starting with abandoning her duties to protect Natsuki (whose powers are temporarily unusable) from Nao, then a stolen kiss in her love's sleep, and culminating with going full-blown [[Psycho Lesbian]] when her feelings are rejected. Natsuki's final declaration that even if she doesn't feel the way Shizuru hoped she would, she is happy that Shizuru loved her and also loves her in her own way, {{spoiler|combined with her causing both their Childs to be destroyed}} helps restore her sanity, though.

* In ''[[Finder Series]]'', [[Uke|Akihito]] angsts for a while after being raped by [[Seme|Asami]] and (maybe) [[Victim Falls For Rapist|enjoying it]].

* Misaki and Kawabata in ''[[Hana no Mizo Shiru]]''. Misaki wonders why he can't be attracted to women instead of men at the end of Chapter 8, and why, if he's going to fall for men, he was born a man himself. Losing Kawabata and, in his mind, Arikawa to women really hurt him (what he doesn't realize is that Arikawa already broke up his girlfriend in Chapter 5). Then there's Kawabata, who left Misaki and got a girlfriend because he knew a relationship with an underaged boy was not socially acceptable. {{spoiler|In Chapter 11 his true feelings for Misaki come out, and at the end of the chapter, he cancels he and his girlfriend's wedding preparations over the phone. He says he can "think for himself" now.}}

 

* Karolina Dean of Marvel's ''[[Runaways]]'' has a crush on her [[Incompatible Orientation|straight best friend Nico]], made out with a guy she'd just met [[I Just Want to Be Normal|because she wanted to feel "normal"]], and tried to commit [[Suicide by Cop|suicide by proxy]]. However, the fact that she's an alien and that her parents are supervillains probably adds to her angst.

* Renee's ex-girlfriend Katherine "Kate" Kane (a.k.a. [[Batwoman]]) had her own issues. [[Military Brat|The daughter of two career soldiers]], when her mother and twin-sister were killed during her childhood kidnapping Kate's sole dream was to follow in her parents' foot-steps in the army and somehow make a ''difference''. Accepted to the Military Academy at West Point, Kate actually became Cadet Captain and, in the estimation of her instructors, would go on to become a high-ranking, well-respected officer once she graduated...until rumors regarding her sexuality began to circulate around the campus. Army regulations require the discharge of any solider confirmed to be homosexual, and Kate's [[Honor Before Reason|refusal to lie about herself]] resulted in her being "[[Unusual Euphemism|separated]]" from the army, ending the only dream she has had since she was ten years old. It is only once she sees [[Batman]] after a hapless individual [[Mugging the Monster|attempts to steal her wallet]] that she sets a ''new'' goal for herself, and even then she still needs to deal with the criticism and rejection of her "family" and "friends" (pretty much everyone but her dad) from high-society.

* ''[[Watchmen]]'' has several minor gay characters, none of whom get happy endings.

** And then there's the Silhouette, who was kicked out of the Minutemen upon being outed, and Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis, who are strongly implied to have been secretly lovers. [[Bury Your Gays|All three are dead or missing]] [[Posthumous Character|before the story begins.]]

** Ozymandias is speculated to be gay by a few characters, and there are hints backing this up in the film version. While he doesn't seem particularly angst-filled, we learn later on that he's at least unhappy enough to be {{spoiler|pretty okay with mass-murder.}}

* An issue of ''[[Zot]]'' deals with Jenny's best friend Terry and her gradual realization that she's homosexual, engaging with this trope in the process—in particular, Terry at one point tearfully pleads with Zot to know whether, in his [[Utopia]]n superheroic 'world of the future!', she would be considered 'normal'. {{spoiler|She eventually hooks up with her friend Pam, who's own coming out of the closet was the trigger for Terry's identity issues on the subject, and appears relatively happy as a result.}}

* Billy Kaplan, aka Wiccan of the ''[[Young Avengers]]'', used to get bullied at school for being gay. Other than that, he and his boyfriend, Hulkling, avert this trope. None of their teammates seem to be fazed by their relationship, and Billy's parents are positively ''thrilled'' with it.

** Teddy had his own issues, with his own shapeshifting powers tying into a need to be like "the other guys" and a crush on a jock who mainly used him for his own needs.

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' is by far the most famous example of this trope from recent years.

* {{spoiler|Col. Fitts}} from ''[[American Beauty]]'' is particularly disturbing example of a self-loathing closet case.

* The 1961 Dirk Bogarde film ''Victim'' is positively overflowing with Gayngst.

* Gayngst would account for much of Kirill's issues in ''[[Eastern Promises]]'', along with being the son of a crime boss. He's a vicious, pitiful, self-loathing drunk, and very attached to Nikolai.

* In ''[[Across the Universe (film)|Across the Universe]]'', Prudence experiences this throughout the movie (the cover of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" practically screams this trope). In fact, she goes as far as to cover it up by getting herself a boyfriend who beats her, which then intertwines her into the lives of the other main characters.

* Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale's character) in ''[[Velvet Goldmine]]'' goes through a lot of this.

* Father Greg (Linus Roache) in the controversial ''Priest'' has this in spades.

* ''[[Bent]]'' was about a gay man posing as a Jewish man learning to come out of the closet while in a concentration camp.

* In ''Les roseaux sauvages'' (''Wild Reeds''), set in 1962, a 17-year-old boy realizing he's gay says "It's like a curse. I don't know why I'm landed with it." His female best friend tells him that a shoe salesman they know is living happily with his boyfriend.

* In ''[[Ma Vie en Rose]]'', a 7-year-old gender variant boy with a crush on another boy is misunderstood at every turn, tries to butch it up, fails, feels miserable and attempts suicide.

 

== Literature ==

* Andrew Holleran's novel ''Dancer From The Dance''.

* In Sarah Waters's novel ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]'', Kitty Butler suffers from this. Notably averted with most of Waters's other heroines, who deal with their lesbianism surprisingly well, given that most of them are [[Victorian Britain|Victorian women]].

*** The recent film adaption said "Screw Ambiguity!"

* Averting this is half the point of ''[[Annie on My Mind]]'', which ends [[Earn Your Happy Ending|well.]]

{{quote|But don't worry. This isn't one of those angst-filled books where I'm struggling to come to terms with what it all means. I've long since accepted it. I'm gay. I'm over it. There will be no endless, teary-eyed, internal dialogues. No tormented, sleepless nights. I am 100 percent at ease with who I am.}}

** It's debatable whether Bryan is really as well-adjusted as he pretends to be. Meanwhile, his [[Camp Gay|extremely flamboyant]] acquaintance, Marq, is out and proud despite having once been the victim of a gay bashing. {{spoiler|Bryan's main love interest spends most of the series deep in the closet, however.}}

* Exploring Gayngst in-depth and [[Earn Your Happy Ending|eventually overcoming it]] is arguably the whole point of E.M. Forster's ''[[Maurice]]''.

* [[Word of God]] says this may be the cause behind the entire plot of ''[[Fight Club (novel)|Fight Club]]''.

* Francesca Lia Block often addresses this in her novels, notably with Dirk and Duck in ''[[Weetzie Bat]]'', Griffin in ''I Was A Teenage Fairy'', and most recently Pace in ''The Frenzy''.

* Basil Hallward in ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]''.

 

== Live Action TV ==

'''Old Woman''': 'Cause most of us have more shame than pride. }}

* Riley from ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' hit on his best friend, then threatened to beat him up if he ever told anybody. Then he started popping steroids, believing it would turn him straight. He eventually came [[Canada, Eh?|oot]] almost by mistake by signing himself and Zane up for prom couple which was posted [[Everything Is Online|online]].

* Aaron Livesy from ''[[Emmerdale]]'' is the epitome of this trope.

* Nathan in the British (original) ''[[Queer as Folk]]'' was having a bit of a teenage Gayngst moment, when his best friend neatly deflated him: "I'm black! ''And'' I'm a girl. Try that for a week."

** In the episode "On My Own", {{spoiler|Karofsky}} gets hit with Gayngst [[Laser-Guided Karma]] full-on. He is outed, gets bullied in his new school and {{spoiler|tries to commit suicide as a result}}.

* ''[[Mad TV]]'' did a skit with Will Sasso as a gay plumber who constantly angsts about how gay he is and accuses his customers of prejudice even though they don't care.

** Sophie Webster and Sian Power are a pair of recently outed lesbians. Claire Peacock outed them in front of the entire street and they ended up running away to get away from gossip. However Sophie's family were actually quite supportive of them once they adjusted so they don't have too much besides the typical teenage angst.

** Sean Tully is a notable aversion, probably because the writers have realised that viewers [[Creator's Pet|won't actually feel sorry for him if anything bad happens to him]].

 

== Music ==

* "Sing If You're Glad To Be Gay" by the Tom Robinson Band.

* John Lennon admitted that [[The Beatles]]' "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", which he wrote, is something of a Gayngst ode to their manager, Brian Epstein, who was gay and not unfamiliar with the real life issues inherent in this trope.

* "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I30H7mhfLe8 Viðrar vel til loftárása]" by [[Sigur Rós]]. Although the lyrics are pretty [[Singing Simlish|indechiperable]] both the music video and the melody made it pretty clear that the song is this trope

* "Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat.

 

== Theater ==

* ''bare: a pop opera'' is all about gayngsty Catholic schoolboys.

* Martha of ''[[The Children's Hour]]'' goes into a terrible crisis and kills herself upon realising she is in love with her friend Karen.

 

== Visual Novels ==

* In ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'', it is revealed that {{spoiler|Misha}} is gay, and made a [[Love Confession]] to her object of affection, {{spoiler|Shizune,}} who rejected the confession (most likely due to [[Incompatible Orientation]]) but offered continued friendship, causing her a great deal of pain, especially when Hisao begins a relationship with {{spoiler|Shizune}}. {{spoiler|Misha}} also implies that she was bullied for being gay in the past.

 

* ''[[Khaos Komix]]'', as a teen drama with a [[Cast Full of Gay]], pretty much runs on this trope: Steve has internalized Jamie's homophobia enough that he wrestles with the idea of being gay; Mark knows his parents have already disowned his brother for, among many other things, his homosexuality; Amber is frightened of the controversy, and her mother, although accepting of Steve and Mark, is less so with Amber, {{spoiler|because she's frightened for her safety...and speaking from experience}}; Nay casually accepts her own bisexuality, but she's seeing Amber; Murfs had a basically pansexual upbringing, but as a child, ran headlong into Jamie's [[Freudian Excuse]], which left him reflexively homophobic until he met Tom; Tom, a transman (by definition, a source of angst in its own right), is afraid of letting Murfs know, much less sleeping with him, for fear of being seen as a woman; and Charlie, a transwoman, has started an outright dangerous relationship with the homophobic Jamie. Still, it looks like the token straight Jamie's story [[Freudian Excuse|might be the angstiest of all]]. Of course, there have also been hints that Jamie [[Armoured Closet Gay|isn't as straight as he claims to be.]]

* Justin from ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' has reason enough to gayngst with the bullying at school and his ex-best friend turning into an aggravating [[Stalker with a Crush]]. However he can also be a little ''too'' eager to have this, as shown by his accusing the others of [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-12-19 leaving him out of the rescue team] because he's gay during the Painted Black arc (shortly before realizing the team consisted of [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|a homosexual, a bisexual]], and a [[Single-Target Sexuality|Teddsexual]]) and his muttering that the universe was [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-11-04 plotting against him] when he was informed of ''Elliot's'' having to [[Gender Bender|turn into a girl]] due to [[Power Incontinence]].

** {{spoiler|Nanase}} also has to go through this and come to terms with {{spoiler|her}} sexuality. {{spoiler|Ellen, the [[Opposite Gender Clone]] of Elliot}} goes through it too. Hell, even {{spoiler|Tedd has to deal with angst due to a fear of being gay, even though he isn't}}!

* Vinci from ''[[Vinci and Arty]]'' exhibits this trope often, especially when the couple's more conservative neighbours show off their discontent for the homosexual duo.

 

== Web Original ==

* A major part of the prolecto series. In fact, this trope is why one character goes from "Good" to "Neutral. The story starts here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6721353/

 

== Western Animation ==

* Pleakley from ''[[Lilo & Stitch: The Series]]'' is a kind of [[subtext]]ual example. Apparently his girliness and refusal to get married are some of the main reasons he's the black sheep of his family. It's not stated outright that he's gay, but it's either that or he thinks [[Girls Have Cooties]], and the marriage thing is eventually resolved when he marries Jumba, his male friend, who was [[Disguised in Drag]] for the occasion, and [[Ho Yay|they both seem very content with getting married.]]

** Or maybe he didn't the arranged marriage his family put him through.

 

== Real Life ==