Vid: Straightening Up the House, Marvel Comics and Films

[eruthros]

Title: Straightening Up the House
Fandom: Marvel comics and films
Song: Straightening Up the House by Romanovsky and Phillips (from "Emotional Rollercoaster," released in 1988)
Length: 4:00
Contains: No standard content notes. Queer erasure. Suicidal ideation (in comics speech bubbles). Opens with a terrible James Gunn interview.
Summary: Commemorating more than ten years of queer characters (not) appearing in Marvel films.

This is my premiere for the wiscon_vidparty! I have been thinking of making an angry vid like this about the translation of comics to films and tv for a long time, and I happened upon this amazingly perfect song last year. I had a lot of ... fun? trying to combine comics and films (I initially was doing some comparison panels that did video and comics side by side that just did not work) plus trying to combine lyrics + comics dialogue + title cards.

Thanks so much to thingswithwings for making this vid what it is - her beta work was invaluable.

Also, kuwdora made the motion text in the opening credits - this was so so helpful, because I didn't have to figure out how to do it or what it should look like (my brief was, like, "here's the music, something about text getting less rainbowy") and also, once someone else had made credits for me, I was committed to the vid and couldn't give up when it got infuriating.

Most comics footage in the vid is titled with character names, but if there's anything you want to hear more about I would be happy to tell you where it's from or the context of the panels.

Download: Straightening Up the House, 68 MB, 1280x720
Subtitles: Straightening Up the House subtitles

Streaming version:

Interview + Lyrics:
James Gunn:
You know, somebody asked me, you know, will there be any gay characters in, you know, Marvel movies? And, what - what I, you know, what I meant is, there's a lot of characters in the MCU, and very few of them have we delved into what their sexuality is, whether it's gay, or straight, or bisexual, we don't really know. Um, so I imagine that there are probably, you know, gay characters in the Marvel universe, you know, we just don't know who they are yet.

Romanovsky and Phillips
Today I took the nudes down off the wall
Ten minutes after I received her telephone call
She'll be here Friday morning so there's not much time to clean
Better hide the Advocate and Mandate magazine
We'll redecorate the guest room so it looks like it's been used
Separate our wardrobes or she'll really be confused
Then get ready for a lonely week of sleeping on the couch
We're straightening up the house

Tomorrow I will put away your gay pride shirts
And our Halloween assortment of jewelry, pumps, and skirts
Then pack up all the books by Quentin Crisp and Rita Mae
And the "His & His" towels that you bought me yesterday
And you'd better hide the albums by that lesbian group
She has no ear for music, but she has been known to snoop
And remember not to kiss me, just forget that you're my spouse
Straightening up the house

The snapshots of the two of us in Spain will have to go
Don't tell me this is totally insane, because I know
And I cannot wear the wristwatch with our names engraved in gold
The one that says "I love you, John, with all my heart and soul."

This is our first Christmas here in our new home
In a hostile world, it's our only safety zone
I never should have promised I'd continue with this lie
But Dad was so certain if she found out she would die
But if it's killing anyone I think it's killing me
'Cause it tears me up inside to hide my true identity
And asking you to help me makes me feel like such a louse

I'm thirty-two years old, why am I acting like a mouse?
I'm a man and he's my lover
If she freaks out she'll recover
Come on and help me to just clean the house!

Comments

[harpers_child]

Yes. This. I really liked the rundown of all the queers in comics at the end. Nice way to cap it all off.

[eruthros]

Thank you!

[happydork]

This is a masterpiece I wish didn’t exist. What a perfect and effective set of gut punches — and that ending, wow. This is amazing, you’re amazing, but also, shit, that really is a lot.

[eruthros]

Thank you! Wishing it didn't exist is how I felt about it, too - like, just give us thirty seconds of Arnie! It would be so easy!

[laurashapiro]

This was my favorite! I am SO IN LOVE with it! <3<3<3

[eruthros]

Thank you, I'm so happy to hear that!

[kabal42]

I love this - great idea an execution, the showcase is immensely compelling and impossible to argue with.
Even more love because my fandom and FFS, just get over it Marvel and at least have minimum representation! Why is it that it's always "too soon"? Ugh.

[eruthros]

Thank you!

And yes, I feel that way too. This is one of my main fandoms for the last ten years - and I read the comics as a kid, so it's been one of my fandoms for a really long time - and it is so infuriating to have so many Marvel movies that keep doing this.

[bironic]

Wow, yes. That last shot, indeed. It's going to take me a few more viewings to absorb all the text; there's a lot packed in here. But even on first encounter it packs a wallop, all those erasures, those missed opportunities, that willful blindness toward the impact inclusion would have, the immensity of the revenues Marvel has amassed as if it couldn't serve as a buffer for taking "risks," and that inarguable march of icons at the end that just goes back and back and back. Thank you for going through what it took to put this together.

[eruthros]

Thank you, I'm so glad that you liked it!

[ghost_lingering]

There's so much here I know I'll have to rewatch to get all the details, but the broad strokes are so damning on their own. Great work!

[eruthros]

Thank you!

[sasha_feather]

This vid is SO awesome and expresses the point so well. Thank you for making it.

[eruthros]

Thank you!

[devohoneybee]

this is brilliant and makes me angry.

*sigh* well done. sorry it was necessary.

[eruthros]

Thank you!

[garrideb]

Watching the vid show and seeing Arnie Roth show up in a vid was such a startling, amazing experience! By the way, I'm the person who came up to you after the vid discussion panel to flail over your vid some more. This vid speaks to so many of my fandoms: Steve/Tony fandom, through which I met my roommate, through whom I learned about Arnie Roth (it was the topic of our first meatspace conversation); XMFC fandom, where lots of people wrote fic to do what the movies didn't and establish Destiny as Raven's lover; and even a nod to Nomad fandom, a lonely fandom of three who will nevertheless appreciate the hell out of you including that one panel from Nomad #11.

Anyway, great job making a high-concept vid clear and engaging. That is a tall order and you pulled it off with flair!

[eruthros]

Oh hi! I was so excited to meet you! And I'm so happy to hear that this vid worked for you and that I put in enough Arnie feels :)

[sineala]

This is really good and I am filled with righteous anger.

Also, wow. that ending!

(I didn't catch them in the montage, but I think Union Jack/Destroyer -- first queer couple by internal Marvel chronology, or so Wiki informs me -- dates to 2002, or at least that's when the retcon-as-gay was.)

[eruthros]

Thank you!

Roger and Jack are one of the couples who didn't make it into the end montage - there are a bunch missing for various reasons, partly because I needed to make the pacing work and partly because I couldn't get comics or the comics quality was not good. I felt bad about it because I have a lot of friends who ship them!

[fairestcat]

This vid is my everything.

[eruthros]

Thank you!

[krytella]

This is so powerful. Perfect song choice! The whole thing is so perfectly put together and gets everything across in a way I haven't see before. Wonderful!

[caramarie]

This is really excellently done. The parade of characters counting back at the end is so great and so damning.

[eruthros]

Thank you - I'm glad it worked for you!

[muccamukk]

Oh, I have the right icon for this!

Really great vid! It's so well put together. I really appreciate including Arnie especially. That was the NineteenFuckingEighties. But nooooo, 2008 is too soon, even for queer coded characters.

[eruthros]

Thank you so much! And yes, I'm still mad that Arnie didn't make it into a movie like 25 years after he was introduced in comics :(

Also your icon is GREAT.

[petra]

I can't remember the last time I saw such an eloquent, elaborate, and elucidated "Fuck you and everything you do to the seventh generation."

[eruthros]

Ha, thank you!

[opusculasedfera]

This is so eloquent and telling. The contrast between the hopeful end of the song and the last quote from Feige/the montage of canon queers was such a gut punch.

[eruthros]

Thank you, I'm so glad that i worked for you!

[cinco]

This is SO GOOD. I'm going to need to watch it several times to really even understand how good--there's so much packed in here. The song is amazing, the list at the end is wonderful, and I am absolutely furious about all of it and ready to punch everybody at Marvel in the face, starting with James Gunn and going from there. THANK YOU.

[eruthros]

Thank you so much - that is exactly the emotion that I was hoping to inspire (and also how I felt every time I exported a draft and watch that James Gunn interview all the way through again).

[ifreet]

Thanks for making a vid that makes me want to yank other people into the room to watch it, so I can gesture angrily about the choices made in the Marvel film universe, like just LOOK.

(And it works because it's so well crafted! I've already watched it a handful of times, the second time because I'd never heard the song before and kept laughing and missing stuff on screen, and every time I notices something new.)

[eruthros]

Thank you so much! Also I love this song to pieces and I'm so glad it made you laugh :)

[ratcreature]

What a perfect choice of a song. And that ending. It makes the point really well.

[fightingarrival]

I'm on at least my fifth watch of this and I feel this so much. I feel this all so so much. Oh, Marvel.

[runawaynun]

I'm still in awe of how well this is done and how much research you must have done to find the right panels and everything! It's just a stunning vid.

[beccaelizabeth]

This was good
now I am tired and annoyed
but this was good

[sophygurl]

Wow. So good. Loved the song and the message. Fucking five to ten years huh?

Your opus

[brainwane]

This vid is an amazing achievement in that devastating systematic laying-out-the-evidence way. And in particular the clips you use for

But if it's killing anyone I think it's killing me
'Cause it tears me up inside to hide my true identity

are just a gutpunch, and the reverse-chronological litany at the close is sublime.

And the way you mix several kinds of stills and moving images here makes me want to watch it over and over and take notes like I did when I was making "Pipeline". I can't recall ever seeing a better-executed many-media vid.

I predict people will want to refer to this vid for years to come. You ought to get accolades and showers of flowers from the heavens for making it.

[scintilla10]

Oh jeez, I'm feeling a lot right now. This is so good, and so smart, and there's so much packed in here. I'm in awe of the way you made using different kinds of media look easy! Really great vid.