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EVERY WEEK, WE bring you a round-up of the best longreads of the past seven days in Sitdown Sunday.
And now, every weeknight, we bring you an evening longread to enjoy which will help you to escape the news cycle.
We’ll be keeping an eye on new longreads and digging back into the archives for some classics.
A slightly shorter longread tonight, but no less important – as Loki tells the world he is bi, is having a queer Marvel Cinematic Universe character a big thing, or in fact overdue?
(Variety, approx 5 mins reading time)
It happens during a conversation Loki has with a Loki “variant” named Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), who revealed herself at the end of last week’s episode just as she launched her grand scheme to wreak havoc on the Time Variance Authority. As they sit on a train waiting to arrive at a critical destination, the discussion turns to love. Sylvie says she’s been in “a serious, long-distance relationship with a postman” while she skitters through time and across apocalypses to avoid detection by the TVA. Then she asks Loki if he has a paramour.
When I read comics as a child the last thing I cared about was who the heroes were sleeping with. Why do stories that are aimed at kids have to be about sex now.
@John Fagan: because the films, shows and comics aren’t aimed at children anymore and the mentality that comics are simply just kids stuff is outdated. If comics were just for kids why have we gotten two Deadpool movies, a rated R wolverine movie and why is The Boys one of Amazon Primes most successful shows
@John Fagan: Never cared as a child, don’t care as an adult but it’s important to some people for some reason.
@Football in the Groin: could say the same about any and all sports
@John Fagan:
Don’t kids see straight relationships in just about every comic/marvel?
@Dean: they do indeed, Jean Grey5and Scott in x men just one example, but of course you also have spiderman, superman etc
@John Fagan: “why do stories aimed at kids have to be about sex now?” What, do you think there is going to be a full on orgy or something? Why is it that so many people can’t tell the difference between sex and sexuality? Plenty of comic characters have has relationships…..Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man, Bat Man to name but a few. So you have the same opinion about those? If not then why not?
@Ger: superman relationship was soo wrong…he wasn’t even human
@Jake Kelly: the boys is the the opposite of a super hero movie. That’s why I love it lol…
@Jake Kelly: Uh huh. You can say lots of things about lots of stuff.
@Derek Moran: thats why most of us do.
Is it OK to use the term queer again?
@Hugh Morris: when it’s a good news story it’s ok. A bit like Dr Dre and other artists using the N word in lyrics. Badge of honour type thing I guess.
@GrumpyAulFella: LGBTQ. There’s a Q. “Queer” isn’t the word you want it to be. Just because you use it as an insult, doesn’t mean it is one.
@Drunk in Dublin: I always heard that the q meant questioning, not queer.
Tbh, it’s gotten to the point that I refuse to call it lgbtq or any other long string of letters. I stick with lgbt+. Let the + stand for everything else..
I mean, I remember when it was just LG, and then lgb, before it even because lgbt, never mind anything else…
@Mirabelle Stonegate: why not just Q?
@Hugh Morris: as in lgbtq? Because last I saw, it was lgbtqia+… personally I just moved the + back before the q essentially.
Mental health services are going to be overloaded in the future as kids try to process this tripe.
@Raymond Barry: By ‘this tripe’ are you referring to your comment?
When did anyone watch a Marvel movie/series because of a characters sexuality? Couldn’t give a toss if Thor wears ladies underwear and Steve Rogers goes to gay clubs. Good story and plenty of action is all I want from superhero and supervillain shows.
@Joe Soap: Some people don’t identify with any gender. Some people’s gender changes over time. People whose gender is not male or female use many different terms to describe themselves, with non-binary being one of the most common. Other terms include genderqueer, agender, bigender…your mixing these up with AVENGERS
@Joe Soap: The sexuality discussion is literally 3 seconds of the show’s 3 hours, so far. So why are we focusing on it? because it shouldn’t be a big deal but it is.
@Joe Soap: I watch them with my sons, and being a middle-aged woman care deeply that Thor does not wear ladies underwear!
A genuine question from someone who doesn’t know: what is queer? I know what the L, G, B and T are but don’t know what Queer means.
If I don’t ask I’ll never know.
@KSham: the Q stands for Queer or questioning, someone who is unsure and is trying to find their sexuality. Someone who doesn’t want to identify as gay lesbian or bisexual
@KSham:traditionally back in the day to be labelled a ‘queer’ meant you were most likely a gay male
@Brian Nolan: Thanks Brian. Every day is a school day
@Brian Nolan: So not straight, gay, lesbian, or bi! I think that only leaves Asexual???
Whinging, whiney comments in 3…2…1
@JustMeHere: you sound like your having a good whinge already..
@Roy Dowling: really? You should probably learn how to read properly lmao
It’s rich coming from Disney, a company that bowed down to the famously anti everything CCP. They filmed in Xinjiang and cast a lead that supported Hong Kong police. All this is for show, nothing more. Loki can be queer, but not enough to define the character or make the character unusual for audiences outside the first world. The censors can still change the series only slightly so Loki is a straight man and the international audience would be none the wiser.
@Paul Cunningham: agreed, pure lip service that can be easily removed for the Russian/Chinese/Hungarian audience. Which they have done before.
I love how Marvel are making out like they made Loki queer/genderfluid…it is a character based from Norse mythology. Loki has always been fluid he shape shifted into a female horse for a prank. All Marvel has done here is read a book and then tried to seem enlightened.
I watched it and thought “Oh Loki’s bisexual, huh.” Then forgot about it until I saw this article. Dunno why anybody would get their knickers in a twist over it
@Dr Quirkey: tbh, this is nothing new.. zeus changed species in mythology, to get women pregnant. Even as a kid, stuff like this was… these beings are gods. The normal rules of being human don’t apply to them.
So… loki is a god. The normal rules of being human have never and will never apply to him.. just because he presents as male most of the time doesn’t mean that’s always the case..
People should really read up on the Norse gods, Loki was a shape shifter and was a mare and got rode by a stallion and had a child who was an 8 legged horse. .. queer? Get over yourselves.
What a load of cobblers commenting, so many heeling their clogs and George webs, it is and quite frankly should and hopefully be unquestionably f….ing normal for any person to choose who they are and wish to be. Together.
The word ‘q***r’ is gravely offensive hate slur. Don’t ever call me “Q***r”.
Funnily enough, some of the couples listed above are not even the same species. I mean, Gamora and Starlord? Or Wanda and Vision (technically a robot)? We need more letters for these!
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