Hello everyone!
Before we get this video started, let me take a second to talk about this video's sponsor:
Amino apps.
Have you ever thought to yourself
"there needs to be an app for gay tangerine communists"?
Well, in theory, you can make one!
Amino is a network of communities for literally everything a person can be interested in.
Anything from anime, TV shows, food, camping, crying?
Anything!
But the best thing about Amino is that it's a safe place for people in the LGBT+ community.
Whether you're gay, lesbian, bi, trans, pan or whatever you identify as,
You are welcome at Amino.
At the LGBT amino app, you can do awesome things with other queer people.
You can scroll for hours looking at gay content: art, poetry, quizzes and polls.
You can join in a text or voice chat and hang out with other people, whether that's joking around or finding a support group.
But what's really cool is Amino's newest feature: the avatar chat.
You can make or choose an avatar to represent yourself,
and you can use that to talk to other people!
I love apple pie!
It's a cool way to stay anonymous or try out a new look.
I've made a little chat room for you all to come check out.
Just look up the "Aretheygay" chat and we'll talk about whatever you want!
Please come I'm lonely.
Have you ever done a video where you don't conclude they're gay?
Well, I always like to examine both sides and take a nuanced approach.
So you're gonna do that this time?
Jesus Alex, these dudes are obviously two people who have no interest in each other,
sexually, romantically or other spectrums of sexuality that are non-platonic.
And really... "Are they gay"?
Like, why can't they be bisexual? Or homosexual heteromantic? Or demisexual? Or platonic asexual?
Asexual bi-romantic?
Demisexual heteroflexible gynosexual handrosexual?
(guys I have no idea what they're saying help)
Shrimp flexible?
You know, I used "gay" as an umbrella term for LGBT+ people in general.
Oh.
Yeah, you're right.
Now that I think about it, I haven't peed in a week.
So after the whole gay kawaii and neko boys thing subsided on tumblr,
everyone was looking for a new thing to be like
"haha gay" to.
And I guess they chose musicals?
So now there's all this musical trash on my feed and I'm like:
"How dare you??"
After all those years of people going
"Oh, you're in theater?"
"Cool..."
It's okay, I-I don't really care.
But honestly, Be More Chill is kind of a meme at this point among theatrical folks.
Like if you ask someone
"What's your favorite musical?"
And they respond "Hamilton" "dear Evan Hansen" or "Be More Chill"
I'm not sure if you're supposed to hate them or what but... certainly something's up.
Anyways Falsettos is a much better tumblr meme musical so thanks.
So Be More Chill is like this musical where this neko boy is like
the living stereotype of an XD geeky guy lol.
rawr XD.
And his friend is the wacky kooky side character who says things like
"oh my god the nighties lol" (why did you have to choose that for an illustration Alex)
It's so... it's like a parody of itself.
But you know what that's okay.
I don't know why it is, but you know, whatever.
Lots of people on various websites
like to proclaim that Jeremy and Michael are flaming sparkling fabulous lip licking "friends".
But... are they "boyf riends"?
*ba dum chhh*
Let's get to the plot.
Jeremy is your typical high school dude, who plays games with his best friend in his hormonal basement,
and Jeremy is also a member of theater at his school.
It's a sign-up sheet for getting called "gay"
Jeremy is also a member of theater at his school and has a crush on Christine.
Or, was it Krystal?
Oh, I remember.
"Christiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine"
So Jeremy is like, not the most popular kid in town and wants to be cooler and/or liked.
But let's be honest, if you're a moderately attractive white guy
You have a shot of being popular anyways.
So damn it Jeremy take advantage of your systemic power!
But the sketchy boy called Rich tells Jeremy that he can be cool if he takes some pill.
Like, imagine the sketchy boy is the CIA and Jeremy is the inner cities in the 80s.
So Jeremy and his BFF Michael go to the mall and find the dude selling the sketchy drugs
and Jeremy takes them and then you know explodes.
The end.
Nah just kidding.
Instead he gets a little Keanu Reeves robot dude called a squip that tells him how he can be cool.
It's like a voice in his head, except the voice in his head is a jerk.
So this squip uses its computer algorithmicness to calculate how Jeremy can become "cool".
But I guess cool is synonymous with jerk dudebro, because that's what he becomes.
This Keanu Reeves just turns out to be like my dad.
In that he ends up judging all my decisions and calling me worthless...
Hehe just kidding my dad was never around.
The squip literally blocks Michael from Jeremy's vision,
like he's trying to make Jeremy into the perfect image of like... a straight white popular bro.
Jeremy ends up becoming friends with the suburban dream team,
and he makes out with the popular girls and wears an Eminem shirt,
and goes to parties that smell like sweat...
And when Jeremy is invited to a party Jeremy gets drunk,
and when you get drunk the Matrix pill doesn't work.
So without the squib's ability to block the gay,
Jeremy ends up running into... Michael.
and they have the biggest scorned lovers' confrontation ever.
Michael is trying to tell Jeremy that the squib made the sketchy guy Rich all off the deep end,
but Jeremy thinks that Michael was just jealous and that he's making it all up.
Michael represents his old life...
And Jeremy just wants to stay in that warm and comfy closet.
It's like a couple squabble.
And then Michael ends up locking himself in the bathroom and crying...
"Micheal in the bathroom..."
Jeez.
They should just call this musical middle school simulator.
"He's out there, just ignoring our history"
The fact that Jeremy's changed and doesn't care for him anymore breaks Michaels heart.
The whole scene really is akin to being broken up with for the first time.
The tears the shame, the existential dread of being forgotten...
"Until my face is dry, or I'll just blame it on weed or something in my eye"
Michael is also a product of his society.
This is a world where homophobia is a thing,
and where men showing stereotypically feminine characteristics, like crying, is a bad thing.
PSA:
Jeremy's just a jerk to everyone, even his dad.
And his dad goes to the one place he can count on to help his son:
Yahoo answers.
Nah it's Micheal.
Now this all leads up to the big play.
It's a Midsummer's Night Dream with zombies because you know the theater department doesn't have any money.
*from afar* It's funny 'cause it's true!
Christine, the love interest, is also in the play,
and let's just say that during the play things get a little spicy.
and the Keanu Reeves robot has a plan to squip everyone in the school.
Now, the only way to activate a squip is by drinking Mountain Dew,
But the only way to deactivate it is by drinking Mountain Dew red.
The only thing that can save them is if one of them drinks Mountain Dew red.
Now the squib tries to bribe Jeremy.
He tells Jeremy that if he chooses to let the squib live by not drinking the Mountain Dew red,
he'll give him Christine.
"Christiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine......"
But Jeremy doesn't need that in his life.
Also, using women as a reward is kind of sexist, and you know Jeremy is just...
Jeremy's not into that you know.
And also he needs his man.
He needs his hero.
Gordon Ramsay.
Just kidding it's still Michael.
For the last part of the musical it's literally them fighting the squip like their old times playing video games together.
Jeremy ends up in the hospital because he'd got totally wrecked in the process and Michael visited him every day.
Every day this piece of man stood by Jeremy's hospital bed.
He probably held and cried to Jeremy's unconscious hand,
serenaded Jeremy's lifeless body with Bruno Mars...
Can you imagine how much dedication that takes?
But they live happily ever after, and as the song says, they did end up being cool in college.
I mean, you know what else sexually ambiguous hormonal teenagers do in college together?
Study a lot.
Oh yeah, and wake up naked next to each other.
So at first glance a lot of people seem to think that it's just one of those really close nerdy friendships.
I mean, Jeremy comes off as the stereotypical sexually charged teenager.
"I'm waiting for my porno to load."
Not everyone is like that, but we all know one person like that...
Okay, Alex, I'm sorry, about what happened with all the sharpies!
It's not just that Bryan.
I mean I come home, and there's peanut butter everywhere-
Alright, okay, I get it can we move on please?!
And, let's be honest, this generations gayer than ever.
the chances of Jeremy or Michael identifying as LGBT+ is astonishingly high,
Even Jeremy's dad is worried that he's not straight enough.
"Oh dad, Jesus- PANTS!"
And the whole school seems to, I guess, ship it.
We all know about that famous backpack incident.
You know when they wrote "boyf" on Jeremy's backpack and then "riends" on Michael's.
"We're so not gaaaayyy" "No homo!"
Jeremy and Michael are each other's favorite person.
"Know that you are my favorite person..."
If it's not romantic, they still have this whole soulmates vibe going for them.
Like... they're each two halves of a whole.
Without Michael, Jeremy's just a douchenozzle.
And this whole squip thing is actually really symbolic in a lot of ways.
The squip thing is like that emotionally manipulative version of yourself that tries to put you down.
A lot of LGBT+ people unfortunately go through phases of self-hate.
The internalized homophobia, biphobia and general LGBT+ phobia etc that I and a lot of other LGBT+ people experience...
kind of mirrors what the Keanu Reaves squip did to Jeremy.
The squip tells Jeremy everything about him is terrible,
and that he can only be accomplished if he gets a girlfriend.
That's part of what attracts a lot of queer people to this musical.
"Oooohhh..."
"Everything about you is so terrible"
"Everything about me is just terrible..."
The good thing about this universe is that the bisexuals are acknowledged to be existing!
Rich, the guy who told Jeremy about the squip realizes he's bisexual at the end of the show,
but he didn't find that out until after the squip left his head.
As if, the squip represents the mental anguish that a lot of oppressed people can go through,
that a lot of LGBT people go through.
As if the squip was really just repressing Jeremy's and a lot of other people's gayness.
Take this scene:
And you know what's (?) whack?
Jeremy doesn't answer!
He just kind of stands around and nods and smiles and then goes back to talk to Michael??
So like apparently everyone thinks Jeremy and Michael are boyfriends and when asked about it, Jeremy just goes:
"Lol, let's keep it ambiguous XD"
Maybe he's just brushing it off!
You know how some people just assume that we're a couple.
I hate when that happens.
We're still getting married for the tax benefits though, right?
Yes...
"Tax benefits"...
There's this moment when he gets Christine to try to take the squip,
and Christine asks "What's wrong with the way I am now?".
Jeremy is so uncomfortable with himself that he believes the only way to be better...
is to not be himself at all.
It's really tragic.
And the ending of the show is kind of...
I have mixed feelings.
But I guess this show just needed the obligatory straight ending, and he ended up with Christine.
Even after the squip is defeated.
And there's nothing wrong with Christine as a person, but their relationship isn't that great to be quite honest?
Jeremy was like, the gay best friend to Christine.
/bisexual/not sexually interested in her because men and women can have platonic relationships.
She never really saw him as a potential partner,
And it sort of feels like the musical is telling the audience that...
"Once you've gone through all your trials and tribulations, you are entitled to your female love interest at the end"
And that's kind of like... I don't know...
You know what would be nice?
If Jeremy realized that he's not always entitled to what he wants,
and that he can be a better person by improving himself,
and not having to rely on the images of having a girlfriend or being straight,
and not needing the validation of other people.
Whatever... It's fine...
No, it's fine. It's fine really I mean...
You know. We'll just- we'll move on...
I'll just... I'll just re-listen to Falsettos a few thousand times...
It's okay...
Yeah...
In this post Hamilton society that we live in, it's suddenly kind of cool to be into musicals.
And it's even cooler to gay-ify musicals.
"Guy love!"
If you told anyone in 2014 that you shipped Glinda and Elphaba, they'd probably nod and say:
"What a ponderance!"
But now there's just an explosion of, oh... so much fanart...
Musicals have always been gay, and not like gay as in two white men kissing.
"Wow so scandalous!"
Show tunes and musicals are an integral part of queer culture, and these straights can't take that away from us.
Now I don't think Be More Chill is the dreaded queerbait,
And I can understand people that don't see Jeremy and Michael as a thing,
but you also gotta understand why people do.
Musicals attract a lot of gays, and with that comes gay interpretations.
And what I love about the show and its creators is that they do acknowledge the gay pining subtext,
and the community that's built around the relationship between these two characters.
They're open to interpretations and they don't confirm one interpretation over the other.
While confirmed representations would be great, this isn't a bad attitude to have towards your creation:
an acknowledgment that once your work is out there, it's out there.
There are a lot of questions sent to the writers of Be More Chill,
but a lot is specially sent to playwright Joe Tracz.
Like you know, whether Michael is straight.
And it's looking pretty likely that Michael isn't straight.
And that... no one is straight.
NO ONE IS STRAIGHT!!
What it really boils down to is that...
the writers don't really want to settle on one thing because they really like fan interpretations.
They deliberately made it so that Michael does not have a girlfriend
(that he had in the book)
and that he doesn't mention his attraction to any gender.
And no one ever specifically identifies as anything except Rich who's bisexual!
So that's important too.
So it seems that the "are they gay" question is pretty open.
Now I usually like to have my things confirmed because I crave validation,
it's a hard cookie to crack or whatever the phrase people use...
So if you want that validation, I'll give it to you:
Validate me!!
*gay silence*
Yes, Jeremy and Michael are so gay for each other.
They're just... they're just so not straight.
Christine is pansexual, and she later gets a girlfriend.
And- and you know what Jeremy is trans.
Everyone is queer.
I mean hey, you know... it's theater.
A special thanks to uh... this video's sponsor, Amino LGBT app!
I mean, you know the straights already have their own spaces to, you know, be straight...
I mean like all of TV and...
the government and uh...
books...
Legal protections...
Non-discrimination...
So, you know, what... we have an app.
So we're...
looking pretty good.
Anyways go on to the amino LGBT app which is a safe community for people of all identities in the LGBT spectrum,
so check it out, it's actually pretty cool
You can spend hours on there just scrolling and telling people that they're gay, and that's not an insult!