Agatha All Along: Does It Subvert the Tropes?

Today, this trope may not always be performed with intentionality, but it continues to stand out because it comes directly from the Hays Code and the Comic Books Code Authority. The Hays Code governed the film and television industry from 1930-1968, although some states independently enacted codes in the 1920s. The Comics Code Authority enacted "the Code" in 1954 and kept it formally in play until 1989. While these codes were not government mandated, they were forms of self-censorship enacted by their respective industries in order to avoid official government involvement. They were, in effect, morality codes - a conservative response to more inclusive and sex-positive trends that were born out of the excitement of the Roaring Twenties. An interesting example of how "the Code" effected LGBTQ+ stories is the example of "Space Adventures #3." Published by Charlton Comics, it depicts a scientist who undergoes gender-affirming surgery. Published one year before "the Code" went into effect, this comic is an example of queer stories that lost their ability to be included under the self-censorship of the comic book industry. If you would like to read the excerpts of the documents banning openly Queer characters from the comic book industry, check out this 2020 article from History.com.

There was a minor loophole in the codes that governed the entertainment industries during these times. Behavior perceived as immoral, such as engaging in a Queer relationship, could be portrayed if it was shown in a negative light and if it included dire consequences -- usually death. And so, the "bury your gays," trope was born. Some popular examples of this trope include:

• Supernatural - in which Charlie, ally to the Winchester brothers is brutally dismembered, and in which Castiel dies immediately upon confessing his love for Dean
• Atomic Blonde - in which the lesbian love interest, Delphine, is choked to death
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer - in which Tara is shot in the chest right after healing her broken relationship with Willow
• The Magicians - in which both Quentin and Kira are killed off
• The 100 - in which Lexa, a fan favorite, dies right after having sex with her lesbian love interest for the first time

In Agatha All Along, we see this trope deliciously subverted. In Episode 8, Agatha turns away from her usual, selfish interests and sacrifices herself so that Billy Maximoff (another gay character) can live. At first, it seems that the series which has four Queer characters (two in a gay relationship and who have a lesbian romantic history with one another) has committed the sin of killing one of its most important LGBTQ+ characters. However, in Episode 9 it becomes clear that Agatha isn't going anywhere. She returns as a ghost who continues to have an important role in the story and who is set to return in future MCU content. What's more, Agatha's ghostly character is fun, engaging, and involved in the plot in a cheeky way that says, "You may be able to kill me, but that doesn't mean you can get rid of me."

The Black Woman Lives

A classic critique of the horror genre is that the Black friend always dies first (although, we should note that this is not exclusive to the horror genre). The Black best friend has often been used as a sign of "progress" without making the Black person the focal character. In films, TV shows, and literature, this often resigns the Black character to "disposable" status - a problematic message for all consumers of media, and one that perpetuates the idea that Black people are less valuable that White people. This is a big part of the reason why blockbuster movies like Get Out are so pivotal. In Get Out, the Black male lead survives the horrors perpetrated by the White suburban family with the help of his best friend - who also happens to be Black. In The Ithacan, Avery Alexander points to Private Frost in Aliens, Roy Hanson in Gremlins, and an unnamed Black man in American Psycho as well-known victims of the trope in question. The Scream franchise has also been criticized for repeatedly leaning on this plot device.

In Agatha All Along, various members of the ragtag coven traveling the Witches' Road get picked off. The first to die is Mrs. Hart, a non-magical neignbor who gets drawn into the quest because of her penchant for gardening. Her death motivates the rest of the coven to begin working together in earnest. The next to die is Lilia Calderu, whose talent for divination is paramount to the coven's survival, though she is at first considered whispy and not always mentally present. Next comes a conflict between Jen Kale, a Black witch whose mastery of potions and alchemy saves most of the coven from the dangers of the first trial, and Agatha Harkness. It is revealed that Agatha put a spell on Jen that made her unable to access her powers. In a pivotal moment, Jen breaks the curse and escapes the Witches' Road without falling victim to Agatha's ploy to steal her fellow witches' power and deliver their bodies to Lady Death. Jen, who is hilariously sarcastic, is last seen flying off into the sunset with her powers restored. Her survival and her success in achieving her goals makes her the only character to leave the Witches' Road fully intact.

Queer-Coded Villainy

The Queer-coded villain is another hallmark of the Hays Code and the code followed by the Comic Books Code Authority. The connection that these morality codes drew between homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender identies and sexual depravity led, overtime, to the practice of Queer-coding villains. This practice killed two birds with one stone. It snuck hints of LGBTQ+ representation into the stories that were told while avoiding conservative criticism. By not making the characters obviously LGBTQ+, the storytellers could argue the absense of Queer inclusion. By including Queer elements in an antagonist's personality and portrayal, the codes were upheld by equating queerness with evil - which ultimately receives its just reward of the villains downfall at the end of the story. Such tactics speak to audiences in several ways. First - it sends the message that Queerness is evil. Second - it tells Queer viewers that they belong in the shadows, without their identities acknowledged or affirmed. Third (in a slightly more positive twist) - it allows to Queer audiences to identify with misunderstood characters who are targeted as wrongdoers just like the real-live LGBTQ+ folks who were (and still are) arrested, killed, or otherwise targeted for their differences from the mainstream population.

I would argue that my biggest concern regarding LGBTQ+ representation in Agatha All Along is the villainy of two vitally important lesbian characters: Agatha Harkness and her former lover, Rio Vidal who is later revealed to be the incarnation of Death. Both characters have a dark bent to them. As Lady Death, Rio wants the bodies to pile up, and Agatha's desire for more magical power makes her the perfect vessel to deliver this gift to Death. Agatha is, in essence, a serial killer who targets witches for hundreds of years with little remorse. What protects Agatha and Lady Death from the wrath of Queer audiences is twofold.

First, their talents for darkness are neither unfounded nor lacking in complexity. As the embodiment of Death, Rio represents something that is not truly good or evil - simply inevitable. All things must - eventually - die. Death is an essential part of life. Rio, as she implies, has a job to do, even if that job hurts people she loves - as in the case of Agatha and her son Nicholas who is fated to die young. Upon discovering her son is meant to be stillborn, Agatha bargains for his life with Lady Death. Although she doesn not wish to take him from Agatha, taking Nicholas' life is Rio's responsibility in order to maintain the balance between life and death. All she can do is offer time. She permits Nicholas to circumvent the laws of nature so long as Agatha and Nicholas bring her bodies. Agatha targets witches, tricking them into attacking her so that she can drain them of their power to sustain herself and her son and killing them so that Death can collect their souls. The night after they fail to do so, Death comes for Nicholas in his sleep. This conflict humanizes Agatha as someone emotionally injured by the unfairnesses of life (and Death), wronged by her lover, and overwhelmed by grief and anger for the rest of her magically over-extended life - though it does not absolve her of her crimes. We also see Rio speak of this event as her most important emotional scar because she had no choice but to hurt someone she loved. To this extent, we may see Rio as a neutral rather than evil entity. And yet, she plays a role in Agatha's drive to kill in pursuit of magical power. Agatha's evil is apparent, but so is her fear. Her journey through both is contextualized and complicated by the events between her son and Lady Death as well as her unwillingness to face the consequences of her actions.

On the question of Billy Maximoff's unnatural creation and survival, Lady Death simply wishes to balance the scales by taking the life that was supposed to go to her in the first place. Billy, afterall was not supposed to be born through Wanda's magic, nor should he have survived the destruction of Wanda's creation. He is an anomaly that subverts the natural world, and it is Death's duty to remove him from the equation. So if Death is simply carrying out her responsibility, what makes her villainous? Ultimately, it is her enjoyment of death and the way she toys with the travelers on the Witches' Road that puts her into the camp of villains. While she takes Nicholas and Alice gently at the times of their deaths, she clearly takes pleasure in scaring the witches on the road with demonic voices and secrets divulged via live microphones. There is a darkness to Lady Death, but, perhaps, it is a darkness placed on her by the souls who are afraid to take Death's hand.

The second way that the "villains" escape the ire of Queer audiences is this. The volatile effects of Agatha and Lady Death's doomed relationship and their villianous actions are tempered by Billy Maximoff's good intentions, his deep remorse when he believes he has caused harm, and his wholesome and supportive relationship with his boyfriend, Eddie. By having a healthy gay relationship consisting of characters on the side of good standing opposite a toxic gay relationship consisting of characters on the side of bad supports the idea that Queer folks are just like anyone else - complicated, messy, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, and human in their emotions, relationships, and choices. In the wake of a long history of criminalizing Queer bodies and identities, and censoring Queer inclusion in mainstream media, such examples are an essential part of projecting the humanity of LGBTQ+ folks (which is neither greater nor lesser than their straight and cisgender peers) through the stories we tell as a society.

Queer Redemption

The mirroring of Agatha and Death to Billy and Eddie is critical to preventing audiences from interpreting Agatha's redemption as a casting off of her Queerness. Yet another common trope committed against LGBTQ+ characters is their journey from evil to good coming at the cost of their Queerness. For example, in Loki, the titular character's bisexuality is confirmed with a brief comment about his interest in both "princesses and princes." However, it is immediately tucked away behind his romantic interest in Sylvie, just as he begins to make true progress toward selfless action and heroism. While his bisexuality is acknowledged verbally it is easy to forget by visually pairing him in a heterosexual, will they-won't they relationship. This is not to undervalue the importance of recognizing Loki's Queer identity (the mention of his bisexuality was hard-fought), but to point out the lengths necessary to protect the sentiments of viewers who might be uncomfortable with exploring Loki's Queerness further.

In Agatha's case, she takes a step out of the darkness when she kisses Death - the action that proves her Queerness, kills her, saves Billy, and ensures that she will never have to see Lady Death again - because as a ghost, she does not have to go to the place where Death reigns. This action is essential to her redemption arc because it is the first selfless thing she has done in generations and changes her from someone who takes life to someone who preserves it. It also ensures that she will never heal the hurt in her relationship with Death, and makes it unlikely that she will engage in a lesbian relationship (or any romantic relationship) again considering she is no long corporeal in nature. (This is the MCU, however, so I could be proven wrong.) I would argue that Agatha doesn't totally escape this particular trope, but because of its generally subversive take on Queer representation, she can be forgiven. After all, her first action is to assist the young, gay Billy in a way that reflects the mentorship and parenting that happens between generations in the LGBTQ+ community.

Let's talk about Camp

Oh my goodness, is Agatha All Along campy! With it's exaggerated costumes, hair, makeup, and set pieces, complete with callbacks to various, over-the-top witches from pop-culture, this series leans heavily on the campy, Queer culture that villains - especially classic Disney villains - relied on to portray their evil tendencies. Over time, the Hays Code, the Comic Books Authority Code, and the criminalization of Queerness in Western culture worked together to ensure a subconscious association between LGBTQ+ traits and villainous actions both in everyday life and in the mediums we use to tells stories. Camp - an exaggerated, self-parodic, sometimes comedic style of expression popular in drag and other aspects of Queer culture is commonly reflected in visual portrayals of popular villains both within the horror genre and in less-niche storytelling. Here are a few examples:

• Killer Klowns From Outer Space - a wacky, ridiculous, and over-the-top portrayal of murdurous clowns that - in keeping with camp - doesn't take itself very seriously
• Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid - modeled after the real-life drag sensation, Divine, Ursula mimicks much of Divine's exaggerated style through her hair, makeup, voice, and mannerisms
• Jafar from Disney's Aladdin - black eyeliner, exaggerated facial expressions, shoulder-pads, and body language, hint that he is gay, though this is most-likely not recognized by the young audiences for whom this character was written.

What's the point in bringing all this up? First, it's important to acknowledge the not-so-straight but very direct line drawn between Queerness, camp, and villainy that supports the unconscious biases against the LGBTQ+ community. Second, Disney, a significant perpetrator of the Queer-coded villain trope, takes a conciliatory step by producing this particular series. Agatha All Along doesn't just use camp as a device, it celebrates the relationship between camp and Queer joy by allowing all the whole ensemble (not just the evil characters) to enjoy the melodramatic plot sequences, parodically honor memorable characters from pop-culture history, and swim in the creative vastness of elaborate costuming, makeup, and hairstyles without embracing negative connotations. Instead, sudden costume changes are part of the mystery of the road and the excitement of each approaching trial and the characters find joy in exploring each expression.

Even more importantly, this exploration of camp includes out LGBTQ+ characters, rather than coded characters whose Queerness can be denied if necessary. The Queerness of Billy, Rio, and Agatha is pivotal to the plot which cannot be made sense of of their LGBTQ+ identities are removed from the screen - thereby making it difficult to sell to markets that reject LBGTQ+ imagery. Telling this story is a bold move and an even bolder statement. Another important note is that the LGBTQ+ actors were cast in the series. Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, and Sasheer Zamata have all publicly identified as members of the LGBTQ+ community, lending authenticity and input as Queer people telling a Queer story.

In Closing

Producing Agatha All Along is a redemptive step taken by Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both of which have had many missteps in regards to LGBTQ+ representation and their roles in cementing the relationship between Queer-coding and villainy. The series successfully subverts common, negative tropes associated with Queer identities in film, television, and literature and does so in a way that is complex, unapologetic, and engaging and avoids being preachy. Its LGBTQ+ characters exist in union with their Queerness rather than because of or in spite of it. Their Queerness is in harmony with their personalities and existent in complex and, sometimes, chaotic relationships without it being the catalyst for chaos - just the way Queerness is meant to be. It's easy to be taken in by the campy fanfare of the series' impressive design elements, but ultimately, these aspects of production work best when they are accentuating the harmony between the characters' self-expressions, Queer identities, and motivations for traversing the Road. By succeeding in this, Agatha All Along delivers campy, musical, Disnified horror as a part of Queer culture that willingly and knowingly embraces itself - in contrast to many films whose Queer-coded evildoers were secretly welcomed into underground, Queer culture. This, I believe, is why so many Queer audience members are celebrating this series. Agatha All Along reflects and embraces them in a way mainstream media rarely does. And that is progress.

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