In July 2019, a rumour came out that Birds of Prey would feature a "flamboyantly gay" villain in the shape of Ewan McGregor's Black Mask. This speculation spread in exactly the way you'd expect – quickly and without any substantiation.
When asked, McGregor hedged his bets and this decision would live to haunt him. In what we assume was an attempt not to alienate the (already marginalised) LGBTQ+ community, McGregor waffled, offering an ambiguous answer that would leave fans disappointed.
The resulting controversy has highlighted a real problem in major franchise films – the lack of clear, explicit, celebratory LGBTQ+ representation. The downside is that it has eclipsed the way that Birds of Prey succeeded in its LGBTQ+ representation, where movies like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker failed.
Note: There are spoilers ahead for Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.
Warner Bros.
Our criticism of The Rise of Skywalker's lesbian kiss was that, though the kiss itself was groundbreaking for the Star Wars franchise, it was between two peripheral characters whose names were never spoken. This kind of representation, casual and natural, can only work if the whole movie's universe is full of that representation.
Naturally occurring representation is where Birds of Prey succeeded. Within the first ten minutes, the movie established Harley Quinn as bisexual. In the opening, an animated short explains Harley's backstory, over which she narrates.
Harley bemoans being unlucky in love, as a slot machine circles through various partners, then herself, and eventual heartbreak. The first two partners are men, but the third is a woman. Yes, a woman!
Warner Bros.
In the comics, Harley Quinn has a romantic and polyamorous relationship with fellow Gotham City Siren, Poison Ivy. And before you holler about any 'liberal agenda', this is 100% canon thanks to DC Comics themselves.
Birds of Prey honours this element of Harley's character while still giving the weight to her relationship with Joker that the film needed so that her emancipation would feel well earned. There was a precedent set by Suicide Squad, but by establishing her as bisexual in the movies universe, it furthers the premise that she's more than Joker's girlfriend.
Besides Harley's relationship with Joker and the allusion to the relationships of her past, there is only one other explicitly referenced romantic partnership. In another scene early on, Detective Renee Montoya is in a very tense meeting with her boss, Captain Patrick Erickson (Steven Williams).
Warner Bros.
Like the scene at the beginning, and indeed the rest of the film, Harley narrates the awkward interaction. Harley tells the audience about Williams' character, Renee's former colleague who took credit for her work to advance his career.
Harley then says that to make matters worse, the District Attorney also in the meeting is Renee's ex. The camera pans over to lawyer Ellen Yee, played by Ali Wong. Yes, another woman!
In the Gotham Central comics, Renee is outed as lesbian by Two-Face. And in numerous comics series including DC Rebirth, she has a relationship with Batwoman herself, Kate Kane.
So far, we've got two romantic partnerships (Harley and Joker, Renee and Ellen) and an account of Harley's past that describes her explicitly as bisexual. And that's it. The rest of the movie has nothing to do with romance, but with the women in the movie going on a journey and coming out stronger on the other side.
Warner Bros.
Birds of Prey is far more interested in developing the characters as individuals than exploring them as they relate to love interests. Had Joker not been part of Harley's transition from Dr Harleen Frances Quinzel to Harley Quinn he, too, may have been given less attention.
Even with this in mind, Birds of Prey never shone its spotlight on Joker, but instead on Harley's emancipation from the toxic relationships she was in. The stakes are too high for Harley, Huntress, Black Canary, Renee, and Cassandra for them – or us – to worry about romantic partners (and then, when they're mentioned, they include LGBTQ+ relationships).
This is the kind of natural (and accurate) representation The Rise of Skywalker failed at. As we wrote: "If Abrams' point was that LGBTQ+ people exist throughout the galaxy and therefore it doesn't need a special mention, then fine. But bring us to those places, show us those people. Allow them to be part of the world-building that is intrinsic to Star Wars."
Warner Bros.
In The Rise of Skywalker, romance suddenly trumped almost everything (yes, that kiss) and the most sexually ambiguous character (Poe, we're talking about Poe) was given a heterosexual ex-partner in Zorri Bliss that did absolutely nothing for the plot, or Poe's development.
In Birds of Prey, romance is blended into the world-building of Harley's Gotham City, but remains second fiddle to the development of its characters and the resolution of the plot, because that's what's most important to the film. It's not a rom-com, it's a violent, neon-soaked blood bath, and we love it for that.
Did it miss a chance to give us more? Of course. Do we want more? Duh. But did Birds of Prey do a good job at normalising the (very normal!) existence of LGBTQ+ people? We think so.
Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will be released in cinemas on February 7, 2020.
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How Birds of Prey gets right what Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker got wrong - digitalspy.com
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