This is a fascinating conversation!freesocks wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 2:13 pmI definitely think context and background make a big difference because everyone projects onto celebrities, characters, and public figures to some extent (some way too much, but that's a whole other conversation). If someone would have told me that they were a couple or there was speculation that they were a couple when I started watching, my perception of certain things probably would have changed. When I started watching Dan, I was still going through my unfortunate "bro" phase with regards to dating, so I wasn't watching because I was attracted to him, which is probably another reason why I didn't really care much about his sexuality, since I didn't sexualize him the way I might a celeb that I have a crush on. I didn't have the highest self-esteem (bro phase/daddy issues) and so I looked at Dan more like a safe friend (not actually like he was my friend, but that was the lens through which I was viewing his content) who made me laugh about people being ridiculous and helped me feel more comfortable with not always having to be perfect and/or beating myself up when I inevitably failed at that. I generally give other people advice that I should give myself, so seeing someone who was so hard on themselves, but talked about it in a funny way, kind of reminds me that I can be a bit ridiculous at times and I tend to dramatize my awkward/interesting experiences in the same way for the purposes of storytelling, so I liked that about the videos too. Wow, this YouTube analysis is getting deep haha.captainspacecoat wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 1:24 pmI think that's a really interesting point! At the time I discovered Dan (and then Phil a few weeks later), I was a teenager who was confused about my sexuality and subconsciously seeking out reassurance through non-straight people in the media. Thus, sexuality was often what drew me to "celebs" and, rightly or wrongly, I found it difficult to care about straight media because it didn't feel relevant to what I was going through. I wonder if that hadn't been the case, would I have cared enough to investigate further, and would I have remained a casual fan? It's interesting to think about, and I think context and background do explain a lot about people's differing interpretations!freesocks wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 1:06 pm 4.) Most of my guy friends have "man crushes" so I didn't pay attention to Dan's talk of Evan Peters or anything. If there is one thing I am realizing from writing this, it is probably that as a casual viewer, I wasn't looking for anything, so I didn't see anything. I just didn't think too deeply about it all.
I do think heteronormativity plays a big part in casual fans not 'seeing anything' between Dan and Phil. Society kind of cultivates m/f pairings in a way that makes us assume anyone with chemistry who spends in an inordinate amount of time together must be something more than friends, and trains us the exact opposite with same sex pairings. I wonder if you'd known definitively that Dan and Phil are not straight, then as a casual fan you'd have seem something more? This is the blessing and the curse of them retreating back into the closet - I'm sure circa 2012 people assuming they were straight, assuming they weren't together, and assuming anyone who thought differently was just a creepy obsessed fan was exactly what they wanted. But I do pretty firmly believe that right now they'd like it to be clear they're not straight, and I also do believe that it's fairly impossible for them to ever explicitly come out as not straight (in a way that even the casual audience would understand) without unwanted attention being placed on their relationship. Heteronormativity was truly their best friend when it came to everyone except people who were really paying attention handwaving everything but 'they're straight, they're just friends.'