A League of Their Own and Queering History

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN AND QUEERING HISTORY

EXAMINING THE PATTERN OF LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION IN HISTORICAL FICTION

BY CAROLINE SMITH

Amazon Prime Video recently released the “A League of Their Own” mini-series, which follows the players and relationships in the Rockford Peaches baseball team, part of the all-women baseball league created during World War II. The series expands on what was left unsaid in the 1992 film by the same name: the discrimination of Black women from playing on the team, the inclusion of Latina players, and queer women engaging in relationships.

It’s a fun, refreshing series, which seems to be starting up a pattern in entertainment lately: the queering of history in entertainment. Queering is a shortened form of “queer reading” which is examining a text through a queer lens. In this case, “A League of Their Own” has a queer reading of the actual historic event. This isn’t the first major series that does a queer reading of historical figures this year. “Our Flag Means Death” looks at historic pirates, Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet, and imagines a relationship between them. It is fantastic representation with multiple LGBTQ+ characters and queer relationships.

And with this pattern growing, it raises a few questions about queering historical figures and events. While these figures did exist and may or may not have been gay, does it lead us to over-admire and romanticize people of history outside their proper contexts? I mean, Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet were in an era of piracy that benefited from slave trade and colonization. Does that make it weird? Regardless of that, is it weird to speculate on historical facts for our own entertainment? It’s a slippery slope to queering other historical figures with even less historical context.

I hate to bring up Miku-binder Thomas Jefferson: an illustration that is a by-product of the Hamilton fandom putting the founding father in a college setting. The image headcanons him as transgender, bisexual, a furry, and an ex-drug dealer. It’s one of those deep fandom things that is beyond basic human understanding. The Hamilton fandom had a deep struggle with normal fandom practices towards a well-liked musical and the actual people the musical is based on. What started out as an artistic interpretation of Alexander Hamilton’s biography devolved through fandom culture. Being a fan of the musical became a Tumblr rabbit hole of fanart, ships, and headcannons of the founding fathers.

That’s something fandoms do often, even outside of historical fiction. Attention to the text takes a back seat to subtext and headcanons. And there’s nothing wrong with that. If you like to imagine Luke Skywalker as a gay space man with Chanel boots, that’s cool. I’m a firm believer that art is interpretive. But that’s the thing, interpretation depends on the text. At least for plain old fiction, there isn’t much to gain or lose. Shipping Sam and Frodo is different from shipping Lewis and Clark. Sam and Frodo are made up, so you can make up whatever you want about them, but Lewis and Clark were real people that are connected to their historical context.

I’m not saying this like, “you can’t desecrate historical figures by making them gay” or whatever. For all we know, maybe those dead people were gay. I do think it’s an interesting and important discussion to have as to when and how we can queer dead people. One major difference is whether there is plausibility for the figure being queer. In Hamilton, there is no real grounds for Thomas Jefferson being transgender. He was a wealthy owner of enslaved African Americans.

I think “A League of Their Own” and “Our Flag Means Death” work because there is high plausibility. Members from the historic Peaches team have confirmed that there were queer women among the players and there is ample historical evidence for queer relationships on pirating vessels.

What else makes these shows stand apart is the nuance around each. In, “A League of Their Own”, they lean into the realities of the time. The women have to keep their relationships a secret and Chante Adams’ character, Maxine, shows the harsh discrimination Black women faced compared to the Caucasian women on the team. “A League of Their Own” has an approach that is deeply concerned with historical accuracy, showing many sides to the story, while delivering a relatable show.

“Our Flag Means Death” has a different plan. Instead of delivering on historical accuracy, they play with the legendarium of piracy. Historical study of pirates is hard to pin down because accounts are swirled together with rumor and tall tales. Thus, “Our Flag Means Death” does not stick by one account, taking pieces from many to build a compelling “what if” scenario. What if Blackbeard had a torrid love-affair with the gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet? It’s more of an exploration than a historical account.

But then again, fandoms are a ruthless and feverish monster that spark flaming words and war on the internet. I’m sure if you dive deep enough you’ll find people that are willing to defend the name of Stede Bonnet, conflating the character for the dead guy. But in all likelihood, they are either a kid that will need some time to catch on to nuance, or they are really just not worth your time.

So is that it? Yes. I would say it is a case-by-case basis; some things are more susceptible to this kind of stuff than others. Really, you just have to keep an eye out for it. Be smart and look at entertainment critically.