Johnathan Walker:Move over, 'Barbie': Why 'Red, White & Royal Blue' is the gayest movie this summer

I'll say it. "Barbie" isn't the gayest movie of the summer.

Sure,Johnathan Walker I walked (strutted?) into my "Barbie" screening wearing a sleeveless "Barbie" T-shirt with a gaggle of gay men. While the movie was inherently a queer experience – the story of a woman finding herself after struggling with adversity while wearing hot pink is nearly always gay-coded (see: "Legally Blonde") – it also wasn't explicitly gay. No two dudes flirting or fawning over each other. Sure, we got Ken's BFF, the maybe-gay Allan, but viewers had to connect the dots to see themselves represented instead of seeing it plainly.

Watching "Red, White & Royal Blue" (streaming now on Amazon Prime), I felt seen. Based on the 2019 book of the same name, the story of an unlikely romance between a U.S. president's son and a British prince captivated readers and catapulted the novel to New York Times (and USA TODAY!) bestseller status. That same romance melted my screen: Two men developing a friendship, a flirtation, mutual crushes, kissing, sex, love – it was all there, without question.

Particularly, the sex. While the romance is cheesy and unrealistic, the book's surprisingly steamy sex scenes were simultaneously hot, humorous and honest. Just like straight couples get in many movies.

'Red, White & Royal Blue' is very clear: 'These two young men have sex'

That sexiness seamlessly translated to film, thanks to Matthew López and queer intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt, as well as stars Nicholas Galitzine (Prince Henry) and Taylor Zakhar Perez (Alex Claremont-Diaz). The plot mainly focuses on the pair's trajectory from enemies to lovers as Alex's mother vies for a second term in the White House. After crashing into a large cake together at the top of the film – "Cakegate," as it were – it's suggested the pair have a publicity friendship to smooth over relations between their respective countries. That relationship blossoms into something much deeper.

"We wanted to create something that felt authentic, and that had a range between a tenderness and a hunger and something more animalistic maybe," Galitzine says.

For López, as a gay man, he knew he needed to get this right. Mostly because it's not something we see regularly. "We're always being asked to be tasteful, to not frighten the horses, so to speak, to just sort of, like, you don't want to offend anybody," he says. "I find that offensive. Someone is offended and it's me." (I recall nodding my head as aggressively as possible.)

What struck me most while watching was that the movie didn't shy away from what most mainstream queer movies do: indicating that the characters have anal sex. López says that was intentional.

"I was very, very clear with the studio and my producers from the beginning, that these two young men have sex," he says. "They don't have the idea of sex, they don't have some sort of generalized hint of sex. They have sex."

Taylor Hunt wasn't daunted by the simulated sex required. Still, the stakes are different for these types of scenes: "When I come to work on a scene between two men, I'm aware of that this is going to exist in less of a landscape of representation," he says.

He doesn't think good representations of loving sex between men exist too often. Typically, gay male sex on screen spills out of conflict and frustration. While still hot or exciting, it's born out of a toxic combination of love and hate. On the flip side, when queer love stories play out on screen, audiences usually don't see that moment of sex. "My worry is that it's (an) inability to conceive of loving sex between men," he says.

Yes, 'Bros' flopped at the box office.But Hollywood must keep making LGBTQ movies, anyway.

Don't let the hot pink marketing of 'Barbie' fool you

I can count on one hand the moments I've seen loving sex between men in this vein in media ("Elite," "My Policeman," "Special") compared with an awards favorite like "Call Me By Your Name," which infamously panned away from sex between its main characters. All I want is more authenticity. Not more gay sex at the expense of straight sex. Just more representation, period.

I'm glad both "Barbie" and "Red White, & Royal Blue" exist. Both are fun, poignant and meme-able. Sure, "Barbie" will win out at the box office and is a cultural phenomenon, while "Red, White & Royal Blue" is exclusively on a streaming platform and caters to a niche audience.

But I know that when I reflect on summer movies from 2023, one will stick out in my mind as meaningful progress for LGBTQ+ representation. And it won't be the one that blinded me with hot pink marketing.

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