Queer-coding in The Family Game
Queer-coding, as the name suggests, is the practice of coding characters as queer. The most widely known example of this in cinema is Disney villains, who have been queer-coded to various degrees of subtlety, from the drag-inspired Ursula to the slightly effeminate Scar. Some problematic aspects that instantly emerge from this are assuming certain stereotypes of queerness, using those stereotypes to code queerness, frequently attributing them to villains, and remaining at this superficial depiction of queerness. In The Family Game (1983, dir. Yoshimitsu Morita), the queer subject is quite obviously Yoshimoto the tutor, and the characterization of him fits most of the patterns I set up above. The very first question to ask is: is Yoshimoto queer? There are many possible answers to this question. He is initially presented as 1. gay. Near the beginning of the film, his acts of intimacy with the same sex are presented with neither fanfare nor obscuration, which can be a good thin...