tastes-like-piss:

neutronscience:

like…. in the real bros of simi valley.( presented by facebook watch)….. Wade not burning is a metaphor for being gay. i wont take questions and im rlly sorry to everyone that im mutuals with for having to read this

I love this piping hot take, thank you for speaking truth!!!! I don’t even think it’s ambiguous at this point, so we may as well do some pseudo-literary analysis while we’re here just to cement Wade’s place in the canon:

“Burning” itself as a practice, what does it symbolize?

Burning within the context of Simi is a cultural default; all Real Bros are assumed to burn and must speak out if they don’t. Social pressure says DO BURN - much like heteronormative social pressure says BE STRAIGHT.

What does it mean to say that Wade is a closeted non-burner?

Among the bros of Simi, Bryce stands in for the vocal type of culture defender most lgbt folks will recognize: he’s fully bought in to cishet pro-burning norms and sees it as his duty to publicly call-out and ridicule anyone breaking those norms. Wade’s aggressive denials are self-preservation; he’s already facing mockery and ostracism (Bryce disinviting him from burn-centric hangs) for being a suspected non-burner, so how much worse would it be if he admitted it?

There’s also an element of internalized prejudice at play, as we even see Wade privately lying to his doctor about it. There’s a lot of room to expand on the subtext in this scene - the implications to his medical care (and the implications to any lgbt person’s medical care of both withholding information vs sharing it with a doctor who might be a bigot), the way the filmmakers hammer home the queer coding by ending the scene on a prostate exam…this clip is A LOT.

How are things different outside of Simi? (ie, what about Aldis?)

Wade’s early confrontation with hot hippie roommate Aldis plays out in almost perfect opposition to Wade’s past confrontations with Bryce - Wade is understandably defensive, but Aldis doesn’t punish him socially because he suspects Wade doesn’t burn; Aldis actually repeats his invite to spend time together later on Wade’s terms, while reassuring Wade that it doesn’t matter to him whether he burns or not.

After this we see Wade start to blossom outside of Simi - sure, he joins Aldis’ group still protesting that he DOES burn, but this is a circle that welcomed him already regardless. Wade literally says at one point with them that he’s “never felt so free” and while it’s comedy, it’s also good parallel to a previously-closeted young person’s experience of living openly among people who will support them as they are.

One step forward, two steps back?

With Aldis’ appearance we also see some of the queer coding of Wade’s non-burning become more explicit - the Wade/Aldis dynamic is decidedly homoerotic, and while it’s played for lols it’s interesting to see Wade go from “you always make it weird” protests to full comfort with Aldis’ physical affection…and then back again when he leaves the safety of his campus.

Take the above double-hand-hold-with-interlocked-fingers move Aldis prefers - we see Wade move past his discomfort and start to use it freely himself on campus, with all of his new friends but especially with Aldis. In Simi, however, Wade reverts back to what he knows is acceptable, pointedly offering Aldis a hetero-standard bro handshake as he leaves the kickback.

As comfortable as Wade has been exploring his non-burner orientation on campus, his return to Simi slams the closet door shut once again. Not only does he distance himself from Aldis, he also doubles down on his performance of burner identity. When Bryce produces a blunt Wade rushes to volunteer to hit it - and completely exposes himself with his own overcompensation.