The [Queer] Politics of Eurovision

It's crazy, it's party, it's... political?
Europe, we're coming for ya 😈

Video by Ada Černoša and Verity Ritchie

Video correction: at 2:22 there was a mistake which has been cut.

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[parjol]

As an eastern european, thank you SO much for making this video. Literally, no one brings up these issues and it's nice to finally hear someone acknowledging them.

[rikatan]

You know, when any of my American friends or online acquaintances find out about Eurovision it's hard to put the popularity of the show into perspective. It has about 10-15 times the television viewership of the Grammies and Oscars, and has only really been beat in viewership by sporting competitions like the Super Bowl, Olympics and FIFA World Cup, along with massive one-time events like the first moon landing. Quality or not, it's a massive phenomenon all of Europe pays attention to. You'd think Eurovision is deciding the fate of Europe instead of the EU Parliament.

[BlackSwan]

It was a huge thing in Germany when Conchita participated and even won. Everyone tried to seem so woke and not say a bad thing yet it was the only thing the media talked about. Never the song, never about Conchita as a drag artist, only the fact that there was a man dressing up as a woman with a beard. Maturing means realising that the eastern countries always voted for each other because they had better songs.

[Lunariant]

Let's not forget that Russia was booed for having invaded Crimea just three months prior. In my memory, that was the big reason for the booing rather than the homophobic laws, though it could be both factors.

[multitoucan]

verilybitchie doing a Eurovision essay video ?! DINNER'S SERVED!! 😍😍

[vindeltrapp]

Fantastic video!
Fun fact: the first woman who wore trousers on stage in Eurovision was Åse Kleveland from Norway. She is regarded a national treasure here, and was our minister of culture in the 90’s for the Labour Party. She is pretty iconic, she hangs out in an old flight tower outside Oslo and drives around in the same tiny car that she bought 54 years ago. I aspire to be her.

[aerlandsson]

As a swedish person I have to say, thank you for pointing out Swedens bullshitery

[Eluthane]

Thank you for highlinging a history of how "nutrality" is a way to hold existing power and reactionalry politicst. Upsetting to see queer people being used as bludgens in raciest ways .

[Alex-mnfb]

This is just .... so well done. Standing ovation. The anti-eastern Europe bias, the double standards of "appropriate" political messaging, the fact homophobia is STILL prevalent in all countries, the homo-nationalism and the fact that aspirational ideals of equality and protection of minorities can be perverted and used to silence, provoke and single out other "undesirables".

[jornwend]

Thank you for pointing out the eastern bloc conspiricy bs. That was the most annoying thing in eurovision coverage in the past 20 years, at least in germany. Reality is that the eastern european entries saved this competition with regard to diversity and inclusiveness and made it the fun that it is now.

[nathania]

as a swede, thank you for clarifying how much of sweden's progressive utopian image is just that: an image. if it's too good to be true, then it probably isn't true and that applies to practically everything sweden is glamorised for

[Books-and-coffee]

Conchita's victory contributed very much to the way I see LGBTQ people until today. I'm from Greece, a pretty homophobic country and I was around 14/15 when she won. I fell in love with her persona and her song and it helped me tremendously to be tolerant and respectful to everyone regardless of sexuality. I'm gonna go as far as to say my opinions and views on this community were shaped by Conchita.
Political or not, it can help people, especially young people to be more open minded.

[statsy]

As an Italian I’ve never heard of Homonationalism, but it’s something we’ve been doing for a while now. Basically pretending to be a supportive country just because that’s what other countries like to hear, even though in my day to day life I hear the f slur at least once a day and we still can’t get stuff like hate crime protection and a day against homophobia. Hearing from people online it almost seems like eastern countries are actually more supportive compared italy and some other western ones, despite of whatever image you may try to push. Maybe one day we’ll get equality, maybe we won’t, but I’ll try to direct the world towards the first option

[Lunariant]

As a Brit, I was deeply ashamed by Terry Wogan's commentary. He dismissed great entries before they'd even started performing, he talked over the intros of songs, he said nasty things about the contestants' looks, and he came up with bizarre conspiracies about the UK's failures. It was really difficult getting my friends to care about Eurovision because they would just parrot Wogan's views. Nowadays I watch Eurovision on YouTube, and without the commentary it feels like a breath of fresh air.

[vidiia]

I want to thank you for your admirably proper pronunciation of Marija Šerifović's name. So many don't put the effort into getting our region's names right. I just wanted to know your effort is being appreciated.

[anonymous-zsrn]

It is also important to note how this idea of "lgbt acceptance is a value of the good and progressive west" is used in the opposite way, by a lot of individuals who live outside of those western countries, in order to portray progress, lgbt acceptance, or even the existence of lgbt people as something foreign, "eastern" or "American" that doesn't belong in "our" country and that "others" are trying to impose on "us".

Again, forgetting the fact that lots of people from non western countries are lgbt or allies, this fight is fought from the inside much more than it is from the outside - and that lgbt progress in western countries isn't something universally supported and didn't happen on its own and without extreme pushback in the first place. The rights we have now were usually not granted out of the goodness of our politicians' hearts.

[stopjuststop]

Im Eastern European and it rlly annoys me how there is this narrative that all Eastern Europeans are homophobic. My Parents, espacially my father, demonstrates since his youth against the government. My whole family is against it, even tho they grew up in a very conservative environment

[Skorphie]

This video essay is amazing. the lead is really buried by the title and thumbnail of the video - I wasn't expecting such an in depth and insightful anaylsis of race, class, xenophobia, activism, politics and homonationalism from this jumping off point.

[borkiborkiborki]

As a person living in post-communist country who happens to enjoy ESC, I was totally unaware that the west vs east Europe conflict was even a thing.

[kylejay]

"Yes, yes! Lesbians! Work that gendaH!" got me dying- 💀