Pitch Perfect and the Cruelty of Queerbaiting | Video Essay | Pride Month Special

Please note when I state LGBT, I include ALL under that umbrella: LGBTQIA+. I use LGBT and Queer as shorthand.

Music:

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:15 What is Queerbaiting
03:36 How Pitch Perfect Queerbaits
09:00 The Sequels Get Worse
15:38 Behind the Scenes
19:18 Conclusion

Sources:

[nanathegoat]

The fact that they made the only lesbian character rapey af is just wow. Takes me back to the days where my dorm room mate refused to share a room with me cause she was sure i would 'do something' to her at night... We had been roomates for more than 5 months at this point before she found out i like women.

[onIyindreams]

sapphic queerbaits are never taken seriously and are sooo overly fetishized this video is so refreshing

[chandley]

Pitch Perfect is a great example of performative inclusion. Any characters that represent a marginalized group or sub-culture are relegated to the background or only brought forth to play into a very damaging stereotype. It's all disappointing, especially because none of the straight pairings had an ounce of chemistry and charm that Becca and Chloe did. Great video!

[jamdoe]

Maybe I just never saw the trailers but I never got the vibe that Bechloe was ever really an endgame. The only LGBT character they could show in the first film was a lesbian predator and her ex used for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it joke/twist. LGBT characters can be introduced later but it's a hell of a tonesetter.

16:57 Man, knowing that Rebel Wilson was closeted saying this adds another layer of sadness to this interaction. I know that if I were her, I'd be so sad not to reach my community that way.

[viv]

I think this franchise was a perfect example of how fan reaction/perception can alter an entire franchise. In the first film, the focus is on both Beca AND Jesse, as well as their respective groups. However, by the second film Jesse becomes a side character. They actually filmed an entire Beca and Jesse storyline that was cut from the second movie. Then, in the third film Jesse and the other Treblemakers are removed completely. In the end, neither "Jeca" or "Bechloe" fans were happy. Which begs the question - what was the point? Personally, I was a fan of Beca and Jesse and their erasure in the subsequent sequels frustrated me. That being said, if the writers and producers had genuinely opted to make Beca and Chloe happen I would've understood. Instead, the producers resorted to queerbaiting and pitting the two couples against each other. If they were never serious about Bechloe (and honestly, I don't think it was ever the writers intention to put them together) then they should've continued the Beca and Jesse plot line because it was one of the only actual fleshed out storylines holding the movies together. Instead the writers refused to "commit" to either of the couples and as a result we're left with a mediocre sequel and a third movie that feels like a poorly written fanfiction. I truly believe that the downfall of many franchises occurs when writers and producers pay too much attention to "what the fans want" from sequels.

[rubyeloise]

I love that someone made a video about this! It also makes me feel sad for Rebel who was "closeted" at the time. It makes me wonder if the studio being so anti-lgbt in their movies had something to do with her not being comfortable being publicly out. I just can't imagine having to deliver those jokes making fun of lesbians whilst having to hide being lesbian herself.

[notkorro]

Shelley Regner was on a podcast (I believe) where she talked about how Rebel, Kendrick, and Snow stayed behind and missed the afterparty to film their kiss and it was sent to the cast in a groupchat. The whole cast supported Bechloe ending up together too! We. Were. ROBBED!!!

[bennettr]

I've been in the bechloe fandom so long I should qualify for a veterans' discount, and I've never seen anyone make a video like this so thank you for that!
I was a very young, closeted teen when I got into this fandom. I didn't have a lot of experience with how homophobic the mainstream film industry could be, and hoped against hope that they would make bechloe canon in the sequels. This video really clarifies a lot of things I couldn't see at the time. Particularly with the treatment of Cynthia Rose, I don't know how I ever thought this franchise would be capable of respecting queer people. The "representation" of a canon lesbian character is outweighed by centuries-old homophobic and racist stereotypes.
It always felt particularly cruel the way the story would dance around Beca and Chloe's potential queerness. Like they would just throw random bits of queercoding into the narrative in a non-linear and shallow way, feeding scraps to queer fans in a way that betrayed their fundamental lack of concern for what those fans wanted. Especially by attempting to re-affirm both characters' heterosexuality in the final movie, despite the SHOCKINGLY blatant bechloe-centric advertisements.

[testingno]

Bechloe was my introduction into queer fandom. I remember watching the movie as a little closeted lesbian, getting definite vibes from chloe and beca, and feeling so seen and validated when I discovered thousands of people online saw the same thing I did. The queerbaiting felt hella cruel, esp when you're a closeted teen trying to find some escape and representation. But I'll always be ride or die for Anna Kendrick. It really felt like she had our backs in all those interviews, and her and brittany posting like bechloe insta pics whenever they were together. I guess anyone could still make the argument that she just did it for marketing but it always felt genuine, esp after she refused her character to get in another relationship with a random man and made them film a bechloe kiss

[Brione]

I am actually disgusted to learn that Universal advertised a “Will they won’t they” relationship, in a movie where that relationship is implied at best.

[AReadsManga]

I wasn’t a big Pitch Perfect fan and I never saw the shower scene as romantic, if anything Becka seemed pretty uncomfortable, but that second movie…WOW, they sure went hard on the baiting.
Also, man, that Castiel scene was painful. They did supernatural fans so dirty it’s crazy

[hkhutton]

I was waiting for a video like this. I am a trans man, but I had identified as a wlw throughout my teens and early twenties, and am still involved (to a certain, appropriate degree) in lesbian fandom and spaces. I was also a die-hard Bechloe shipper on Tumblr throughout the Pitch Perfect franchise. I'm a fan of all the films, they're fun and something to watch for a pick-me-up, but I remember in 2018 being absolutely dumbfounded by the advertising for PP3. I was cynical enough to know that they weren't going to actually have Beca and Chloe get together, but I couldn't help but engage in the hype the fandom had at the time. It was so blatant! Not even a hint, not subtext--completely direct. It was so direct, in fact, that it gave me a sliver of doubt. I'd categorize it, as well as the marketing for Riverdale season 1, as cruel. To a community who was especially lacking in representation at the time. It upsets me to this day, because I remember how excited everyone got, and then how disappointed they were after.

[razhelfombelle]

This franchise is queerphobic, racist and fatphobic but since it plays the card of self-awareness, everybody decides to ignore it. It's infuriating.

[celestinoclemente]

I knew there was queerbaiting in the movie but oh my god, that whole "will they won't they" promotion is just downright nasty.

[skallywalla]

Thank you for this. The marketing for PP3 jaw dropping in how absolutely queerbaiting at its most shameless can be. And will always and forever love Anna Kendrick for how much she talks candidly about loving women and promoting any and all queer ships people put her in.

[ceceliam]

I think there was also a big disconnect between what the actors and the writers and even the director wanted to do with BeChloe, and what the producers would let them do. The actors hinted at trying to fight for BeChloe and meeting resistance a lot (at least Anna Kendrick, and Rebel Wilson). There's often a big difference between what the artists want and what the industry wants.

[camc]

It actually hurts me! Those characters were in love and society kept them apart.

[keldaoldman]

You're so right! The marketing is disgusting! Can't remember all the questions you asked but I certainly would have loved to see a moment that isn't just pure chemistry, the two of them have that in spades but what the directors wouldn't let them do was to have a serious and practical moment where they would be honest and either pursue or reject one another's feelings. But for that the film makers would have to take the queer community itself seriously...

[crouchingidiot]

I’m always glad to hear people call out queerbaiting. Corporations don’t deserve sympathy or the benefit of the doubt, or for queer people to come up with excuses for them. They deserve to be called out for their greed

[cidevant]

The line "she is not a lesbian or bisexual. She is just a girl that loves everyone🥰" pissed me off because WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Is she pansexual then? Just say she is straight and stop with the flowery nonsense.