"Constantine" Adds Zed, Teases the Spectre, Talks Smoking, Bisexuality

[Melwicker]

Oh, well. Constantine's smoking habit cannot be shown on network television because broadcast standards for network television cannot allow heroes and protagonists to smoke.
I can understand this because smoking is a filthy, unhealthy, sickening lifestyle choice and addiction.
My grandmother smokes... and she has become very sick from the filthy habit. I absolutely HATE the smoking habit. I hate the habit because smoking anything can harm the lungs whether it is tobacco, marijuana, or herbal cigarettes.
I absolutely hate lung diseases of any type whether such lung diseases are caused by smoking or by other environmental/ biological factors. My paternal grandfather died of a occupational/work related lung disease.


As for Constantine's bisexuality, I cannot understand why the network wouldn't let Constantine's sexuality be shown on the TV program... even when the showrunners might portray his sexual orientation in a sympathetic way. John Constantine is a fictional member of the LGBT community...as such, he is a member of a persecuted minority community. The LGBT community are fighting for their human rights and for equality and tolerance. The LGBT community are a genetic minority compared to the straight community. They need to be recognized on network television as sympathetic characters who are just as human as everyone else.
I don't know why NBC won't let John Constantine's bisexuality be on the show.... when it would make perfect political and social sense to portray him as a bisexual person in a sympathetic manner.

[theonethatdied]

I can't recall his bi status in his Vertigo series, but he's bi in the New 52.

[Kalen O.]

LOL at 'well he just doesn't have enough dude on dude relationships to be worth showing'. Sorry everyone, I'd comment more on this, but I gotta run and go find some guys to mack on or I'm in danger of not meeting my monthly quota. They might revoke my bi card and then I'd just be straight again!

(Yes, I'm using hyperbole and am aware that's not precisely what he said, just saying that's how it comes across. Not to mention this is a brand new medium for the character, so all that matters are how significant his relationships with men are in the show, and that's completely up to them. If Constantine isn't going to be portrayed as bi in this show, its not because he didn't get with enough guys in the comics, its because they just don't want him to be.)

[Time Like Lightning]

LOL at 'well he just doesn't have enough dude on dude relationships to be worth showing'. Sorry everyone, I'd comment more on this, but I gotta run and go find some guys to mack on or I'm in danger of not meeting my monthly quota. They might revoke my bi card and then I'd just be straight again!

(Yes, I'm using hyperbole and am aware that's not precisely what he said, just saying that's how it comes across. Not to mention this is a brand new medium for the character, so all that matters are how significant his relationships with men are in the show, and that's completely up to them. If Constantine isn't going to be portrayed as bi in this show, its not because he didn't get with enough guys in the comics, its because they just don't want him to be.)

That's exactly how it read to me. Screw this reasoning, if you don't want to squick the Republicans and insecure heterosexual male fans watching the show, just say so. I'm sorry my sexuality isn't worth putting on TV.

[Midvillian1322]

I really don't remember anything from Hellblazer suggesting John was Bi. Most occasional readers would say the same. So that why is character shouldn't be BI nothing to do with anything else. The New 52 I haven't touched so Ill take everyones word for it that hes Bi in there. That's like making Colossus gay in a X-men movie because another version is gay.


Also on HBO,Starz,Showtime. there plenty of heros who are gay. Half of the Spartacus line up was lol. Josh Hartnet's characters on penny dreadful is Bi, they did it in a tasteful way too. Everyone on that show Trueblood goes both ways. I don't think society as a whole is homophobic or has a problem with its heros being gay or bi. Just a small religious,mostly republican, anti-intellectual group of people. In Constantines case its just not important to his character. If they had a show with Northstar and he wasn't gay then you should be mad.

If they have Alan Scott in a movie or tv show I guarantee it wont be the new gay version, Just because that's not the one most fans associate with.

[Anduinel]

Maybe it was implied, or an interpretation of what was presented?

Or, could be like Holmes and Watson - subtext, to be interpreted, by what's said, and what's there.

I don't know, as I'm only as far into Hellblazer as the start of this arc where Demons are buying up real estate, after this arc with a hunger spirit/Demon, Mnemoth, so didn't see much there so far, anyway.

He was never given a steady boyfriend or anything in the original series, but his sexuality was explicit text, not subtext or fanon. He mentioned having had the odd boyfriend, and at one point was shown with a male lover (the Azzarello run, iirc).







(Last one is severely cropped, as it's NSFW-ish)

[theonethatdied]

Ah, cool. Thanks for that, Anduinel.

[stairmaster]

That's exactly how it read to me. Screw this reasoning, if you don't want to squick the Republicans and insecure heterosexual male fans watching the show, just say so. I'm sorry my sexuality isn't worth putting on TV.

I agree. If you don't want to address sexuality then I don't expect to see any opposite sex attraction either. To show one, but then say you can't show the other seems a little hypocrytical. Be honest with the viewer and let us decide if we want to watch the show.

[hydro123456]

I have no problem with them skipping the bi-sexual aspect. Like others have mentioned I've read a lot of Hellblazer and don't remember any of it, but from the looks of it, it was mentioned once, and shown once out of 300+ issues? I don't really see how taking it out affects the character, especially since so many other things will be arbitrarily changed for TV as well. It's not like they are going for a faithful adaption here.

[RobertoDaCosta]

what if every time a scene begins we see him throwing a cigarette end? meaning he was smoking but we never actually get to see any smoke or smoking?
or whenever he can he will get out a cigarettes box but it's empty and he throws it?
or maybe he puts a cigarette out and puts it in his mouth but then he's chased or attacked by something and the cigarette falls to the floor before he can even light it?
is it still considered smoking if he never actually gets to smoke on panel?

[hydro123456]

what if every time a scene begins we see him throwing a cigarette end? meaning he was smoking but we never actually get to see any smoke or smoking?
or whenever he can he will get out a cigarettes box but it's empty and he throws it?
or maybe he puts a cigarette out and puts it in his mouth but then he's chased or attacked by something and the cigarette falls to the floor before he can even light it?
is it still considered smoking if he never actually gets to smoke on panel?

I think it's considered a lame gag at that point.

[The_Greatest_Username]

I have no problem with them skipping the bi-sexual aspect. Like others have mentioned I've read a lot of Hellblazer and don't remember any of it, but from the looks of it, it was mentioned once, and shown once out of 300+ issues? I don't really see how taking it out affects the character, especially since so many other things will be arbitrarily changed for TV as well. It's not like they are going for a faithful adaption here.

That's still no reason to apply heteronormativity to a bisexual character. This show as a great opportunity to expand representation on network TV, but they don't seem interested in progressing.

[hydro123456]

That's still no reason to apply heteronormativity to a bisexual character. This show as a great opportunity to expand representation on network TV, but they don't seem interested in progressing.

Lets say they decided to mention it in one sentence in seasons 3, and then show it once in season 10. Would that satisfy people? Because that's about how often it happened in the comics. I feel like adding it in any significant way would feel like it was shoe-horned in for most comic fans.

[Kalen O.]

Lets say they decided to mention it in one sentence in seasons 3, and then show it once in season 10. Would that satisfy people? Because that's about how often it happened in the comics. I feel like adding it in any significant way would feel like it was shoe-horned in for most comic fans.

Sorry, but that's BS justification. This is an adaptation of an existing comicbook character, who is factually, canonically bisexual. Like every adaptation, the show is picking and choosing what elements it wants to carry over, and leaving out what they don't. There is no quota for how many men you have to be with to be bisexual. Whether Constantine has been shown with one (and he's been shown with more than one guy over the years, its not nearly as rare as that interview is making it seem) or with sixty, he is still bisexual. Now how big or little a part of his character it would be on the show would be entirely up to the show, since its essentially a blank slate. They could have him with a lot of guys on the show, or just with one now and then. Portraying him as a guy who has a healthy sexual appetite and just showing him leaving a guy in bed instead of a girl in bed every once in awhile would be all it would take to establish his bisexuality and still have it not be a big part of his character, because its all just sex to him. That's a choice the show could have made, and one that would have been in keeping with comicbook canon. Instead the show is choosing not to address it at all, which is effectively, erasure. They chose to make a show about one of the only bisexual male characters in comicbooks, and left out the bisexual part by choice - and this whole 'well its because it shouldn't really be a big deal because he's only with a guy every once in awhile so he's pretty much straight anyway' is total disingenuous bullshit and actually pretty offensive in its ignorance about bisexuality in the first place.

And honestly, I don't think most of us ever believed they'd make him bi in the show anyway, its their BS sidestepping of the issue that's pissing most of us off. Representation matters, and if you don't want your show to be part of that, fine, whatever, its your show....but the 'he's barely bi so it shouldn't be a big deal' **** is just gross.

[Kieran_Frost]

Lets say they decided to mention it in one sentence in seasons 3, and then show it once in season 10. Would that satisfy people? Because that's about how often it happened in the comics. I feel like adding it in any significant way would feel like it was shoe-horned in for most comic fans.

It would satisfy me more than having one of comics most famous LGBT character straight washed, yes. I think nearly all LGBT comic readers would say the same thing. Asking for it to not be intentionally ignored, and wanting it to dominate every episode as a plot point is not the same thing. No-one thinks the first episode should start off with him naked with one man and one woman... but the creator are ACTIVELY going to ignore part of the character. That's not acceptable, and incredibly offensive to some LGBT viewers.