Bohemian Rhapsody's Unmet Expectations

With all of the excitement built up for the release of Freddie Mercury's biopic this weekend, a major factor was the expectation of seeing a famously gender-binary bending celebrity finally be represented in a way that embodies his whole identity in our modern, slightly more progressive era. However, in this review by Zeba Blay of Huffington Post, certain lacking parts of the film are noted. The film does touch on both his South Asian Parsi roots and his queerness, however, it continues to support the unending streak of symbolic annihilation in the manner it addresses these aspects of his identity. Instead of embracing the complex queerness in Mercury's identity, he is portrayed as trying to avoid it in order to create a heterosexual romantic interest in Mercury's longtime friend. Additionally, while his mother says he was very proud of his Parsi roots, Mercury's minority status in the film is also a form of symbolic annihilation, by showing him as trying to disconnect himself from his culture in various ways, representing how modern entertainment tries to assimilate beloved celebrity figures.