Those Queer Devils: Queercoding Villains, Devils, and Demons in Mythopoeic Film and Media

In the early years of Hollywood’s Golden Age, The Hays Code functioned as a rigid morality code designed to shape the norms of Western culture. Its far-reaching impacts remain visible even decades after its enforcement was no longer required. In this talk, we will explore one of the most pervasive elements of the code’s legacy: the prohibition against showing LGBTQ characters in a positive light, and the resulting phenomenon of “queer-coding” characters. The practice of portraying LGBT+ characters through a lens of villainy and stereotype to adhere to the Hays Code requirement that queerness be punished and depicted as undesirable has led to a proliferation of villains, demons, and devils who are coded as Queer. We’ll explore why characters across a broad range of Mythopoeic works and adaptations, from Maleficent to Supernatural’s King of Hell to numerous depictions of Lucifer himself in music videos like Call Me By Your Name or television shows like Lucifer are queercoded, and how these norms have become heuristically embedded in mythopoeic storytelling

The Rings of Power Book Club (Part 2): Open Discussion on ‘The Peoples of Middle-earth: Tar-Elmar\u27

Participate in or spectate a hybrid in-person/online MythCon edition of ‘The Rings of Power Book Club,’ where we discuss excerpts from Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, and how they could relate to the upcoming Amazon streaming series. We will be discussing the following passage: The History of Middle-earth XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth: Tar-Elmar (422-427)

PANEL: “Hell Is Other People: Looking at the Political Rage Machine in Tolkien Fan Spaces and Media”

Following the backlash against the Tolkien Society’s “Tolkien and Diversity” seminar and the airing of the first season of Rings of Power, social media fan spaces for Tolkien remain politically charged and reactionary. Building on the foundation of Mythcon 51’s Roundtable “Race, Racisms, and Tolkien,” and Craig Franson’s work showcased there and on the podcast “American Id,” we will discuss the current state of Tolkien discourse on social media and how to navigate the landscape as safely as possible

PANEL: The Rings of Power Season 1: Underworlds, Overworlds, and Ocean Worlds

Now that the first of five planned seasons of Amazon’s big budget Second Age adaptation The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has aired, we will provide a retrospective of Season 1. We will compare Tolkien’s Second Age writings with the realized version in the show, including how the writers and showrunners have interpreted certain specific passages from the texts, and where significant departures were made for sake of adaptation. We will highlight themes of the season, as well as specific characters, relationships, and settings that have resonated with audiences, and speculate on where the series could potentially progress in Season 2 and beyond. From Númenor to Near Harad, Harfoots to High Elves, we will give you the meat, and give it to you raw