Eternals, the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film, was given an M18 rating by IMDA. Presumably, the most significant factor was the inclusion of a gay kiss in the movie between Brian Henry Tee’s character Phastos and his onscreen husband. After all, a quick look at all the other reasons given by IMDA on its website—sexual intimacy and scenes of violence—quickly bring to mind other films that have the same content but were given PG13 ratings instead, such as Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which is a lot gorier; or No Time To Die, which sees the titular spy in some intimate scenes at the beginning.
I understand the rating. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said before that LGBT issues could become divisive in society, and in a country as small as Singapore, social cohesion is important. After all, The Satanic Verses was banned in Singapore for religious reasons, and the majority of Singaporeans support Section 377A of the Penal Code, which reflects our values here.
And while other countries have given lower ratings for the film, certain countries have banned the film outright because of its portrayal of a gay couple. So in that sense, Singapore is fairly accepting of the film—it can be screened here, but it’s given an M18 rating. If you’re above 17, you get to see Phastos’ family of two fathers raising a son—a relatively important element of the story.
But it’s not all about gay representation. That is hardly the point of the film. There are other beneficial representations in Eternals. Like its brilliant representation of the hearing impaired. Or the fact that its cast is even more multicultural than Singapore. Whether it’s overt or not, one of the critical themes of the film is inclusivity—that there’s so much diversity in the world.
Giving it an M18 rating deprives younger audiences of all that. It denies our children the opportunity to see a deaf character on-screen—how many shows are willing to go to the effort to do that? It deprives our children of seeing people like them (yes, we had Shang-Chi, but we also have other races besides the Chinese in Singapore) on screen, as a Marvel superhero no less.
And representation is important if that wasn’t obvious enough. Portrayals on mass media transcend into public opinion. That’s why blackface isn’t acceptable and why it is essential to have a CMIO (Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others) cast in Singapore shows, as performative as it may sometimes seem. Like it or not, the media we watch affects our perception, and nobody is immune to that.
. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
However, I’m going to put it out there—explaining why two fathers are raising a child may not be the easiest thing to clarify for parents, especially since that isn’t a common sight. And I get the outrage that certain members of the public may have. Some may even take umbrage at it.
But surely, it’s no less difficult to explain than the almost-oral-sex scene in Squid Game (which also has an M18 rating), which many children under 18 have watched (given the number of TikTok viral videos out there) by now? We’re constantly bombarded with Squid Game memes and articles even though it’s chockful of inappropriate content.
A quick search on IMDA’s site was unable to pull up the reason for Squid Game’s rating, so there could be other reasons for it (like its extreme violence, for one). But clearly, we endorse Squid Game and assume everyone has watched it, so why not Eternals?
But okay, maybe Marvel Studios took too giant a leap forward. There was a mention of a gay date in a support group in Avengers: Endgame, Loki (PG13) has the title character briefly mentioning he is bisexual. So far, so vanilla. Then we jumped to the main character being in a same-sex parent family plus a kiss. It was a big leap, and having an overt gay kiss on screen could have been too much.
Or perhaps the kissing scene could have been cut, and IMDA could have given the film a lower rating, although it’s unclear if that would have caused less of an uproar than now. Even without the kiss, the same-sex family element was apparent, which may have caused Eternals to earn itself an M18 rating too. Cutting the entire same-sex family scene is not an option either, as it would gravely affect the movie’s plot.
One side moved too fast (not just for Singapore, but for some parts of the world, too), the other remained too conservative. That’s how Eternals became an M18 movie, a travesty for everything else that isn’t even remotely connected to the plot of the gay family in the film.
But at the end of the day, it’s the other forms of representation in the film which got hurt. And I wished that there could have been a bit more give-and-take on both sides, a bit less assertion of viewpoints on both parties, and a bit more understanding of both perspectives.
Then maybe more children could see themselves in the MCU in Eternals.
This is an original article on marcusgohmarcusgoh.com.
Follow Marcus Goh (yes, referring to myself in third person) on Facebook and Instagram for more (presumably) good updates!
I’m an independent scriptwriter who’s written for popular shows like Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site.
Send me an email if you want to get in touch!
Leave a Reply