Does Not Illustrate: Armoured Closet Gay

Armoured Closet Gay was imageless until current picture was added on 20th Nov this year. It doesn't match the meaning of the trope: the people in the image appear to be part of an LGBT pride parade, whereas the trope is about a character who acts straight or even homophobic to hide their sexuality. I assume the image was added as a Visual Pun on the literal meaning of the title, as with Hentai, but I feel it's not particularly witty (especially with regards to the caption) and may lead to misuse. I prefer to have the page imageless than keep the current picture, although a better image will of course be the ideal solution.

link to image◊. Caption: "Kinda like this only with fitted shelves and coat-hangers"

(edited for grammar)

edited 9th Dec '13 7:16:07 PM by nemui10pm

The current image is actively bad.

Any submitted image will probably take at least two frames, because this is a facade trope. The odd thing is he's not technically in the closet. He's spending some time in, and some time out.

Well, there's this strip from Wonderella in the examples section.

The tank should be pulled. It's only a partial Visual Pun, and what it actually illustrates is the opposite of the trope.

That looks more like a conversion than the trope.

Taken alone, the green Optimus Prime Expy is really macho looking for a robot, hence the "armored". Without the conversion, we run into what Crazysamaritan pointed out in that it won't be possible to tell they're gay underneath.

I've gone ahead and pulled the image; it's not even remotely close to the trope.

This pic is from a New York Times article reviewing Fellow Travelers.

Love it.

Meh to 7.1.

Looks more like a regular closet, if that.

I really like that, but I'm afraid that it relies a little too much on knowing the current hardline anti-gay stance the Russian govt. is taking.

The trope isn't that image anyhow, like mentioned it's a duality thing so requires two images.

Have to run. Cleaner version forthcoming.

edited 21st Dec '13 8:24:25 AM by Earnest

That's still not the trope.

From the laconic: "Acts excessively macho and homophobic to conceal the fact that he's gay."

Personally, I would consider membership in a gay bashing organization to be a fairly textbook way of establishing a character as being in an armored closet. The literal under the table touching of queer pink socks by two men also seems a good way of establishing them as gay. Is there a flaw in my logic or interpretation of the image? Please explain, otherwise I'll just keep posting unhelpful suggestions.

Laconic versions of tropes are a basic view of the trope, often leaving the mechanics out so reading the trope itself is something I tend to do rather than letting the Laconics point me in the wrong direction or miss what makes the trope work.

Anyway, I'm not big on it because it's all implication, that's why it doesn't ring true as the trope. But like I always tell myself, "you're probably wrong, five others will like it so be glad it's not your flawed judgement making the final call".

Points well taken. The image could be stronger with more machismo or active gay bashing, but I think all of them being in conservative dress and members of a gay bashing group can carry it. Let's wait and hear what the consensus has to say.

Barring finding something that is more closely illustrative of the trope, the table pic works for me.

Caption suggestion: "The four founders of the Anti-gay alliance."

Now that I'm not running around for Christmas foodstuffs, here's a cleaner version.

edited 22nd Dec '13 7:57:15 AM by Earnest

It's... okay. A little close to Boomerang Bigot for my taste.

Plus, what happens when (hopefully, it's "when") the Russian homophobic stance stops being topical?

It's why Earnest switched out the Soviet flag for something more pictorial so it doesn't lose meaning. I still don't like it though.

Technically, the original pic is a reference to the McCarthy hearings to denounce and blacklist Communists and gays, making it a fairly obscure bit of historical trivia. Like treelo said, replacing the USSR's flag with an no-gay sign is an attempt to make it more direct and long lasting.

edited 24th Dec '13 8:00:08 AM by Earnest

I don't know; I always pictured this trope as involving a lot of denial on the subject's part; the pic is way too... uh... willing, if that makes sense.