The centerpiece:
(#1) “Rainbow Dragons” (for LGBT Pride 2018) by Ross Sanger, on Deviant Art (hat tip to Kim Darnell)
Two effects here. One, in popular culture, dragons are tamed, almost to the point of cuteness; otherwise, they’re creatures of great power and potential danger (in Western traditions, active malevolence) — but here are cicurated (tamed, rendered mild or harmless), or even cutesified. And then, dragons have become loosely attached to gay culture; they’ve been homoized in some contexts — Homoland is, at the very least, congenial to dragons as symbols, perhaps as symbols of gay power, so that dragons and rainbows have come to have some affinity for one another, in draconical rainbows and arcipluvial dragons (like Sanger’s).
Especially in places where dragons bear some specific symbolic weight, gays and their rainbows are likely to follow: the red dragon of the Welsh flag; the logo of Dungeons and Dragons; and the dragon of Chnese astrology. But gay dragons, often in rainbow, might pop up anywhere (as in #1).
[Vocabulary notes.
— (relatively) transparent verb homoize ‘make gay’
— verb cicurate (< Lat. cicur ‘tame’) ‘to tame, to domesticate, to render mild or harmless: in OED2, but marked Obsolete; cites only from the 17th and early 18th centuries; I find it ornamental
— adj. arcipluvial (< Lat. arcus pluvius ‘rainbow’): said by some to be an old word in English, but not in OED2; also ornamental]
Sanger’s “Rainbow Dragons”. The artist’s personal notes on the piece, from the Deviant Art site:
I have been unsure about posting a pride picture in previous years — I’ve been a little unsure how to categorise my own orientation for starters, and although I realise that the prejudice of others has affected how I view myself and influenced me to act certain ways in attempts to be seen as “normal” in the past, it still felt like it wasn’t “my parade”, and that making something around it would be… intruding or butting in.
However, I have quite a few friends who are gay, trans, or queer in some way though, and some have gone through particularly hard times because of that — and with how things have been going in America these past few years I felt important to make something to show solidarity.
Flags from right to left: gay+, pan, transgender, nonbinary, bisexual, asexual.
Also, although I couldn’t fit every pride flag in, see if you can spot references to other flags I’ve included in the colours of these dragons.
The concept for this one was suggested by my friend otarrato.deviantart.com this was going to be a collab but he has had a particularly hard time lately, so instead I’m dedicating this picture to him. ❤️ much love to you, buddy.
As for myself, I’m tentatively waving pan-romantic and asexual flags, they seem to fit best
Background 1 . From my 4/11/19 posting “Monsters and their peeps”, in a section on dragons, from Wikipedia:
The popular western image of a dragon as winged, four-legged, and capable of breathing fire is an invention of the High Middle Ages based on a conflation of earlier dragons from different traditions. In western cultures, dragons are portrayed as monsters to be tamed or overcome, usually by saints or culture heroes, as in the popular legend of Saint George and the Dragon. They are often said to have ravenous appetites and to live in caves, where they hoard treasure. These dragons appear frequently in western fantasy literature, including The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, and A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.
The word “dragon” has also come to be applied to the Chinese lung (龍, Pinyin long), which are associated with good fortune and are thought to have power over rain. Dragons and their associations with rain are the source of the Chinese customs of dragon dancing and dragon boat racing.
(#2) On the kisspng images site: a rainbow Chinese dragon, by Oluoko
(Born in September 1940, I am a dragon. The next dragon year begins early in 2024, and I might just make it to then.)
Background 2. From the University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction website, in its symbolism dictionary under Dragon:
The dragon is a highly complex symbol, combining images of the serpent and the bird, two loaded images in isolation. Together, they form one of the most powerful monsters dating back to antiquity. The dragon is a symbol of evil, in both the chivalric and Christian traditions. In the Orient, it symbolizes supernatural power, wisdom, strength, and hidden knowledge. In most traditions, it is the embodiment of chaos and untamed nature. It is associated with the depths of the unknown sea, with the mountaintops, and with the clouds. Heroes typically fight (“slay”) dragons to gain control over territory; dragons are also usually guardians of a treasure,whether it be material (as in gold) or symbolic (as in knowledge). Killing the dragon is the conflict between light and darkness, slaying the forces of evil.
(#3) On the Nerdy Keppie site: Rainbow Gay Pride Dragon t-shirtIt has many correspondences: in psychology it is a fear of incest, or the chaos of the unconscious, evil. In alchemy it relates as one of the many names of prime matter. In Blake it represents sex and war, and in Yeats it is a guardian of life. Dragon blood is a talisman, ensuring good fortune, health and luck, can inflict incurable wounds if weapons are dipped in it.
Background 3. Wikipedia provides both a list of dragons in mythology and folklore and a list of dragons from works of fiction, with sublists:
in film and television (“Dragons have been portrayed in film and television in many different forms. They may terrorize human towns, or save human lives, even taking the role of passionate protectors”); in radio; in online audiovisual media; in comics and puppetry; in songs; in games; in toys; in theme parks and shows
From the first list, the red dragon of Wales. From my posting of 3/1/12 “Take a leek”
[from the National Museum of Wales site, from which I’ve extracted … notes on three national symbols [the red dragon, the leek, and the daffodil]:
According to tradition, the red dragon appeared on a crest born by Arthur, whose father, Uthr Bendragon [a.k.a. Uther Pendragon], had seen a dragon in the sky predicting that he would be king.
(#4) The Welsh flag
(#5) From the Redbubble site: a Welsh Gay Pride Flag, designed by sweetsixty, from St Anne’s-on-the-Sea, Lancashire
From the second list, the game Dungeons and Dragons and its logo:
(#6) D&D logos through 6 editionsDungeons & Dragons (commonly abbreviated as D&D) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro) since 1997. It was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system. D&D’s publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry. (Wikipedia link)
Now in a rainbow version:
(#6) From the CustomInk site, for a Wizards of the Coast fundraiser for Lambert House (serving LGBTQ youth in Seattle)
The Chicago Dragons Rugby Football Club. According to their site, “established to invite members from traditionally under-represented groups, particularly gay men, to engage in the world’s third most popular team sport”. The name connotes ferocity, the way team names like Cougars, Bears, or Wolverines do, but with a tip to gay drag as well.
(#7)
Gay dragon porn. Both the Chicago Dragons and the Claimed by the Gay Dragon 21-book Kindle series by Dick Rier — groan — were accidental finds, stumbled on while I was searching for the stuff I knew about.
(#8) In the series, “A hunky thief stumbles onto a gay dragon and is claimed by the monster!”
The series eventually wanders through other creatures of fantasy (Pegasus, centaurs, and elves, plus a prince and a king), and through a variety of entertaining titles:
1 Plundering the Prince, 2 Gay Dragon’s Passion, 3 Gay Dragon’s Hot Plunder, 4 Gay Dragon’s Hot Menage, 5 Prince Taken by the Gay Dragon, 6 Taken by the Gay Monster, 7 Gay Tentacle Delight, 8 Dragon’s Hot Gay Passion, 9 Prince’s Hot Plunder, 10 The Gay Prince Claimed, 11 Gay Dragon’s Domination, 12 Gay Pegasus Passion, 13 Gay Elf’s Passion, 14 Naughty Gay Elf, 15 Elvish Gay Delight, 16 Riding the Gay Dragon, 17 Gay Centaur’s Passion, 18 Submissive Gay Dragon, 19 Serving the Gay King, 20 Gay Dragon’s Passion, 21 Gay Dragons’ Fiery Passion
Uncovering Dick Rier’s books exposed the much larger vein of gay pocket porn, much of it packed with double entendres, and most of it dragonless — things like:
Gay Taboo, by Dick B. Thicke; Milking Dick, by Tyson Anthony; Taking My Stepdad, by Hunter Cain; Is It Wrong Dad?, by Lance Thruster; Gay Dom (and 3 other books), by Anita Dick; In Deep & Raw!, by Rod Hardwood; The Dragon’s Knight Errant, by Christie Sims; Under the Dragon’s Spell, by Ann-Katrin Byrde; Enflammé par le Dragon, par Julian Clearwater; etc.
And that’s the news from the Dragonville neighborhood of Homoland, where all the beasts are strong, all the men are queer, and all the sexual parts are above average.
May 13, 2019 at 3:31 pm |
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