Jughead has been rechristened as a lesbian style icon and the internet has gone wild
You’ve probably been hiding under a rock if you haven’t heard of Riverdale.
The series, which took Netflix by storm at the beginning of 2017, has detailed the compelling lives of the Archie Comics characters in the American town.
And in both a sophisticated critique and a (potentially) helpful fashion segment, Autostraddle decided to take their love for the show one step further – by informing readers how to dress like Riverdale’s Jughead Jones.
For those not in the know, protagonist Jughead is a straight male in the show, but according to the queer women’s publication, his look would work in a lot of lesbians’ wardrobes.
“There are a number of shows out there with real lesbian characters, and I love a lot of them!,” wrote writer Molly Osterlag.
“What I love less, though, is the depressing tendency for lesbian characters to get killed off, and the rarity of a gay relationship ever being a show’s main romance,” she continued.
“That’s why my girlfriend and I play a game when we’re watching TV, which entails pointing at pretty much any character at all and declaring that they are Definitely a Lesbian. What matters the most is their gay vibe — an ineffable quality that has something to do with good hair (bonus points if they have chemistry with another Definitely Lesbian character on the show),” she added.
It is through this knowledge that Osterlag decided to bring Jughead into the lesbian style icon canon.
“This brings me to Riverdale’s Jughead. The CW teen drama does not, so far, have any Canon Lesbians in it (although they just confirmed a bi lady character, heck yeah) but I’ve decided that pretty much everyone except Archie is a lesbian, and Jughead is my very favorite.
The depiction of Jughead as the lesbian hero we need has divided critics.
https://twitter.com/merrittk/status/949030724446846985
https://twitter.com/zarisvixen/status/949014465701228544
https://twitter.com/tylerspolaroids/status/949028489340051456
“No lesbian dresses like Jughead, delete.”
Me: pic.twitter.com/hktrDwXIs4
— jesk, ghost of a human man (@_glavinder) January 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/NonaTweets2U/status/949516217865322498
https://twitter.com/creepynkooky/status/949413811047600128
In the Archie Comics original, Jughead is asexual, but this has not translated to the screen.
Disappointed asexual fans vented their frustration at the changed storyline, but the creator of the show said that that this was due to the fact that the characters are “discovering their sexuality” in the series.
“The way we’re treating Riverdale, especially season one, is it’s an origin story,” Aguirre-Sacasa told MTV News. “So I think all of the kids are discovering themselves, and a big part of that is discovering their sexuality, their sexual selves. Rather than have everything fully formed — for instance, we’re not going to start with Archie’s band or Jughead’s asexuality or any of the things that have become canon — those are all stops on the way to the journey until the show catches up to 75 years of Archie history.”
