Unpacking RWBY's 'Fair Game' Queerbaiting Controversy

The release of RWBY Volume 7’s penultimate episode, ‘With Friends like These’, sparked immediate controversy when the partnership Qrow and Clover had been building throughout the season ended violently with Clover’s death. Fans who read their relationship as a budding romance took to social media to criticize the show for queerbaiting and implementing the 'bury your gays' trope. In turn, their criticism was rejected by other fans, who staunchly maintained that the show had done no such thing and the backlash was baseless. Now, a year after the release of ‘With Friends Like These’, fans remain divided by this issue even as the story progresses. With Clover’s death still casting a shadow over the show, it’s worth fully exploring this controversy by examining the claims of queerbaiting, the events leading up to Volume 7, Episode 12, and the fallout from it in order to understand the impact it had on its audience, the narrative implications it holds, and what it means for RWBY going forward. ____ Please note that this video will contain images of Clover's death that may be upsetting to some viewers and discretion is advised. All graphic images of Clover's death are proceeded by a warning to allow viewers to avoid them, but non-graphic images will not have this warning. For the spoiler-conscious, please be aware that although this video is primarily focused on Volume 7 of RWBY, it does contain minor references events in RWBY Volume 8 up through V8E7. ____ This video contains royalty-free music courtesy of BenSound: https://www.bensound.com/ If you really liked this video and want to throw me a few bucks, I have a ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/scwillard ____ Table of Contents: 0:00 Intro 2:42 Part 1: Defining Queerbaiting 6:35 Part 2: Textual Analysis | Clover's Intro 7:31 Abandoned Dust Mine 11:04 Perfectly Complement One Another 13:19 Truck Scene 17:42 Gazes 19:09 Clover's Showy Behavior 20:28 Design Elements 22:00 Schnee Manor 22:31 Clover, Qrow, and Robyn vs Tyrian 23:12 Leadup to Clover's Death 24:38 Clover's Death 26:55 Looking at Clover's Pin 27:27 Explaining 'Bury Your Gays' 29:00 'Bury Your Gays' and RWBY 32:24 Part 3: Paratextual Queerbaiting 35:55 Part 4: Negotiating Creator Responsibility 41:10 BYG and Miles Luna 42:08 Part 5: Official and Creative Response 47:25 Volume 7 Commentary 52:26 Closing Thoughts 55:02 Credits