Be Gay Do Crime

Community Building and Queer Solidarity in "Cloudpunk" and "Motor Crush"

Abstract

This essay deals with queer theory and how it applies to the videogame Cloudpunk and the comic series Motor Crush. Both of these texts use cyberpunk settings to tell stories about finding hope in community. Each text features protagonists trying to navigate worlds where legal success is highly competitive and practically impossible. They must therefore turn to community building, mutual aid, and criminal activity to find happiness. This analysis views the texts through the lens of queer time and queer space making practices as outlined by J Jack Halberstam and Jose Esteban Muñoz. Central to this article’s exploration of these texts is the characters inability and/or refusal to fit neatly into the worlds they inhabit, and how they must therefore find success outside of accepted channels. Success is only found by these characters through an attitude that can be summarised by the queer anarchist meme “be gay, do crime”, which connotes a sense of mischief, solidarity, and standing up to authority. The rigid social hierarchies that are built into the dystopian worlds is reflected in the infrastructure of the cities, which do not account for anyone living outside of an accepted norm. It is therefore considered an act of radical solidarity to break the rules if it is in support of others.