"The Grays, Not the Gays": Netflix's Adaptation of "A Picture of Dorian Gray"
Fury Basso-Davis | September 18, 2024
"Oscar Wilde 1930 Catalan translation Dorian Gray" by Blau-Barcelona is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
This summer, Deadline announced Netflix’s adaptation of Oscar Wildes' infamous “The Picture of Dorian Gray” into a TV show titled “The Grays.” However, fans were left shocked and confused due to the creative decision to make Dorian Gray and Basil Hallward brothers. This takes out a key aspect of the novel because of the clear queer undertones of Dorian and Basils’ relationship.
The TV adaptation is being produced by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television which has had its share of controversy when it comes to queer relationships. In 2022, Warner Bros removed six seconds of “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” in China because of a reference to a gay relationship. Rina Mimoun, the Executive producer of “Girls on the Run” will serve as the showrunner and Katie Rose Rogers who is known for “Supergirl” and “Fellow Travelers” is set to be the show's writer. Representatives for both Netflix and Warners Bros. have declined to comment at this time.
This adaptation will take place in the modern-day beauty industry and will focus on Dorian’s fascination with eternal youth which doesn’t give much information about the rest of the plot and how their brotherhood will affect Dorian and Basils' original relationship.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the classic, Basil Hallward becomes infatuated with Dorian Gray which inspires him to paint Dorian's portrait. Dorian is obsessed with being young forever and with the portrait he is. The portrait ages in his place, and he looks as young as the day it was painted.
Although Dorian and Basil do not have an explicitly romantic relationship, there are multiple parts throughout the novel where the homoerotic undertones come into the light such as Basil saying “I worship you. I grew jealous of everyone to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you to myself. I was only happy when I was with you.” Fans of the novel have taken to both TikTok and X to address their concerns with Netflix’s adaptation saying “When you have a story like Dorian Gray written by a man who was criminally convicted for being gay, do u not see how wrong it is to make the two main characters, who were written as a hidden romantic interest, brothers…you actually cannot get MORE disrespectful.”
The series “The Grays” is the newest addition to the list of adaptations of “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” but this is the only one that has excluded the homoerotic undertones of Dorian and Basils' relationship. Fans come from a place of disappointment because of how Oscar Wilde was treated after the book was first published. It was called a perverted novel in the 1890s when it hit the shelves and was used as key evidence to convict Oscar Wilde of being homosexual which led to his arrest, trial and imprisonment. Though queer representation in film has begun to increase, keeping queer-coded and queer characters is so important especially when the queer community has been continuously under attack. Taking out the queerness from “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is not only current-day queer erasure but erases a part of Oscar Wilde's own identity from his work and queer people from the past. It’s crucial to remember that queer people have and will always exist.
As of now, it is unknown when filming will begin and end, but fans and critics alike are waiting for more details to be released.