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Joshua Valdes

Professor Granillo

English 103

4 May 2019

Breaking Down Societies Walls

“As far as I’m concerned the difference between being straight or gay is as simple as

whether you prefer dogs or cats, or coffee or tea. There is no better or worse, no right or wrong,

and if there is a why, who cares?’’ (Graham Norton) Today's society has enforced the idea of

heteronormativity. This has been an ongoing issue since the founding of our nation. Luckily with

the amount of people who are coming out and fighting for equality, there has been a lot of

change. A powerful way of spreading the message of equality is through music. There are tons of

artists that have sung about this and told their own personal story. Ben Platt’s “Older” describes

how people miss their chances, like falling in love, the older they get. While most people would

assume scenarios where a man falls in love with a woman, Ben Platt dismantles

heteronormativity. By way of queer theory/gender studies concepts such as heteropatriarchy,

compulsory heterosexuality, and heterocentrism spread awareness to the importance of equality

between all sexualities; thus, without “Older”, the heteronormative society we live in would

continue and not be broken down.

In order to make a statement that will help people realize the issue with our

heteronormative society, it's crucial to have a song that will stand out. The song is a hopeful and

joyful song with an uplifting melody and instrumentals. Ben Platt’s voice is also an extremely

powerful instrument. Being a trained singer with a musical theatre background, he has the skills
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to project his voice giving it an intensity that is great for storytelling. All of these attributes apply

to his masterpiece “Older”. The song is meant to give the feeling of hope as well as a warning

that time goes by fast, therefore it’s important to seize every moment we have. This song is

impactful because the audience is limitless, meaning the song can apply to anyone that has or is

currently taking their time for granted. The main form of rhetoric in this song is pathos, which is

an appeal to people's feelings, due to the emotional stance of the lyrics and music video. There

are many heartfelt scenes throughout the music video that have the power to bring tears to the

viewers eyes. This combined with the uplifting and beautiful song strikes emotional feelings

within the soul causing the audience to think about and reflect on the message.

The purpose of this song is to help people take chances in their life because of the

likelihood of regretting it if they don't. The song uses many scenarios, but the prominent one is

missing a chance at falling in love. In most music, this love would be described between a man

and woman. If this is not made clear within the context of the song, the lyrics would usually be

neutral which would give the impression that if a man was singing about love, it was to a woman

and vice versa. Ben Platt’s song however goes against heteronormativity by him being truthful to

who he is and discussing relations between two men.

Ben Platt’s “Older” brings awareness to the importance of equality between all

sexualities because of the reference to queer theory concepts that are addressed. According to

“Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide” Heteropatriarchy “draws our attention to the

fact that patriarchy, because it is biased in favor of traditional gender roles, is always biased in

favor of hetero-sexuality.”(Lois Tyson) This concept is used in the song when he states “Get to

know myself in the place I am, get to fall in love with another man and understand” (Ben Platt)
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The idea of falling in love within our culture is usually thought of as being heterosexual, but Ben

Platt breaks the idea of heteropatriarchy by stating himself falling in love with a man. The

significance behind this is the idea that he is ignoring the corrupt heteropatriarchal way of our

society. This will influence people to believe that this type of society does not need to be normal

and will help further the fight for equality.

The United States as of recently has started to see a big change in equality regarding

sexual orientation. As the theme of the song revolves around time, in the past these ideas that

Ben Platt is singing about wouldn't even be considered as normal. In an article titled “Gay

Rights: Do People Deserve the Same Rights and Protections Regardless of Sexual Orientation,

Including the Right to Marry?” it is stated that “Americans' views on homosexuality have shifted

markedly over the past few decades. In 1996, a Gallup poll showed only 27 percent of

Americans supported gay marriage. By 2018, that figure had reached 67 percent, the highest yet

recorded and accounting for approximately two out of three Americans.” (Infobase Learning)

Though this percentage is still relatively low, it’s a major shift from the previous years. We are

in a time now that instead of fighting for just the right to be who you are, we are now trying to go

the extra step which is normalizing it. Ben Platt’s “Older” does an excellent job of this because

his intention was not to protest but to merely state his truth as well as many others without

making it a huge controversy.

A major theorist in queer theory is American philosopher Judith Butler. She addresses a

situation that has been ongoing since the beginning of her studies and the studies of theorists

before her. She addresses this in one of her works titled “Critically Queer” stating “the term

“queer” emerges as an interpellation that raises the question of the status of force and opposition,
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of stability and variability, within performativity. The term “queer” has operated as one linguistic

practice whose purpose has been the shaming of the subject it names or, rather, the producing of

a subject through that shaming interpellation.” (Judith Butler) Though the term queer is not

supposed to carry a negative connotation, it unfortunately does due to its history. When people

who may be contemplating the idea that they are not heterosexual, they most likely will fear

coming out due to terms such as this one. The unfortunate reality is many people who are under

this category of sexual orientation face a difficult life because of the outrageous oppression.

Judith Butler’s research relates to another queer theory concept shown in “Older”.

Throughout the video there are two older men that have feelings for eachother and want to be

together but have let time slip away. At the end of the song/video, there is a scene where the two

men finally meet again face to face. (00:03:17) The concept being shown here is compulsory

heterosexuality which is used “among others, to describe the enormous pressure to be

heterosexual placed on young people by their families, schools, the church, the medical

professions, and all forms of the media.” (Lois Tyson) This was very prominent and still is

today. These two men waiting all this time to finally be together could be a sign of compulsory

heterosexuality because of the idea that maybe back in their time, they were oppressed for being

themselves and were scared to live their truth.

As mentioned before we have seen a lot of change in recent years, but before that being

openly gay was something out of the ordinary. An article titled “Transgender Rights: Should

Federal, State, and Local Governments Take Steps to Protect Transgender Rights?” claims “In

recent years, the gay community has made major strides in securing legal rights. In June 2015,

for example, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that same-sex couples had the right to marry,
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overturning gay marriage bans nationwide.” (Infobase) An important piece of information

regarding this quote is June 2015. That means that before that it was not legally allowed to marry

someone of the same sex. This can explain a lot in reference to the attitude towards non

heterosexual couples in the past. It proves that the majority of people disagreed with the thought

of same sex relations making non heterosexuals a minority. As we have seen in the past and are

currently seeing, minorities are most of the time singled out in this country in oppressive ways.

This explains why the two men in the music video never took their shot at love when they were

younger.

Ben Platt’s “Older” is changing the way people think about relationships in the United

States. He is dismantling the idea of heteropatriarchy but this is a challenge because of a queer

theory concept that coexists with heteropatriarchy. Heterocentrism “is a more subtle form of

prejudice against LGBTQ individuals, is the assumption, often unconscious, that heterosexuality

is universal, for instance that everyone in the room – unless someone makes a point of being

otherwise – is heterosexual.” (Lois Tyson) The United States, as well as the world, has had this

idea that it’s normal to assume everybody is straight unless they say otherwise. Many people

know this as “coming out”. This is when a non heterosexual person openly comes out to

everybody. The reason this can be considered prejudice is because people only have to do this

when they are not heterosexual. If “coming out” was truly a non prejudice act, it would mean

that all people would have to do it. Whatever sexual orientation a person may be, they would

have to openly state. After analyzing this, it’s clear to see that this is unnecessary and does not

have to be a normal practice in our society.

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Ben Platt’s “Older” is suggesting that the idea of heterocentrism should be broken.

Within the context of the song, Ben Platt never comes out as gay. When he sings “get to fall in

love with another man and understand”, people who are not familiar with him might be surprised

at first that he is gay. This is an example of how people assume that all people are heterosexual.

Hypothetically, if Ben Platt were straight and sang “get to fall in love with another woman”, the

general reaction would be less surprised. This is because of the heterocentric society that is

displayed in our current lives. Platt is breaking down this idea by not putting emphasis into

sexuality and singing about his life in a way that is normal. This can start to change the minds of

many by getting them into a mindset that allows them to not assume anyones sexuality and just

be open to all possibilities.

This song serves as an anthem to all people by letting them know that every second

counts and to make the best of it. Ben Platt takes it a step further by making it inclusive to all

people and by emphasizing non heterosexual relations. This truly spreads a message to everyone

that love is all around and no matter who the person may be, everyone has a chance to be happy.

Without this song, this message would not be as powerful as well as not break down the idea of

our heteronormative society.

Through queer theory concepts such as heteropatriarchy, compulsory heterosexuality, and

heterocentrism, Ben Platt’s “Older” describes the importance of equality for all sexual

orientation. This song will slowly help people change the way they think about the

heteronormative world we live in and continue to inspire many helping our society move in a

positive direction where all people can live equal.

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Works Cited

Tyson, Lois. ​Critical Theory Today: a User-Friendly Guide​. Routledge, 2015.

“Transgender Rights: Should Federal, State, and Local Governments Take Steps to Protect

Transgender Rights .” ​Infobase Learning - Login,​

icof.infobaselearning.com/articles/rights-and-liberties/transgender-rights.aspx?issueID=15719&h

d=14985.

“Gay Rights: Do People Deserve the Same Rights and Protections Regardless of Sexual

Orientation, Including the Right to Marry?” ​Infobase Learning - Login,​

icof.infobaselearning.com/articles/rights-and-liberties/gay-rights.aspx?issueID=15719&hd=6339

Butler, Judith. “Summary: Critically Queer / Judith Butler - Part 1.” ​Summary: Critically Queer /

Judith Butler - Part 1​,

culturalstudiesnow.blogspot.com/2017/11/summary-critically-queer-judith-butler.html.