So a few days ago I was overthinking Goldwez, like every person does with their hyperfixation and had the biggest galaxy brain moment, so hear me out.

To get this kickin, I'll detour a bit to a different show that's dear to me, Steven Universe. This is gonna be dumb but hear me out. Y'all remember the Rupphire wedding, right?

Yeehaw, lesbians!

I saw at least one post describing how masterfully was this done because neither the episode could be skipped (this was the episode when the Diamonds arrived and Garnet got together again plus her outfit also changed and these are not things that just appear out of blue) and neither the kiss could be cut out (not only would it look silly going from no Garnet to yes Garnet, but also it just... can't be cut out completely because... when they pan out from the close-up, they're still kissing and if you're going to cut out the whole kissing scene, you'll end up with the no Garnet to yes Garnet situation) and if you gave Ruby a male voice during the dub because you are a homophobic country you STILL ended up in loss because now you have a crossdressing dude Ruby. What are you gonna do? Cry? Throw a fit? 

More epic yeehaw lesbians moments. It's also an epic Rebecca Sugar moment. Nice job, miss Sugar and crewniverse, you really pulled this wedding perfect. 


Now, the comparison I'm about to make might feel unfair (I feel so myself about it, don't worry), but look. Hear me out. Miller pulled something similar. Goldwez was unavoidable no matter how you twist it and the Golden Youth was just bafflingly there. 
What led me to start this train of thought is that I was thinking really hard about the Golden Youth's outfit and then something clicked with the very back corner of my brain (so back that I don't even remember how I came to this conclusion): Goldie's outfit is not a coincidence. 

Wez and his bare-chested babe 

The above is my favorite shot of them (look at the cuteness that is Goldie! Look at him. And also Wez, but the spotlight isn't on him right now). It also does a great job in showing off Goldie's upper half. His chest, as well as stomach, is whole out. 

Never underestimate how stubbornly straight people can and will "confuse" certain characters for the opposite gender cause they can't fathom that there can be a same-sex couple (see: that instance with the Night in the Wood characters Angus and Gregg where somebody thought Angus was a girl's name because... they're a couple... and how come it's a gay couple...). Anyway, what popped in my mind is that if they didn't give Goldie this bare-chested look and put him in a leather jacket, you'd probably have people saying "ah but that isn't a dude it's just a small-chested girl". So I don't know if it was like, a conscious decision from Miller to highlight that yes he's a dude or if it was just an unconscious, "we need to make him as sexy as possible" kind of decision, but either way, that fit shreds and the crew also shreds for putting Goldie in it, for aforementioned reason. 
And not only that, but also, if you really wanted to go nuts and cut all the scenes with Goldie out, you'd end up with... a random villain showing up in the middle of the movie with no warning. Kinda like the yes Garnet no Garnet situation, but it's yes Wez no Wez. 

As this article pointed out rightfully, during the moment when Wez is pulling out the arrow from his arm, "George Miller could have done a simple close up of Vernon Wells followed by a reverse reaction shot of Max, but it seems he wanted the viewer to take notice of The Golden Youth, especially since this is the opening scene and the audience’s first encounter with the Humungus tribe." So yeah, if somebody wanted to chicken out and cut all the scenes with Goldie in it, they would have cut out the first encounter with the villains and create a plothole or however it's called. 

Wez pulling out the arrow. Interesting to note that, while it's not seen here and it's also not relevant, Goldie's expression gradually tenses up when Wez gets to take out the arrow, which I find cute 

However, if somebody's very dedicated about removing the gay, they could just... I don't know, do a close-up of Wez manually? Unfortunately, a clip I just watched to confirm some details does exactly that (but they still just couldn't get rid of Goldie fully). But then again, altering a single scene does very little when you also consider the following: Goldie is present everywhere with Wez, until his eventual death. Everywhere. On the little camp scenes that Max observed through the binoculars (see first Goldwez screenshot and also the one below), during the opening chase sequence where he's sitting behind Wez, when they ride away after Wez pulled out the arrow, etc etc. And neither of those can be really cut out since during the camp scenes Gyro Captain is talking to Max about the marauders, and the opening chase is, as it was mentioned before, crucial. 

Mad-Max style slice of life. 

So yeah, as a conclusion, I'd like to say the following: George Miller made the Golden Youth impossible to get rid of, and it's just so good that he did it. Even though not as hugely as Sugar did with the Rupphire wedding, but he still did it.