Representation in Art/Entertainment/Media

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@Jason Tate, sticky this maybe?

 

Sub

 

Edit: As promised.

In A Flash: How Grant Gustin Redefined The Superhero Genre
I'm not sure this article is completely relevant, but it touches on Grant Gustin not being the hyper masculine superhero we're all used to and breaks down a lot of what he brings to the table. I love that Grant isn't 500 lbs. of muscle and I also love how much the show lets him cry.

Femslash Crisis: The 100
Sometimes Things Are Exactly What They Seem: The Not So Shocking Death On The 100
These are two great essays/articles about the events of episode 307. (spoiler tag for those who plan on watching the show/are currently watching and aren't caught up) For those who don't watch, The 100 killed off Lexa, an out lesbian commander of a nation and leader of 13 clans. Alicia Debnam-Carey (actress who plays Lexa) is on Fear The Walking Dead, so the showrunner Jason Rothenberg said that they had no choice but to kill her off but it's recently come out (in one of the biggest TV PR messes I've ever witnessed) that Alicia, her agent, and AMC were all on board with her coming back for a potential season 4. These articles are good for people who do watch the show and people who don't know anything about it. Discussing the harmful nature of the Bury Your Gays trope, why it still matters, etc. It also dives into how The 100 staff have completely mishandled the situation. So if anything, these are good reads for that stuff as well.

This video happened to come out I think the day of or the day after episode 307 of The 100 aired. A really great coincidence. The majority of the video discusses statistics of LGBT characters in film including rate of death, how many characters are LGBT in general etc.

 

I think the Grant Gustin thing counts. Focusing too much on straight cis white men in this thread obviously wouldn't be good, lol, but masculinity and expectations still play into feminism, right? Regardless, cool article.

All of that 100 nonsense is ridiculous. I get bummed when creators and executives write off criticism by oppressed groups, but at least ignorance is better than empty lip service.

 

And The 100 stuff just keeps getting wilder and wilder. Pretty much the entire cast is throwing shade all over the place both in regards to this and in general. I'm fascinated by it from a general watch-and-see perspective. Really curious to see if this impacts them getting a season 4.

 

All of this really poisons my desire to watch the whole series. I still will, but I'm not as eager as I once was.

 

One of the writers also admitted they were aware of the trope and thought that they could get away with it anyway. Very strange circumstances.

 

All 103 Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters on TV and How They Died

Definitely worth a read for anyone having trouble understanding and seeing the patterns that have emerged. That first one is particularly startling, despite being from 1976.

 

Wow, look forward to (and dreading) reading that later.

 

I actually expected more of these to be from direct bigoted acts of violence. A lot of them are violent deaths, but not as many were violence in direct relation to sexuality like I expected.

Also, wildest sentence I've ever read:

 

Yikes. And that's just for what they could find, plus it only consists of women.

 

I'd bet a lot of the "killed by ex-lover/boyfriend" ones probably had some connection to their sexuality as well, but I've watched only a handful of the shows listed so idk.

 

Exactly. It's only female-identified recurring characters. They did a few non-recurring. But yeah, doesn't include non-cis characters and such. It's also amazing to see how many were WOC. And while I did say I was expecting more of the violent deaths to be hate crime related or adjacent, that doesn't really change how startlingly common they are.

 

Jane the Virgin Proves Diversity Is More Than Skin Deep
Jane the Virgin doesn’t just make its Latino characters visible: It makes their point of view the dominant lens of the show and filters their stories through the socially aware telenovela format. True, this means it inhabits an outlandish world of hyperbolic gestures and emotions. But the telenovela is a important cultural touchstone for many Latinos—the second-season opener even begins with a flashback showing Jane as a young girl fretting over the future of the couple on her favorite telenovela. As such, the format is uniquely suited to amplify how gender and race shape the lives of Jane and her family, making Jane the Virgin the rare diverse show that embraces the cultural origins of its characters on multiple levels.

The Trope of the Evil Television Bisexual
Bisexuality in general on TV is on the rise; among television’s regular and recurring LGBT characters, 28 percent are bisexual. But while gay and lesbian characters on TV increasingly are portrayed in a way that doesn’t make their sexuality into a large and dubious metaphor about their character, bisexuality often is portrayed as going hand-in-hand with moral flexibility.

 

28% of LGBT characters being bi is embarrassingly low still, unfortunately. We likely make up a majority of the community. Also, not sure I agree with the idea of bi men having it worse than bi women. Worse representation right now, quite possibly, but the intersection of biphobia and misogyny is a lot more serious than women just being seen as experimenting.
(not criticizing you for posting the article btw, just nitpicking those points from it because they're things that bug me haha)

 

Oh no, it's fine! I think it's interesting that the number is 28% when I can think of maybe two bi characters who actually use the word within their shows. I think that - at least in the shows that I watched - the representation of bisexual women seemingly has more care put into it, whereas bisexual men are devious, painted as more femme than masculine, so I can understand that claim, but I don't agree with it lol.

 

Pinned it for ya.

 

Thanks, dude. You're a cool .

 

Is gonna become your -ACA?

 

Speaking of representation in entertainment, just saw that Switched at Birth got cancelled. I have a lot of issues with that show and how it doesn't recognize intersections of *any identity, but upset that many d/Deaf/HoH actors may be out of work with this show gone.

*(one ep sticks out in mind where a deaf character is mugged while she's alone, and her deafness is stressed, but the fact that she was a woman....by herself...with a bunch of money....wasn't)

 

Jarod Joseph (Miller on The 100) said at an event in London this weekend that Jason Rothenberg had his character wear a beanie all of season one so that "the audience could tell him and Lincoln apart"

No one has ever really wanted to acknowledge the show's race problem because the cast is super diverse but I'm really hoping people start to see quantity doesn't equal quality when it comes to representation.

 

I guess this would be the proper place to discuss this...

Is anyone incredibly curious about the Wachowski Sisters (formerly the Wachowskis and formerly the Wachowski Brothers)? I realize trans people are coming more and more to the forefront, but the fact two twins both experienced and are going through the changes is very fascinating to me. I'd love to hear/read/see their story.

They're the writer/directors of The Matrix and Jupiter Ascending, amongst other films, and sense8 (Netflix Original show which I highly recommend (and involves very good representation of POC, gay relationships, trans and lesbian relations -- as you would expect from a show with two trans writer/directors)) if you're not familiar with who they are.