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Pet peeves with LGBTQ+ media representation

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by Dreamsexul, Dec 30, 2019.

  1. ErickWolf

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    That kind of shit seriously sucks ass. A less-awful but still irritating one for me is the "gay best friend" and just...stereotypes, period. Stereotypes in general kinda drive me nuts. It's just more boxes people get shoved into, ya know?
     
  2. warholwendy

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    I'd really like to see more like characters who are maybe more sexually fluid than anything. It seems a lot of times even if they have a character go through a questioning period they still arrive at a "place" I guess. I'd like to see someone who is just sort of in a constant transition.
     
  3. Libertino

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    Hard to comment on the representation of asexuals since it's virtually non-existent. I was, however, pleased by the characterization of Todd Chavez in Bojack Horseman. The way that he discovers his asexuality, his attempts at meeting other asexuals and even dating one (and realizing they have almost nothing common apart from their asexuality)--it all felt realistic to me, done tastefully and finally provided us some visibility.
     
  4. Chierro

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    I wish we got more just like casual dude gay guys. I mean, we get some, but I remember when I first heard that High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Disney+ was going to have two gay characters, I immediately thought that they're going to be flamboyant and have more feminine characteristics (which isn't bad)...and then I was correct. Like let's show queer kids in TV shows, but how about we don't create them as total stereotypes?
     
  5. Destin

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    Whenever they do that it gets shouted down as "hiding the gayness" or "not real gay representation" so they stopped trying. A lot of older shows from the 90's had stuff like that, even the really well known ones like Seinfeld (random gay background characters) and Friends (Ross's lesbian ex-wife and her new wife).
     
    #25 Destin, Jun 8, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2020
  6. Canterpiece

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    -The lesbian homewrecker.

    Stop me if you've heard this one- a woman is soon to be married to the man of her dreams, when suddenly a woman shows up and they go off together to have a secret romance. I mean, I'm sure it's happened, but I keep seeing this same plot.

    - A sperm donor wants to be a more active father in the child's life.

    So, a couple that goes the IVF route are happily living their lives with a child (or children) until the sperm donor shows up with a big speech that is usually "Hey, I know we haven't spoke for twelve years, but that kid is biologically mine and I wanna be a father". If it's a lesbian couple, then one or both of them will fall for this guy (often the one that was pregnant with the child- bonus points if the other woman dies due to an accident, such as conveniently being hit by a truck, so the remaining guy and woman can get together). Likewise, if it's a woman married to a guy she'll probably leave him to be with this random guy that showed up because he's mysterious which of course causes a bunch of drama.

    - Now, this next one doesn't so much annoy me but I do find it interesting to take note of. I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be a matching lesbian trope for the gay best friend. There have been a few instances I've seen where you have a straight-forward lesbian that's best friends with the hot mess straight girl (she often secretly has a crush on this girl).

    There seems to be a trend of portraying lesbians as being socially-awkward or oblivious and don't know how to talk to women. Often pairing them with a savvy gay guy that gives them dating advice, or a straight girl that pushes them to be more confident. When a friendship between a straight guy and a lesbian is shown, they're often the no-nonsense no-frills duo with some banter thrown in there every once in a while. I find it interesting to compare to this to how a friendship between a straight girl and a gay guy tends to get shown as.
     
  7. BothWaysSecret

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    I think Love, Simon did a good job with sort of breaking this stereotype. Sure Simon is still a theater kid (which tends to attract a lot of gay men) but he and Bram are not at all flamboyant compared to Ethan. Even in how they dress. Ethan always has bold patterns and vests/ties which a lot of flamboyant gay men wear whereas Simon's always in a hoodie or denim jacket and plain shirt.

    Another example I can think of is Walking Dead. Neither Aaron nor Jesus are flamboyant nor have feminine characteristics.

    Also I need Season 2 of HSMTMTS like right now.
     
  8. Chierro

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    Honestly, I think what annoyed me the most about Ethan as a character was that he was an original character they created for the movie for the sole purpose of being this flamboyant, confident stereotypical gay. Part of why I love Simon Vs. and Love, Simon is because Simon is literally just this average guy. Like yeah, he's in theatre but straight kids are in theatre too so it's not something that would like be a red flag for people to realize he's gay. There just wasn't much of a purpose of Ethan other than a stereotype foil to Simon.

    Friends is a...bad example for that? Carol is a minor character, but her entire character is defined as being into women. Like, entire character. I watch the show every night before I go to sleep and I can't think of any episodes where Carol appears and Susan isn't there or Susan isn't referenced as "being home soon." So, yeah Carol wasn't a stereotype...but they did define her entire character by her sexuality so that's not exactly "hiding the gayness."

    I mean, I know what you're saying, but in real life, most gay guys aren't stereotypes, so I'd love to see much more casual representation. I mean, you can't tell I'm gay just from looking at me. A guy I used to work with (and am great friends with) is bi and was the president of his frat and hardly anyone knew until he got with his current boyfriend (despite sneaking guys into his room in his frat house).

    Station 19 does a great job with it. Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, when it was on, did a good job with it. But more often than not, when a show has a gay, male character...they're going to be some sort of flamboyant stereotype...which is fine up until a point because that shouldn't be ALL the representation.
     
  9. mellissa

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    Wow you read my mind.
    The Lesbian Homewrecker reminds me of the movie "Imagine Me And You".
    The Sperm Donor-Lesbian trope is practically the movie "The Kids Are Alright" I hated this movie.
    As for the lesbian and straight girl friendship, I wished that they could show that we lesbians are capable of having meaningful friendships with straight women and not falling in love with them.
     
  10. mellissa

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    Yes we do. The only happy ending lesbians ever got were in the movies:
    But I'm A Cheerleader
    Saving Face
    Fire
    Desert Hearts (My all time favorite)
     
  11. BothWaysSecret

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    You know what? I think your right. Didnt think of it that way.
     
  12. Canterpiece

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    Another one that annoys me- when a creator comments after the fact "Oh, by the way, that character was gay" with little to no mention in the text / TV show / film series. Especially if the character is supposed to be an openly gay major character in the story.

    Listen, I don't go around talking about being gay all day. I have hobbies, interests and responsibilities. Still, never mentioning it at all, not even in a passing comment, seems lazy and unrealistic. If this is a major character, it's probably going to come up at some point in conversation between friends even just for a fleeting moment unless they all just met. When a creator just says it after the fact and then nothing happens in the media to reflect it, well it seems that the creator wanted a gay character without actually making one.
     
    #32 Canterpiece, Jun 9, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2020
  13. BothWaysSecret

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    *cough* Albus Dumbledore *cough* and its not even mentioned in Fantastic Beasts either
     
    #33 BothWaysSecret, Jun 9, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2020
  14. Phoenix92

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    I know, hopefully it gets at least mentioned in one of the 5-6 planned movies for Fantastic Beasts.

    Because let’s face it, the Blood Pact scene was essentially us seeing Albus and Gellert having an intimate interaction.
     
  15. solarcat

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    What do people think of characters who are explicitly queer, but it has nothing at all to do with the character?

    For example, in The Hollow, S2E1 we see Adam waking up in his bed, with a rainbow flag on his wall. So he's obviously gay. It's even mentioned a little later that no, he's not into Mira at all, because he's gay.
    Beyond this there's no mention or reference to his being gay. He doesn't act gay at all, he doesn't develop crushes on other guys, or anything.

    On the one hand, this almost seems like "let's make him gay to win points for diversity", which I don't particularly like, but on the other hand we have a character who is explicitly gay but isn't "the gay character", and isn't in any way stereotypical.
     
  16. Canterpiece

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    Personally, I take no issue with how Adam was represented. It felt realistic within the setting and I liked how casual the coming out scene was. Especially Kai's reaction, that got a laugh out of me. It's only been two seasons, plus most of the focus has been on figuring out solutions and surviving in the situations the group finds themselves in. So I think the fact that he hasn't shown any overt crushes on-screen is understandable.

    For me, a gay character doesn't have to have a crush from the get go, since there will be times where the character just doesn't have one. If the show had ended and the creators mentioned Adam being gay after the fact, it would've felt pointless. However, I liked that it was explicitly stated within the show. It felt realistic that Mira, his friend since childhood that he grew up with, would know but Kai didn't since he'd known Adam for less time than Mira had.

    Now, I don't know if this show will continue. I was a little disappointed with season two, but if it is continued then I have a feeling the writers will probably develop Adam.
     
  17. BothWaysSecret

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    Exactly. The blood pact is the closets thing we have to the deeper side of their relationship. Although to be honest, I always felt the romantic feelings were one-sided. I feel like Albus had feelings for Grindelwald, but Grindelwald was straight and was using Dumbledore's feelings to his advantage.
     
  18. ECMember

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    It seems idealistic a la Love, Simon or any LGBTQ media that is cis gender White emphasis
     
  19. dbri

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    I don't really know how to word it, but crossdressers are never really mentioned in a series way. Like legit hetero dressers. Not drag, which is typically not taken serious either, but I think it's because we are lumped in with transgendered/transvestite people. I don't know... I literally joined EC not long ago hoping to make like minded friends or at least friends that were accepting or more comfortable with ones like myself. I haven't seen much mention of crossdressing or crossdressers yet, but I just may not have run across them yet.
     
  20. solarcat

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    I'm AMAB and wear both masculine and feminine clothes, but being nonbinary I don't really see either of these as crossdressing for me.

    But I agree with you. Crossdressing almost never happens, and when it does they're just "the crossdressing character". They're jokes, and they're almost always portrayed as deviants or weirdoes.

    I remember that The Drew Carrey Show had a crossdressing character (Steve, Drew's brother). Although he was frequently teased for it, he himself was a fairly good character from what I remember. Middle-aged, balding, not super fit. He just liked women's clothes. Still, there was never any sense of "these guys are jerks for making fun of him", which kind of sucks.

    On The Big Bang Theory, Penny's apartment was previously occupied by "a transvestite" whose gender was something of a mystery to Leonard, and who only existed as the punchline to a joke.

    So yeah, not much there, and what is there isn't very good.