A trope by any other name…

The new 2016-2017 television season started off with the same old trope. A month ago, Orange is the New Black killed off Poussey Washington. Two weeks ago, Bea Smith was killed off on Wentworth and last week, Pretty Little Liars killed of a queer woman again.  All are shows that featured other queer women. Yet that representation does not negate these shows adding to the ever increasing number of dead lesbian or bisexual characters in stark contrast to the always constant number of happy endings, and in Poussey’s case killing off one of the few queer women of color on screen.

A trope is by definition, a pattern in storytelling. Lesbian and bisexual women are killed off at alarming rates, usually soon after finding happiness. TV shows don’t exist in a vacuum and each of these shows add to the trope and contribute to the overall TV landscape in the same way.

Whenever a lesbian or bisexual character is killed off, the same arguments come up when discussing the death in the context of Bury your Gays trope:

1. “We kill off straight characters all the time”

Lesbian/bisexual female characters are killed off at a far higher rate in comparison to their numerical representation than straight characters, a trend confirmed by the Vox numerical analysis of the 2015-2016 season. The Bury your Gays trope is an issue because of this high discrepancy. While death and dying are a normal part of TV, it’s statistically confirmed that it happens at a far higher percentage to characters who are already underrepresented or misrepresented: LGBT, female or non-white characters.

As a result, the impact the deaths of straight characters compared to LGBT ones is currently not comparable. While straight characters die a lot, they also have a far greater base of representation in the first place and therefore, relatively, are less likely to die than LGBT characters. Lesbian and bisexual women represent 1.75% of total main/regular characters but 10% of main/regular character deaths on broadcast TV last season. If the death rates of straight characters were the same proportionally as that of lesbian and bisexual characters on broadcast TV, 38%, last year a total of 736 straight characters would have died. Instead it was 130 characters.

Currently a rising number of critics are voicing concerns of the high death percentages on screen, how bleak TV is becoming and how death has no impact or worth anymore. Imagine if the rate of straight characters being killed off was equal to that of their lesbian and bisexual counterparts: that would result five times as many straight characters being killed and over 1 in 3 main/recurring characters dying. This 38% rate is close to the death rate Game of Thrones has on its main cast (41%).

2. There are other queer characters/storylines on the show

While it is great that certain shows have more than one (or several) queer character and portray positive LGBT representation and diversity, these aspects do not mean that they are exempt from criticism when they kill off a queer character in a harmful way and add to unbalanced statistics.

While we would all love to live in a world where sexuality is not an issue in decision making, the statistics alone show us that equal treatment is not what happens today in televised fiction (as well as, unfortunately, the “real world”).

3. It’s just a show/get over it, it’s just a fictional character

There is a direct correlation between media visibility for the LGBT community and real life opinions about marriage equality, homophobia, misconceptions etc. For some straight people, the only LGBT people they may “know” are the ones on screen. Developing realistic and positive portrayals of same-sex couples and LGBT characters leads to the normalization of LGBT visibility on television, and creates greater acceptance of the LGBT community.

Similarly, for many young (and old) LGBT people in many parts of the world, the only people that they can identify with are those on screen. Seeing ourselves portrayed in media can make us feel less alone and more accepted. Violent and repetitive deaths of queer characters on TV create and contribute to internalised homophobia, self-harm behaviour, depression and suicide in LGBT people.

For far too many LGBT people fictional same sex love may be the only love they get to experience because it is too risky living a life openly to personally experience love themselves or to witness it between two real life same sex couples.

4. The actress had to leave

This is certainly a very common excuse for killing off lesbian/bisexual characters, the high death rate is influenced by the way those parts are written in the first place: often for recurring/guest characters, never intended to last more than a season. This is a tool as a result of LGBT characters brought on intended to be used solely as a speed bump to the main romance plot device (e.g. during “sweeps”).

In addition, the plot armor extended to straight white male regular characters doesn’t seem to extend to other minorities.

Understandably at times budgetary, contractual restraints may occur and an actress may have to leave a show, however death is not the only way to write a character off a show, and TV is drowning in cheap, sloppily executed deaths. Writers should be encouraged to exert their creativity and come up with original ideas to close the chapter on their characters.

5. She’s more than just her sexuality/It’s unfair to reduce her to a trope/a statistic

We strive for having examples of positive representation in the media, and that means well written, complex characters who are never reduced to their sexualities. When such characters are alive, TV shows and movies often get a lot of praise and as a result attract a loyal LGBT audience for introducing LGBT characters. Words such as “progressive”, “refreshing”, “groundbreaking” are easily thrown around by both the shows and the media. When the same characters are killed off, the character’s sexuality and gender identity suddenly becomes irrelevant.

6. They didn’t die because they’re gay

The Bury your Gays trope does not only apply to characters who are killed off because they are gay. Rather, it applies to gay characters who are disproportionately killed off.

And while their sexuality being the reason for their death is never explicit, in the “Lesbian Death Trope” the queer female characters have a moment of happiness/find love/consummate their relationship and are immediately “punished” for their happiness with death. This sends a message that queer people do not deserve happiness. It is not just about a gay character dying; it is about the link between same-sex attraction/sex followed by death, a trope that’s reminiscent of the Hays Code, which only allowed gay characters to exist if they were punished for being so.

“(f) sex crimes and  abnormalities are generally unacceptable as program material.”— US Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters – Adopted: 6 December 1951

7. Nobody’s safe on this show

8. The showrunner/writer didn’t intend to hurt or offend queer viewers

Queer characters/stories have historically been portrayed negatively in the media so writers need to take on the task of portraying queer characters without using offensive stereotypes, tropes, etc. When writers make a decision to create stories for queer characters it is their responsibility to handle them with the respect and sensitivity that this misrepresented community deserves.

The lack of diversity among showrunners might contribute to the current TV landscape:

9. You should be grateful that the creators wrote a queer character/relationship in the first place/They will stop writing lesbian characters if you keep complaining

The choice shouldn’t be between having dead lesbian/bisexual characters on screen or not having any at all. If showrunners are so limited in their creativity that they are unable to think up a storyline for their lesbian/bisexual characters that doesn’t end in death, it is perhaps better they don’t tackle LGBT subjects at all.

There is a degree of responsibility that comes with representing minority characters on screen, and rather than perpetuate negative stereotypes or reinforce the idea that a wlw relationship always ends in death, the goal should be having good representation.

10. If they don’t kill her off just because she is gay, then they would not be treating the gay character equally

The main harm in the BYG trope lies in the way it is done. We aren’t advocating never killing off LGBT characters, we are asking people to take a closer look at how they are killing LGBT characters and the message they send by doing so. Killing off LGBT characters right after they had a positive development is the main problem with the trope since it links being happy as a gay person strongly to death. This was done on purpose in early day Hollywood under the Hays code to make sure homosexuality was shown “in proper moral context”, effectively making sure a homosexual was “punished” on screen for his sexual orientation often by being killed or developing severe mental health issues. The reasons for this depiction have certainly changed but the effect on the community remains the same.

11. She was evil/annoying/no one liked the character anyway

Whether she was a badly written heterosexual opportunist or a one dimensional scarecrow character we all hate, it’s still one more death to add to the many.

I don’t want to see more queer women die on TV. Even if they were one-dimensional scarecrow characters I hated.

— Heather Hogan (@hhoagie) August 3, 2016