LGBT Fans Deserve Better LogoLGBT Fans Deserve Better Logo

Below you’ll find a collection of links to news articles, studies and blog posts related to the state of LGBT representation in the media.

In 2016, why is television still burying its queer women? [SBS]

Could it be possible that queer stories were at last finding their way out of tragedy, in line with progress off the screen?

For a moment, it looked possible. But then the harsh reality was delivered. There was Rose on Jane the Virgin, Denise on The Walking Dead, and, of course, Lexa on The 100, just to name some of the twelve (at the time of writing) queer female characters killed on television this year. It’s 2016. Why is television still, to use the name that’s been coined for the trope, ‘burying’ its gays?


SBS

The Feminists Of Wakanda [THE ATLANTIC]

This is why criticism is important. The job of criticism isn’t to interrupt or encourage commercial prospects. […] Criticism should push our imagination and help us understand what is actually possible in art and, I’d argue, even what is moral.

The feminist critique of comics has made “not asking” a lot harder. That, in itself, is a victory. The point is not to change the thinking of the active sexist. (Highly unlikely.) The point is  to force the passive sexist to take responsibility for his own thoughts.


The Atlantic

Ilene Chaiken kills again [DIVA MAGAZINE]

,

But it seems like Chaiken has a short memory, because the writer and producer has gone and killed not one but two more queer women, this time in Empire, bringing her personal death count to four, if you include TLW’s Jenny – though let’s be real, she’s one lesbian we were glad to have killed off.
 
In the latest instalment of the hip hop drama, which aired last night in the US, Camilla (Naomi Campbell) is found murdering her wife Mimi, played by Marisa Tomei. Granted, Camilla and Mimi weren’t exactly fan favourites, but queer women of colour are rare enough on TV as it is, and coming on the back of high profile lesbian deaths in The 100, Jane The Virgin, The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries in just a matter of weeks, this whole bury your gays thing is now way beyond a joke.


Diva Magazine

Survival of the White, Male, CisHeteros: JRoth’s Fantasyland – A Dialogue [THE UNCANNY VALLEY]

“Yet, Jason Rothenberg has insisted at several points that his show is post-racial, much as he insists that the depiction of sexuality on the show is incidental, even as he engages in the Dead Lesbian Trope. In both cases, this show does not play in a value-neutral vacuum. It exists in a context in which racism and homophobia are both alive and well, and media can either perpetuate these or be part of the solution to elevate the entire culture towards something better. The “post-“ anything argument is a ridiculous cop-out in today’s world, regardless of the future depicted onscreen.”


The Uncanny Valley

Lexa’s Legacy: Viewers Decry The CW’s Penchant for Killing Lesbian Characters [POP CRUSH]

,

The Vampire Diaries returned from midseason hiatus on April 1, and Friday’s episode brought the deaths of two fairly-new secondary characters. The show’s racked up a considerable body count over seven seasons — even if fan favorites do seem to find their way back to this mortal coil — and we can expect at least one more casualty as things ramp up to the season finale. But for some viewers, Nora and Mary Louise’s self-sacrificing exit was just the most recent example of a CW series killing off LBGT characters and effectively treating them like an expendable plot device.

The engaged couple were the only gay characters currently featured on the series, as its previous sole lead gay character, Chris Brochu’s Luke, was also killed off in Season 6.


Pop Crush

TV keeps killing off lesbian characters. The fans of one show have revolted. [WASHINGTON POST]

A few weeks ago, the CW’s sci-fi teen dystopia show “The 100″ did something television shows do all of the time: It killed off a major character. The reaction to this particular onscreen death, however, was different.

In addition to being a fan favorite, the character, Lexa, was openly gay. The show’s typically passionate fans revolted, angry to see it resort to a longstanding television trope known as “Bury Your Gays,” in which LGBT characters are frequently killed off — often in tragic ways, following a happy event. “The 100″ purported to be progressive in its treatment of LGBT characters, but that only fueled the feelings of betrayal. The controversy reveals the pitfalls of a show misunderstanding its audience and the politics of minority representation onscreen.


Washington Post

Why the recent deaths on CW shows matter [FEMINISTING]

,

Given this clusterfuck, it is unbelievable that this past Thursday night even happened: The 100 violently executed a man of color and the only two LGBT characters (both queer women) on The Vampire Diaries died by suicide.

Let’s start with The 100. After all the bullshit that’s been going on for the last month, Rothenberg apparently thought it would be a good idea to execute Lincoln in one of the most gory deaths to ever happen on that show. Lincoln (Ricky Whittle) surrendered himself in order to spare his people. With his wrists and ankles chained, he was kicked to his knees, before Pike, representing the authoritarian state in this scenario, shot him in the head.

And they showed the blood and bullet holes.

The Vampire Diaries runs into the same problem with their suicides. I get that people die on TV shows, and that the suicides of Mary Louise (Teressa Liane) and Nora (Scarlett Byrne) were portrayed as a noble sacrifice. But jeez, did it have to be suicide? Who in the room thought it would be a good idea to kill off the only LGBT representation on that show via a manner of death that disproportionately affects the community of which those characters are a part — without any acknowledgment of the political stakes?


Feministing

The Vampire Diaries Picked the Worst Month for These Pointless, Tasteless Deaths [io9]

,

So yeah, The Vampire Diaries picked the most awesome month to kill off its two lesbian characters in the most pointless manner imaginable. Nora and Mary-Louise die in a blaze of ignominy, for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Given that The CW is already on everyone’s shit list for the last pointless lesbian death, this might not have been the best moment to murder two of the few remaining women-loving women on the channel. [Edited to add: And apparently they also just killed off the lesbian character on The CW’s Jane the Virgin, too.]


io9

The Importance of Minorities: It’s In the Name [TALK NERDY WITH US]

You may ask: why do you care about minorities so much? They’re called ‘minorities’ because they’re in the minority, so why are people making such a huge fuss about them?

A minority does not mean a group of ten gay people, or a meeting of six chronic pain sufferers in wheelchairs. Minorities may be the collective umbrella term, but minorities can manifest in numbers up to thousands, or hundreds of thousands—and still be in the minority. Minorities can be supported by those who aren’t, those who have the heart to consider them, those who understand what good representation is on media—and I guess that’s why this is so important to me, as a minority myself.


Talk Nerdy With Us

The Vampire Diaries slammed for killing off lesbian characters amid #BuryYourGays backlash [MIRROR]

,

The Vampire Diaries has been slammed after its only two LGBT characters were killed off just weeks after the #BuryYourGays campaign returned to prominence.

Lesbian Heretics Mary Louise and Nora were seen killing themselves in an effort to destroy the Phoenix dagger after Nora was marked by the weapon and Mary Louise was poisoned by the blood of hunter Raina Cruz.

The two lovers were The CW show’s only LGBT representation and viewers have now blasted the show for killing them off, while heterosexual characters are allowed to live on and just leave Mystic Falls unharmed.


Mirror

Stop killing off TV’s lesbians: This depressing trope limits storytelling about queer women [SALON]

The way to fix this problem is that shows simply need more imagination when it comes to LGBT representation. When it comes to characters like Lexa and Denise, what led to their demise was not homophobic malice. Writers’ rooms and producers often can’t imagine other storylines for queer people that don’t revolve around their sexualities, meaning that when they finally get what they want (i.e., love or sex), they’re no longer necessary. Television might be a dangerous place to be queer, but there’s nothing more deadly than a medium that still doesn’t know how to treat LGBT people with basic humanity.


Salon

Featured

Sex(uality) Sells: Hollywood is capitalizing on LGBTQ+ characters, for better or worse

(Blastr) – Characters who happen to be gay have become a brand new form of tokenism. They are not, themselves, token characters – their characterization exists outside of their gayness – but they are being used to appeal to a certain demographic. Rather than serving the role of traditional token characters, Trini and LeFou do not support tired stereotypes or to allow the creators an out for borderline jokes at their expense. But, much like their token predecessors, these characters also do not exist because said creators think representation is important or meaningful. They get butts in seats, they stir…


Blastr

Ryan Murphy on the Hollywood closet: “I was traumatized but I didn’t realize it” [VOX]

(Vox) – Murphy recently appeared on the debut episode of Vox culture critic Todd VanDerWerff’s new podcast, I Think You’re Interesting, and he related a painful and personal story about the obstacles and homophobia he had to face before he could represent queer characters onscreen. […] They were interested in gay people who were tragic. They were interested if you were gay and you would kill yourself. Or if you would try and commit suicide. They weren’t interested in gay sensibility, or the language of being gay, which is sometimes not just gay characters.


Vox

GLAAD Report: 2016 Was A Year Of Representation But Also, Mostly, Murder For Lesbians On TV [AUTOSTRADDLE]

(Autostraddle) – I think one of the reasons Lexa’s death caused so much outrage is that she seemed like the ultimate symbol of queer women having arrived. She hadn’t come onto The 100 as a Queer Character; her relationship with Clarke evolved naturally, the way it would between any straight characters. She was complicated and layered and beloved. Her death, and the landslide of lesbian/bi deaths that came after it, were crushing because they shook the hope out of us. And it was more than just a feeling. One of the bleakest things about this year’s Where We Are On TV…


Autostraddle

TV Is Better for L.G.B.T.Q. Characters than Ever—Unless You’re a Lesbian [VANITY FAIR]

(Vanity Fair) – There are more L.G.B.T.Q. characters on TV than ever, on a wider range of platforms, and playing a huge array of roles. It’s never been a better time to be a queer person looking to see yourself on TV—that is, unless you’re a lesbian. GLAAD’s annual report on L.G.B.T.Q. representation is out for the 2016–2017 season, and as always, it’s a mixed bag of good news and bad news. Nearly 5 percent of all TV characters are L.G.B.T.Q.; trans representation alone has more than doubled. But the report also confirms that Dead Lesbian Syndrome has been very…


Vanity Fair

Load More
Menu