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Representation 101
Actually, this isn't a crash course on normalizing media. This is just an honest-to-gosh post about the media and how we need representation. Also, let me just write one sentence about how it's my birthday today. You may be asking yourself, "Darn, Brianna is so serious about life. She's posting this on her birthday, when she could be hanging out with other people and eating cake and doing absolutely anything but this!" Well, this post was scheduled. I picked the topic about a month ahead, because I really do find this stuff interesting.
I remember my first time seeing a lesbian couple on television. An actual, breathing, kissing, lesbian couple that were in an actual relationship, instead of just a fan-theorized gay couple. I remember I was watching Animal Planet when I first heard a woman talk about her girlfriend on television. I mean, I think my first time seeing a gay couple on television was from Glee. Oh Glee. My first time I saw a lesbian couple married on television doesn't feel that long ago. Stef and Lena from The Fosters.
If only I could still watch this show, 'cause Brandon's just intolerable and I can't bear to let my eyes watch that boy ruin everything good and holy on this show.
Like, heck yeah, ABC family, you show that lesbian interracial couple! You get past all the haters at 1 Million Moms (who, false advertise- they don't have one million moms) who say this show is not for childrens' eyes because of the lesbians. Seriously, this is a very tame couple compared to all the other shows I've watched. Also, Jude is a little boy who is confused about his gender identity and sexuality.
Then I got into Orange Is The New Black. Oh boy. That show is NSFW (but why would you be watching it at work) and I love it. Are shows about crime being popular like an actual trend right now? Whether or not, I like it. Yes, give me all those gay couples on crime shows. On OITNB, there's plenty of lesbians and the main protagonist is a bisexual woman. There's a transgender hair lady and she's played by the always lovely Laverne Cox. There's plenty of different races on there and Poussey is like, hands down, my favorite.
Also, I started watching The L Word. Alice is my favorite so far. So many random NSFW scenes. So many.
I also love How To Get Away With Murder. We all know this. I won't shut up about Connor and Oliver, I know. That show has a cast who are racially diverse, and Connor is gay. Oliver is gay too, and together they make the perfect I'll-Hack-Computers-For-Your-Case-If-You-Kiss-Me couple. Also, I had a theory that Rebecca was bi. At least, I hope she was. Did you submit to my inbox yet? You know, for birthday purposes.
Think about it this way, you would probably be weirded out if I shut up about them.
Plus, they're cute. Don't lie to yourselves.
I guess I never thought about this until just recently, but honestly? We've come a long way in representation in television. I remember those moments of first hearing a girl call another girl her girlfriend, and thinking, "Woah, it's okay to be that on here? Yay!" I guess I'm so used to the movies I get dragged to. You know, one woman protagonist who gets some man and they live their life together after the man fights someone blah blah blah. I mean, I know movies are typically one hour and thirty minutes long, but come on. You've got to be kidding me.
It's so refreshing now to see a world that I barely saw a few years ago. A world created by people who are writing things they can relate to. A world that isn't so scared anymore of what they deem 'different'.
Of course, there are people who just don't understand, saying that making television, books, and movies isn't going to change a thing in the world. Those people are, typically, the people who are well-represented here on television, books, and movies.
Was talking to someone, and talking about my story I was writing (finished it, very terrible now that I look back on it) and mentioned the fact I had a character who didn't quite fit into the gender binary. They took it as the character was male. They said, "Good for you. You're a female and females typically write chick flicks, so it's good you don't only write females." I said the character was neither, and it made the conversation awkward.
Shonda Rhimes said this, and let me just say, I have to agree. Now, if you need a refresher on who she is, she is the executive producer of How To Get Away With Murder, the head writer of Grey's Anatomy, and Scandal.I am making TV look like the world looks. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people equal WAY more than 50 percent of the population. Which means it ain’t out of the ordinary. I am making the world of television look NORMAL.
I am normalizing television.
Having one female character on a movie who, "has three brothers" and therefore knows how to fight isn't progressive. The female character always hooks up with a male lead. She is typically a white woman. She is also typically- and excuse my language, I try not to swear here- a badass. But not in a cool, Annalise Keating badass way. A, "I am here to be a token female character who is conventionally very attractive, but kind of a tomboy, and I will hook up with the male lead at the end after like, eh, five conversations."
It's frustrating. It's frustrating to see people writing characters that are carbon copies of one another. All the straight, white, male characters get the interesting roles and everyone else is left in the dust with too many shows. It's frustrating to see good plots with boring characters that don't represent the real world.
Whoopi Goldberg was inspired to pursue her career after seeing someone like her on Star Trek. Lucy Liu dreamed of seeing someone like her on television. Let's not even forget to mention that, after seeing Lupita Nyong'o, a girl decided against using skin bleach.
Seeing gay people on television gave me a reason to be more comfortable with myself being the way I am. Seeing people with disabilities encouraged me to learn more about ableism. Seeing Lauren on Faking It made me realize I needed to educate myself about intersex people. Seeing Cole on The Fosters made me learn so much about transgender issues.
Alternative universe where Cole and Lauren Cooper make Brandon Foster cry, please and thank you.
Brandon Foster is the worst character on television ever and I'd pay anything to see him not be on that show anymore so I don't have to see his sorry face on there again.
Was that mean? It probably was mean.
Of course, the people behind the cameras, words, and everything else possible matter, too. If you are a female, person of color, and/or LGBTQ and you like to write, direct, etc, go for it. Don't let someone tell you you can't do that because you are a female, not white, or not straight. They are wrong. You can conquer the world with your talents.
This world we are making with media should reflect how the world actually is. We need gay people. We need transgender people. We need bisexual people. We need asexual people. We need pansexual people. We need people whose romantic and sexual orientation do not match. We need women. We need people of color. We need people of different body shapes. We need people with mental and physical disabilities. And, most importantly, we need to stop treating it like a crime to have more than just the token characters required so most of the community will never complain. It's not an excuse to say, "But if we make too many gay men, what happens if the girl viewers are attracted to them and they're not attracted to them after learning that they're gay?"
Reasons you are wrong #1-
This is Connor Walsh. He is gay. Both the male and female viewing of HTGAWM has a giant crush on him. Including me.
And I don't even like men.
It's silly to make excuses for things like this. This isn't hard. Writing gay people is not that different than writing straight people. Casting people who have different races isn't hard. Writing females isn't hard. Writing people who are transgender or non-binary isn't that hard. Writing people who have mental illnesses or physical disabilities isn't hard. If you can't do that in 2015, you are probably very, very lazy.
Anyways, as a little birthday gift to me, who are some of your favorite characters in books, movies, and television shows that are some of the things that this post mentions?
Also, happy birthday to me and I'm looking forward to writing blog posts all month! Scary, but excited!
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