characters like me

[rm]

Dear New Fandom:

Hey, we all like an awesome new show! Awesome! It's nice to meet you.

Among a whole bunch of other things, I'm a queer person, and this means a few things. Let's talk about them for a little bit, okay?

1. It is not unreasonable for me to want to see a character whose experiences are similar to mine on shows that I like.

2. It is reasonable for me to judge how watchable I find a show based on whether I can relate to and/or believe in the characters and their world. While queerness isn't the only item that matters in this regard, it is a critical one.

3. When I say I want a queer character on a TV show, in a book, or in a film, that has nothing to do with wanting to write slash -- even if I am, in fact, a queer person who is also a slash reader and writer.

4. Being able to slash characters is not an acceptable or adequate replacement for actual, canonically queer characters.

5. Neither is "maybe the characters whose personal lives we don't know anything about are gay." Yes, they provide and opportunity for the show writers, but they aren't good enough in terms of representation as they stand now.

6. When I talk about wanting to see queer characters, please do not assume that automatically means men. Also do not assume I mean gay or lesbian over bisexual, or that I would not welcome a trans character. When I say queer, I mean queer in all its QUILTBAG-y diversity.

7. Wanting to see queer characters on TV isn't about titillation or political correctness for me.

8. So when I talk about this, don't, by the way, put words in my mouth. I've been queer a long time. I've also been a fan a long time. And I've also been ranting about media and entertainment for a long time, because that's what I do both for fun and while wearing some of my professional hats. Let the queer people speak for themselves.

So when you say things that make me feel the need to say these things? To me, it seems like you're having a hard time imagining all the possibilities for love, romance, and fucking out there, or what it's like to live in a world where your stories aren't on TV or the big screen most of the time beyond a wink, a nod, and, if you're lucky, some too-often oddly heteronormative fanfiction.

I know you love our awesome show. I love our awesome show too! I just wish it would have more of a place for me. So when you tell me I'm unreasonable for wanting our awesome show to be even more awesome? Well, I get sad and angry. And I wonder why you think that.

Why do you?

Best,

RM

Comments

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

Boo to them!! Sorry you have to even say this stuff deary :/

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that all makes sense.

I for one would LOVE to see a bisexual character who isn't a sex maniac or someone who sleeps around indiscriminately or a villain.

And who doesn't die.

[iballs2entrails.livejournal.com]

I also would adore to see that.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

FOr years I've wanted to script a romantic comedy in which the lead romantic problem was standard het people having the usual stupid romance relationship issues, but the "best friend" characters were bisexual polyamorists in a sane, stable relationship that functioned very well and supported a couple of really well-adjusted cute kids.

"But Best Friend, I'm sure he's still got the hots for his ex, who is all sexier than me and I'm jealous!"

"Well, do you think he could handle a triad? Oops, sorry. Wait, the ex is a hot available chick? Have you considered hitting on her instead? Oh, wait, right, sorry. Look, maybe you should just *talk* about it with him."

"No, I'm going to hatch a wacky romance plan involving stalking and manipulative behavior instead, I think. Communication is hard!"

"I suppose I could hit on him for you if it would help, but I really shouldn't condone your wacky het behaviors."

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Angela from Bones fits this criteria, although she is seen by some to be a bit sexually promiscuous-- but only by those who don't notice that she's only having the same amount of sex as the male characters around her. In any case, she's lusty, but not slutty indiscriminate, which I like and support.

That said, Bones became totally mushy and formulaic around mid season-3, so I've largely given up on it, despite my love for Angela.

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

Lemme guess (just based on what I know about your new-ish fandoms): Covert Affairs?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Check out the most recent post in the main comm and my attempt to have a conversation in comments.

[n-decisive.livejournal.com]

<3

Curious...which show?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Covert Affairs.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

QUILTBAG?

When I was with Anything That Moves, we invented FABGLITTER - Fetish, Allies, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Intersexed, Transgendered, Transsexual, Engendering Revolution. Always liked that.

And worth noting that obvious sex-linked stuff aside, most of this applies to other under-represented groups.

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

I feel like I could sub race for orientation and have this post apply to me and fandom.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

4. YES. I'm sad that has to be said, but it does. Over and over.

Also, as a queer quilter, I love seeing QUILTBAG being used!

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I gave up on fandom this year and it seems to make the shows enjoyable again. I know, not a solution but sometimes giving yourself that space could be a good thing.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm very close to deciding I'm not wasting my time with this show's fandom outside of my friends and this journal space.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that people are being such douches.

For a long time now, I've had trouble suspending disbelief when I encounter works of fiction in which every character is explicitly or implicity heterosexual, especially when those works focus on a broad ensemble of characters.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lullabelle_/]

Yeesh. "Covert Affairs" has been on my to-watch list for a little while now, and while I'm still definitely going to watch, I'm not going to be seeking out its fandom if that's the prevailing attitude. What a disappointment.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Right now the fandom is so small and not yet coalesced so we can change it, but it really put me in a mood.

[yarram.livejournal.com]

"QUILTBAG" made me sporfle. In a good way. Will be adding it to my vocabulary. :-)

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

For a generally-perceived-as-liberal group, the entertainment industry is remarkably conservative.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lullabelle_/]

I think it's a product of the lowest-common-denominator theory. Producers figure that they can get away without featuring an underrepresented group of people as long as they're not actively insulting them, and therefore keep their more conservative viewership comfy. I think the challenge is showing them that there's no money in pandering to bigots.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES! Especially this: 6. When I talk about wanting to see queer characters, please do not assume that automatically means men. Also do not assume I mean gay or lesbian over bisexual, or that I would not welcome a trans character. When I say queer, I mean queer in all its QUILTBAG-y diversity.

I think this may be why most of my fandoms anymore are ones with explicit queer content. But even then, clueless straight cis fans are everywhere and slapping me in the face with their heterosexism, internalized misogyny and privilege.

(I had to look up QUILTBAG btw. I now prefer it to LGBTQ :)

[silverkit.livejournal.com]

Hello!

Would you mind sharing what you found? What does it mean? I've been trying to Google it and can't seem to find a translation. Is it an antonym?

[puella-nerdii.livejournal.com]

Nthed. Honestly, I'm kind of puzzled that "I wish Canon X had more -- or any -- queer characters" is perceived as an attack on the show's artistic merit or on its fans -- if (general) you didn't like the show, you probably wouldn't care about the queer representation or lack thereof, right?

Also, I like it when the media I consume and am fannish about acknowledges that I, well, exist. I don't think that's an unreasonable position to take.

[marcmagus]

Isn't it an attack on the show's artistic merit? In the sense that any legitimate criticism is. I don't see why people can't just acknowledge the flaws of something they love as flaws without it totally upsetting their worldview.

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, and yes. :)

[keenquing.livejournal.com]

So much this.

[awils1.livejournal.com]

Point number 4 is close to my heart. And I like that you, such a BNF, are saying this stuff.

But mostly, I give up on new fandom. I hope they learn, but I can't be in spaces where heterosexism runs rampant in combination with the phenomenon of 'bromance' (which is an excuse for TV writers to a) make money off fans and b) not write canonically QUILTBAG characters). People who squee over that are very much passé.

[hoyland54.livejournal.com]

5. Neither is "maybe the characters whose personal lives we don't know anything about are gay." Yes, they provide and opportunity for the show writers, but they aren't good enough in terms of representation as they stand now.

Why would people even make this argument? It's a pretty safe assumption that the audience will assume that characters with unstated sexual orientations or unseen private lives will are straight. Saying "I've always understood [character X] to be queer." is different. There have to be characters "everyone" understood to be queer where it was never made explicit.

There was an episode of Inspector Lewis last year where the introduction to the episode on PBS heavily hinted that Hathaway was gay because he lives alone and listens to classical music. In fact, I'd assume Hathaway's straight for precisely those reasons: they're part of the fact he's meant to be a young Morse and Morse is the only character in the universe we have strong evidence is straight. I was ranting to my brother about this and we had to pause to argue about whether Lewis could be bi. We know about Lewis's wife (in fact, she shows up once or twice), but, at the time, we've never seen him in another relationship, so it was technically possible. But, when push comes to shove, we've spent our whole lives believing Lewis is straight.*

*It's maybe worth noting that we both knew about Lewis's wife before we knew queer people existed. But I'm pretty sure everyone thinks Lewis is straight.

[deusabscondidum.livejournal.com]

I would like to add you as a friend. I hope that's okay.

One thing that amazes me is that queer people are supposed to run the entertainment industry (According to popular theory, when it doesn't run afoul of the theory that it is run by Jewish individuals.), and yet queer characters and stories are so completely beyond anything the audience can imagine that, if they are put into a show or film, they are unrecognizable and offensive. If everyone assumes that queers are in control, then we should be choosing the message and we shouldn't have a hard time portraying ourselves accurately. Or maybe the theory isn't that we are in control, but that we are just all the actors. Stereotypes confuse me.

TV Tropes has a few articles titled, "The All Gay Cast" or "The All Bisexual Cast." But that isn't a trope. It happens rarely and when it does, it isn't a plot device.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hi, welcome.

The only show I can think of what wasn't Queer as Folk (which I like) or The L Word (which I don't) that fits that trope is Torchwood, hilariously.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Rock on.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Ugh this to a thousand. Yes, I would like to watch a programme that has someone like me in it (I'd also like it if they weren't a token, stereotype or doomed to die, but that's asking a lot). It's not unreasonable - even if it is damn rare.

And ye gods, no no amount of "slashability" makes up from the lack of LGBT characters

It's not politics or slash or anything like - it's a brief wish that there was some acknowledgement of our existence, our right to exist and our right to have our stories told - and that our stories are just as good, our characters just as acceptable and fine as all the straight, cis characters out there

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Word.

[eredien]

I wrote a response to this in my journal, because it made me think about this problem in terms of a failure of art-creation/storytelling/craft.