If there's one thing modern media has made apparent it's that the statistics lied to us. The lgbtq don't make up less than 10% of the population. They are easily at least 48% of the population, and they are everywhere. Your friends. Your boss. Your security guard. Your parents. Your dog. The guy standing behind you. Even you yourself are likely Lbtq and don't know it.
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Just because you exist doesn't mean you are required to exist EVERYWHERE. Women should not be in every film just for the sake of having women. Asians should not be in every film for the sake of having Asians. Gay people should not be in every film for the sake of having gays.
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Nobody CARES if a character in a film is gay/albino/trans/3 feet tall/an old sock puppet. Especially when it has nothing to do with the plot. FORCING those traits ON characters and then DEMANDING a spotlight put on those traits belittles the characters, breaks the immersion, often ruins large portions of the plot, and alienates customers
Exactly! I HATE when the only thing about a character is a singular trait, like their sexuality. That is not who you are as a person, neither is your race or your gender etc. If one thing about you is all you are as a character, then you are not a well rounded, well written character imo.
Media these days have decided to use the vegan trope for the Lbtq community to the detriment of everything.
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They don't seem to understand that on top of no one caring, peoples' sexual histories are not the main reason anyone is going to see an action movie.
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And tbh I'm tired of them taking characters that already exist and doing the ol "bait-and-switch."
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I'd much rather read about a character who was gay from the start than get 2 years in and suddenly read about how Winnie the pooh was actually secretly putting the spring in Tigger's tail all along.
But, if it is done right then it can be pretty tasteful. Look at how they handled Rosa's seexuality on B99. Stephanie Beatriz came out as bi and they wrote that into her character as well, but it was done in such a way and being true to the character that it didn't seem like something shoved down your throat.
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Or Mac form It's Always Sunny, he was hinted to be a repressed gay guy for a long time and then with Season 6, the implication became rather strong, he officially came out in season 13 and then when he finally found his pride, it was beautiful.
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Point is, no matter whether the character is gay from beginning of the plot or in the middle or in the end. If the character would only have his sexuality as his trait then no one will care for them. It has to be organic, it needs to be consistent with character and while it may have an effect on the character/plot, it shouldn't completely become them.
Plus, any LGBT person would rather have an organic representation than a walking stereotype. And while a lot of people agree that any representation is good one, you gotta understand that that happens only because we allow it. There is so little organic representation that people gobble up whatever is offered to them and from their opinion on the base of that.
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But thankfully, things are looking good, but they aren't gonna get any better by yelling or launching hit pieces. Organic things take organic time.
@spookykink58 I sort of agree but that also is rarely the case. Like if a character is hinted at being gay the entire time that's a completely different scenario. I'm more talking about things Like they briefly tried to justify the idea of making Batman gay because he lived with Robin or whatever. Could that be seen as organic? Maybe. But it was also unnecessary, and lead to the horrible question of whether Batman was actually taking advantage of Robin.
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The simple fact remains that especially large companies like marvel and Disney etc have the platform where they could introduce a solid Lbtq character. Or black character. Or female character. And if they did it right they would have no problem getting people on board. Hell, one of my fav characters as a kid was a cross-dresser. But they do shit like Batwoman which is all politics and people don't like it. So it fails. So they have to then take a product that is successful and try and use it instead, which has the same result.
Oh yeah, the gay bait is not at all cool and a lot of shows are gulity of that. And yeah, if they gave a shit about making stories rather then platitudes of politics then it would play out greatly with people, but they are big corporations who want money first. Luckily, there are still some creators out there who are good at what they do and things are kinda becoming "normal" regarding minorities in the showbiz, so that's a good sign I guess.
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Also, who was your favourite character? Was it Him? Cause I am really curious now.
Lol it was Cybersix.
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She was a mutant experiment created by a Nazi-scientist who escaped but had to hunt down more of his experiments to survive.
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During the day she was in hiding and took the identity of a dead guy. So she cross-dressed as a guy and got a job as a teacher. One of her female students had a crush on her guy persona, and her male co-worker had a thing for her female persona.
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Describing it now I have no idea how it ever got aired back when it did haha. Literal show about a female cross-dresser punching Nazis but somehow was less political than 90% of the stuff coming out today
Ah, well that's how decent storylines play out. Also, I thought it was Him from Powerpuff Girls. I was terrified of Him as a kid, but I gotta say, now I love that character. Also, the most famous crossdresser in the history of kids cartoon! Powerpuff Girls was the shit!
here's the thing, if someone is gay or LBGT+ whatever, can you tell at a glance just looking at them, or is that discrimination? If you can't tell looking at them, then how do you know a lot of the characters or all of the people in the background aren't LBGT?
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Just because you exist doesn't mean you are required to exist EVERYWHERE. Women should not be in every film just for the sake of having women. Asians should not be in every film for the sake of having Asians. Gay people should not be in every film for the sake of having gays.
.
Nobody CARES if a character in a film is gay/albino/trans/3 feet tall/an old sock puppet. Especially when it has nothing to do with the plot. FORCING those traits ON characters and then DEMANDING a spotlight put on those traits belittles the characters, breaks the immersion, often ruins large portions of the plot, and alienates customers
.
They don't seem to understand that on top of no one caring, peoples' sexual histories are not the main reason anyone is going to see an action movie.
.
And tbh I'm tired of them taking characters that already exist and doing the ol "bait-and-switch."
.
I'd much rather read about a character who was gay from the start than get 2 years in and suddenly read about how Winnie the pooh was actually secretly putting the spring in Tigger's tail all along.
.
Or Mac form It's Always Sunny, he was hinted to be a repressed gay guy for a long time and then with Season 6, the implication became rather strong, he officially came out in season 13 and then when he finally found his pride, it was beautiful.
.
Point is, no matter whether the character is gay from beginning of the plot or in the middle or in the end. If the character would only have his sexuality as his trait then no one will care for them. It has to be organic, it needs to be consistent with character and while it may have an effect on the character/plot, it shouldn't completely become them.
.
But thankfully, things are looking good, but they aren't gonna get any better by yelling or launching hit pieces. Organic things take organic time.
.
The simple fact remains that especially large companies like marvel and Disney etc have the platform where they could introduce a solid Lbtq character. Or black character. Or female character. And if they did it right they would have no problem getting people on board. Hell, one of my fav characters as a kid was a cross-dresser. But they do shit like Batwoman which is all politics and people don't like it. So it fails. So they have to then take a product that is successful and try and use it instead, which has the same result.
.
Also, who was your favourite character? Was it Him? Cause I am really curious now.
.
She was a mutant experiment created by a Nazi-scientist who escaped but had to hunt down more of his experiments to survive.
.
During the day she was in hiding and took the identity of a dead guy. So she cross-dressed as a guy and got a job as a teacher. One of her female students had a crush on her guy persona, and her male co-worker had a thing for her female persona.
.
Describing it now I have no idea how it ever got aired back when it did haha. Literal show about a female cross-dresser punching Nazis but somehow was less political than 90% of the stuff coming out today