Representation in Art/Entertainment/Media • Page 3

interview with actress of TWD of said character

Bury Your Gays: Why 'The 100,' 'Walking Dead' Deaths Are Problematic (Guest Column)
‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Twice as Far’ Proves No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

 

@morgantayler No I think I got my signals crossed. Sorry about that, fixed the post.
@Tim I'm not sure I've seen anything that specific yet, but at some point when I'm not exhausted I was going to put together a post with pretty much all the links from major articles I've seen addressing the trope in the past 2-3 weeks. If there's anything I find that shows that breakdown, I'll tag you and let you know which articles it's in.

 

The character death on TWD was not only a loss for lesbian representation on TV, but she was also a loss for fat visibility/body diversity. Especially considering the fact that the show is about a zombie apocalypse.

 

It's also wild to me how similar of a death it was to what The 100 did. Which is similar to what's happened to so many other characters.

 

Even in our current pop culture moment, the gays™ are still destined for a whedonesque death.

 

I'm going to WonderCon for The 100 panel on Sunday and I'm gonna get a police/bulletproof vest from the Halloween store and make a sign that says "lesbian nervous about stray bullets" to wear

 

lol. This is perfect. You should ask a question in that so whoever's at the panel has to see it.

 

It really depends on the vibe of the room and the panel. I'm really not sure what to expect. If I can convince myself to talk in front of people, I'd be willing to ask if they were aware they were recycling a cause of death from 12 years ago. But I'm sure it'll be asked. And I'm sure I won't have the courage to ask it myself haha. I kind of just want to bring a giant bag of popcorn with me.

 

An Open Letter to Supergirl Stars Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh, From An Adoptive Mom

During the scenes in Supergirl where Alex and Kara explore the painful aspects of their relationship as sisters through adoption, our whole family absorbs every word, every expression, because seeing this dynamic on mainstream television makes our family feel less alone. The fact that both Alex and Kara are kickass, strong, smart, flawed, beautiful women who work hard, cry, laugh, yell, fight, and make mistakes has been an incredible model for all of our girls.

When your family is built through adoption, you rarely see nuanced portrayals of adoptive families in the media. It’s all about extremes. Fairy tales and fantasy shows usually resort to the trope of the evil step-parents or the abusive adoptive parents, with the adoptees depicted as mistreated victims. On the other end, modern stories often present the adoptive parents as saviors who rescued abandoned orphans and gave them the perfect life. In reality, neither of these fits our adoptive family. Watching Supergirl has normalized our experience, where some parts of adoption are amazing and other parts are really difficult, but what never changes is that we are family, and we love each other. Thank you for that.

Sharing this here because it's an aspect of the show I hadn't thought about before reading this. Supergirl means a lot to me for a variety of reasons and I'm glad to see people connect with it in various ways and for various reasons.

 

I'm adopted, but I was only a couple months old and have never had an urgent need to seek out my birth family. So, I don't really relate to that aspect of the show. And, my adopted (from a different family) younger siblings don't get alone, with the one who likes Supergirl basically hating her sister and isn't my peer, so I'm guessing neither does she, lol.

My family also fostered for years, though, and I have adopted cousins, and my grandma has a similar story, so anything related to a makeshift family makes me happy. It's probably why Lilo and Stitch is my second favorite animated film, lol.

 

I was wondering what everyone thought about a white actor being cast to play Danny Rand in the forthcoming Netflix Iron Fist series, especially considering the character's background.

I tried having this conversation in the news thread about it but it went about as well as you'd expect, a couple people even going as far as to say that it would be stereotyping/racist for the character to be cast as Asian.

Just looking for some thoughts on this, especially anyone here who is Asian or Asian American

 

yeah sure, i'll speak for all Asian people... jk.

Is it eye rolling that one of the greatest Kung-Fu masters in the Marvel Universe is a blonde white dude from New York?

Yup.

Is it eye rolling to see another Asian character on screen in a Martial Arts role?

Yup.

Is the latter better?

I dunno, but it makes more sense.

Do I like Iron Fist?

Yeah... Danny Rand is alright with me. The character and his origin is also the product of Orientalism.

Do Chinese and other Asian Americans or just racially aware individuals have a right to criticize this?

Yeah.

Does that mean some people should just shut up and quit trying to undermine these grievances?

Yup.

 

yeah, makes sense

 

@Tim Not adopted, but just seeing such a wonderful bond between sisters has really touched my heart. I have a lot of feelings about being across the country from my sister so anything family oriented lately has become an emotional train wreck for me haha. But I love the relationship Kara and Alex have on this show.
@St. Nate I love that you basically just interviewed yourself for us. Thanks for giving your thoughts

 

Well it's more or less the questions we should all consider when approaching issues such as representation among other things, especially the last two questions.

 

Yeah I definitely agree. I think Iron Fist is a difficult character to explore this with because of the first two questions you posed and answered. I'm not sure which is "better" (and I use the term better pretty loosely here) and I also don't feel like it's my place to decide. I also didn't know this is where Orientalism started, so I'm going to have to do some more reading on that.

 

woops! that's a typo. Orientalism goes waaayyyy further back. I meant to say that the character and his story is a product of Orientalism.

oops.

 

@St. Nate I thought it seemed rather recent but figured I just didn't know haha. I do hope at the very least Iron Fist starts good discussion on all of this. But I think (sadly) that's too much to ask for

 

@St. Nate @Meerkat thank you both for your thoughts on this. It's something I've been thinking a lot about lately, and think it's an important conversation to have, but comic book fans (at least many who are vocal on the internet) are a frustrating group to explore this with when so many reactions range from 'it shouldn't matter' to 'well it's faithful to the source material'.

 

I mean Matt Murdock is supposed to be a Ginger but whatevs,,,,

 

Purple Man is supposed to be... Purple.

 

and not British...I don't think...maybe

 

ex-Soviet actually.

 

What's happening with The 100 right now is truly one of the wildest things I've ever seen. It turns out one of the writers for the show signed up for a message board to anonymously interact with fans (they knew she worked on the show but not who she was) to encourage them to keep watching and implied that Lexa wouldn't be dying after they had filmed 307. Here's the article: — YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD LURKER

 

As promised, a list of articles regarding the Bury Your Gays trope. Most of these are recent and reference The 100 and/or The Walking Dead pretty heavily. I think the way fandom reacted has given this such a wide reach that it's the first exposure to the trope for a lot of people, so I'm not surprised. I also included a few episode recaps that address the trope and why it's problematic.

TV Kills Another Lesbian Character: What's Going On? - EW
Bury Your Gays: Why 'The 100,' 'Walking Dead' Deaths Are Problematic (Guest Column) - THR
The Walking Dead Recap - Variety
The Walking Dead's Latest Gruesome Death Is Part of a Troubling TV Trend - Vanity Fair
Pop Culture Fix: Is Lexa's Death on The 100 the Beginning of a Lesbian TV Revolution - Autostraddle


And here's another list of articles pertaining to the subject (most revolving around The 100)