I’m a little disappointed to see so much discourse, fandom competitiveness, and plain arguing going around at the moment in regards to queer film/TV. People complaining about too much sex, not enough sex, too cheesy, made for the hets, too happy, too sad, too realistic, too unrealistic, and a million other petty issues. I, for one, am a queer person in my 50s and I grew up with practically zero representation! Yes, we want to continue onwards and upwards with quality and varied shows BUT let’s be HAPPY we now have representation! Like, actual shows where the central characters are queer, not just a side character who gets f*cking murdered! There is room for all different types of representation - so enjoy the types you like, and let others enjoy what they like.
And on a side note: progress is progress and film/tv is a business that has to turn a profit! If some queer content is made to appeal to the straight community, and will also act as a means of reducing homophobia and increasing understanding, then that’s a good thing. That means in the future more and more content will include queer stories and representation. If only 10% (ish) of the population is the maximum target audience then shows won’t keep getting made!
There is a huge backlash all over the world right now - a “push back” by conservatives and religious groups that want to wind back the clock, and specifically the last decade of advances.
So stick together queers and LGBTQIA+ allies.
I’m super happy knowing I don’t have to wait years between content anymore. And I’ve loved all different types of shows over the last 5 years, for lots of different reasons!
Interview with the Vampire - is giving me the toxic, passionate gothic love affair I’ve always wanted. And addressing interracial relationships.
Heartstopper - is filling me up with pure joy and hopefulness for the future.
Shameless - gave me Ian and Mickey - unique, anti stereotypical gays with a tragic yet ultimately beautiful love story spanning 11 years
Lone Star 911 - is giving me TK and Carlos whose sexuality barely factors into the storyline! Yay!
Looking - gave me an authentic queer experience and an intoxicating love triangle.
Red, white and Royal Blue - gave me a sweet, cute romcom that allowed reality to be sidelined. Fun escapism!
Young Royals - had me captivated by first love and intense angst.
Fire Island - an underrated romcom that made me laugh so hard I cried.
Sex education - shoved the realities of sex in our faces and provided me with laughter and drama and a range of queer identities.
Gentlemen Jack -gave me historical lesbians with spectacular wit, and feminine power.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg- because there’s SO SO SO many more shows I could mention! Don’t at me because I didn’t mention YOUR favourite. This is my point! There is SO much great content it would take all day for me to include everything. This is just a sample - and that’s f*cking brilliant!!
So maybe we could all start posting/tweeting etc about what WE DO LIKE / LOVE / MAKES US FEEL LOVED AND SEEN and put down the device if we’ve got nothing nice to say.
Sending everyone a love filled week! 💜
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I’ve talked about this before, but whenever people talk about heartstopper in regards to byler, and I can’t speak for everyone, but I think it has much less to do with the show itself and more to do with the attitudes surrounding heartstopper and how they view it in relation to other queer media.
I like heartstopper! I think it’s a cute show and I’m gonna watch season 2. But after the first season came out, I remember seeing tweets praising the show for creating a “wholesome” depiction of gay love that didn’t rely on sex and was very sweet, and thus placing it above it’s contemporaries which may be seen as more “gritty” and “depraved.”
And yes, a show about teenagers with very young actors doesn’t have to have sex in it and probably shouldn’t, and I don’t think it’s wierd for tweenage queers to find comfort in a show that isn’t centered around sex, but the problems with claiming that a show like heartstopper is better than other queer media because it is “wholesome” becomes a slippery slope of demonizing queer representation and media that does not fit into the happy and clean box that heartstopper does.
Sometimes when discussing byler, there seems to be a dissonance between how people want byler to be represented and what the show actually is. There seems to be a failure to consider that A) ST and heartstopper take place in different time periods and in different parts of the world and B) ST is a sci-fi/horror genre show while heartstopper is written as a romantic comedy with the romance plot being the central plot.
Which isn’t to say that romance and relationships isn’t still important to the show, but I’ve sometimes seen it expressed that there would be dissapointment if byler didn’t get together right away without much drama and/or didn’t get to have happy established couple moments that they are used to seeing with Nick and Charlie. They don’t seem open to the idea of a smoldering slow-burn with romance and sexuality interlinked with dark supernatural elements because they don’t see that as adequate of a portrayal of queerness as what heartstopper presents.
On top of and relating to that, there also seems to be a general lack of understanding that being gay in the 80s is different than being gay in the 2020s. There’s some overlap in experiences, but there is also seems to be a demand from fans that both Mike and Will be out and proud and express themselves openly and that the entire town know about their relationship in order to find byler satisfactory, which is not only unrealistic but also unsympathetic to the queer experience at that point in time.
Which isn’t to say that heartstopper doesn’t and shouldn’t have a place among contemporary queer media, but instead queer media should be diversified and shouldn’t have to worry about appealing to the exact same audience as heartstopper. There should be queer rep existing across different genres being presented in different ways without any one of them being considered the “correct” way.
So, all in all, I’m glad that heartstopper exists and it has it’s place in queer media. But byler has its own place too without having to be just like it.
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