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therealrainbowmadness · 1 year

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The downfall of media representation: a look at the massive cancelation tide of queer-woman-led shows of 2022

A little more than a year ago, I published a piece on what I called “the queer renaissance” where I reminisced on Lexa’s legacy (The 100) and showed optimism on the representation scenario given the variety of shows airing or to be aired with queer woman among their characters, and the grand amount of WLW couples in committed relationships that had on-screen marriages between 2020 and 2021. But even then, when things were still looking up representation-wise, I pointed that a cloud of worry was coming due to the end of many beloved shows that featured queer characters. There, I mentioned Black Lightning (Grace and Thunder), The Bold Type (Kat and Adena), Supergirl (Alex and Kelly), Brooklyn99 (Rosa), Atypical (Casey and Izzie), Genera+ion (Riley and Greta), Dickinson (Emily and Sue), Motherland Fort Salem (Raelle and Scylla) and Killing Eve (Eve and Villanelle). Little did I know that my optimism was foolish and that the worry brought by the end of the above-mentioned shows would only grow stronger after a very disturbing 2022.

The first cancelation tide came in April. When rumors started regarding the selling of The CW, queer fans immediately started worrying for their beloved shows, specifically for DC Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman. Turns out they had a reason to worry because even before the network was sold by Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to Nextstar, The CW axed a long list of names from their portfolio. The shock was evident since The CW traditionally renewed their shows and allowed departing series to have a final “goodbye” season, as they did with Supergirl. But what called everyone’s attention was the fact that Legends of Tomorrow last-airing season (the seventh of their run) had done great regarding to critics and ratings. It also had more views than shows that would get renewed, like Riverdale. Media outlets later revealed that the apparent cause for cancelation was that the uncertain future of the network at that point led Warner Bros. to not want to commit to another long-term lease on the sound stages in Vancouver. The fact that they also did not renew their deal with Netflix for distributing content largely affected their revenues as well. Not to say that any of these issues did not play major parts on the future of our beloved shows, the fact remains that series that were in similar conditions, that is, also shot in Vancouver, also distributed by Netflix, and with similar or lower ratings and approval from critics, were renewed. In contrast, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman were not. The difference between then and the ones that got renewed: both were led by woman who loved other woman. And one of then was led by a black woman.

It was not easy moving on from such losses and being left without a proper ending to beloved characters and couples. But the cancelation wave did not slow down. Gentleman Jack was canceled in July by HBO. Despite BBC’s desire to move forward with the show, they still needed HBO as a co-producer and global distributor. It was hypothesized that the gap between the first and second seasons, caused by the pandemic, led to lower ratings and, thus, cancelation. But the untold reality was that HBO somewhat sabotaged the show by changing its time slot to air in the US and not pushing as much publicity for season 2. This kind of approach reminded me of the way Nickelodeon treated The Legend of Korra, constantly changing its time slot and ultimately moving it to streaming for the fourth and final season. Korra was a pioneer in queer representation for animated series.

The Wilds was canceled after a second season mostly focused on new male characters instead of the group of girls that led the first season, including the couple Shelby and Tony. Some shows had briefer runs, like Prime Video’s Paper Girls and Netflix’s First Kill. So short indeed that it makes me believe that genre TV for sapphics is the ultimate streaming queerbaiting. It is worth mentioning that many people, including LGBTQIAP+, stated that these shows were better off being canceled since they were poorly scripted and had terrible CGI. Addressing these issues, I have to say that poor visual effects never stopped series from getting renewed (just see Supernatural) and shows with really horrible scripts are constantly made and renewed by streaming platforms (Netflix’s Elite is a perfect example). However, I do not agree that they are badly scripted at all. Despite heavy criticism, First Kill had an expressive number of views and ranked well in Netflix’s Top 10 in many countries, also showing great numbers on socials which were at least comparable to Heartstopper (already renewed by Netflix).

But it was not enough for Netflix to cancel First Kill, and the news about the cancelation of Warrior Nun hit colder than ice. Warrior Nun was already a beloved show that grew its audience during the pandemic. Although some had reservations for the first season because of a possible queerbaiting, this possibility was erased by season 2 and the beautiful slow-burn romance between Ava and Beatrice. The momentum the show gained by the launch of its second season was impressive and it was impossible to go through the Twitter timeline without seeing some post or photo related to the show or Avatrice. The impact was so big that made people go back and watch the first season as well. Rotten Tomatos season 2 critic ratings were 100% and audience score was 99% with 7925 reviews. In fact, season 2 had the highest Netflix audience rating ever. The audience, already aware of Netflix MO, grew the engagement of the series on social media, despite Netflix showing zero effort for advertising the new season whatsoever. And again, despite the great ratings, views and engagement, the show got axed without much explanation, leaving a passionate audience with multiple unsolved cliffhangers.

Netflix, having one of the largest portfolios among networks and streaming platforms, is naturally the home of many shows with LGBTQIA+ characters. It does not feel like a coincidence that these shows, especially the ones featuring lesbian and bisexual woman, are the main targets for cancelation. The cycle continues: platforms pick up shows with a queer character for producing to fill the diversity box; they offer little to no support for the people involved on the actual making of the show, offering lower budgets compared to other equivalent series; besides the low production value, they also put little effort on advertising these series, making very hard for the show to do well outside the queer bubble; still, some audience, specially queer woman, sign to that platform to watch the series, grow attached to the characters, ship the couples, engage on social media, and do what they can for it to get to as many people as possible, since the network or streaming is doing virtually nothing in this regard; ultimately, the show either performs poorly as far as visualizations, mostly due to the sabotage of their own producing platform that offered a low production and advertising value, or performs well, but never well enough to them. In the latter case, it feels like woman-led shows are always held to a much higher standard than the male-led ones, having to do so much better to get same recognition. Misogyny and lesbophobia are the two words that come to mind describing this heartbreaking cycle.

At the end of the day, what we are left with? Series that give terrible endings to their sapphic characters, like Killing Eve. Series that are giving us kind of a bad type of representation, like The L Word Gen. Q season 3 (destroying character evolution and pushing outdated plots). Series with great representation which we are so afraid to get attached to just so we’d be disappointed again (like A League of Their Own and Sex Live of College Girls). And series that we will never even know the ending (choose any of the above-mentioned series). It is worth pointing out that all the fandoms are fiercely fighting for their shows to get pick up by other platforms and find new homes, as they should. A great example that the fight is worth fighting is Wynonna Earp. The show was canceled after its third season, leaving the audience with many cliffhangers. The fans fought hard and SyFy pick up the series for two more seasons. Ultimately, season 5 never happened, and its only owned to the creator Emily Andras, who did not want to make the same mistakes as season 3 and leave multiple loose ends, that we got a satisfying beautiful ending at season 4. But even with only one extra season, it was so worth it. And one final season could be all we needed to feel a sense of closure for all these falling series.

It is worth highlighting that LGBTQIAP+ representation is so important for so many people to recognize themselves in the characters and feeling less alone in this world, for helping people accept themselves, come out to their families, and just to normalize in general the existence of LGBTQIAP+ people in all sorts of environments and genres. We are currently seeing undoubtedly a major regression on how media approaches representation in general. We started back then being either sexualized or straight up killed, evolved into great characters with diverse well-thought-out plots, only to now have our shows canceled. And, although we are all exhausted, we cannot go down without a fight. A unified fight with all fandoms from canceled shows. As we did in 2016 after Lexa’s death, we need to make our points to major media outlets, go after the sponsors of the platforms, make a fuss in social media, look for alternatives. I still hope that, together, we have the power to make a difference if not for the series that were already canceled, to at least avoid that the shows that are still running or just starting to have a similar fate.

#lgbt #lgbt community #queer #representation #lexa #clexa #avatrice #warriornun #firstkill #calliete #gentlemenjack #batwoman #legends of tommorow #papergirls #wynonna earp #sex lives of college girls #a league of their own #the l world generation q #killing eve

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cloveroctobers · 6 months

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OCTOBER PROMPTS 🎃 — 6. Joe

A/N: because the love I have for Raymond is consistently growing and it’s Scorpio szn (his szn) so why not? Although I’m not sure if Joe fits into the Scorpio vibe…those that care what do you think? Anyways he’s on the list so here’s this *GASPS* short thing and I can’t wait to see him (mainly) next season!

PROMPT is from HERE + I’m using: A notices B’s porch light off, so A knocks on the door anyway to pull them out of their boredom to persuade B to come join the fun.

Side note: slight crossover between two other shows: “The Bold Type,” + “Fire Country,” but not overly the focus in this piece. So don’t come at me if you’re questioning why they’re tagged :)

*GIF BELONGS TO: @kamala-khan + PHOTO DOES NOT BELONG TO ME!

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Ever since Briar moved out to the New England area it’s been difficult to get her besties to visit with them still living in New York City. Working for Scarlet magazine was a big part of not only Briar’s childhood dream but career journey that brought Briar to this big change in her life.

Perhaps Briar was still getting adjusted as life carried on but in different places now. Originally the girls planned to come up this weekend to have a spooky bake session + movie marathon and would head back that next afternoon.

However things didn’t go as planned with: Jane’s old Danish fling decided to surprise her back in the states after she took her lengthy trip of seeing the world. Briar wasn’t sure if a serious relationship is what Jane needed right now but Jane claims it was only her having fun…leaving Briar to take that with a grain of salt. Then Kat decided to last minute turn down the trip to dive even deeper into her own magazine, “Don’t Turn Away,” which was of course exciting to see and Briar was no doubt proud of her friend but Briar couldn’t believe that Kat was officially the workaholic out of the four friends. It was even sweet for Adena, Kat’s girlfriend, to consider traveling to spend the day with Briar but she encouraged Adena to watch over Kat and push her to take breaks every now and then so she wouldn’t get burnt out. Lastly there was Sutton who switched up to head down to upstate New York to the new cabin her and Richard purchased…which concluded with Briar placing them all on block for the next twenty-four hours.

Sure it was petty but it’s not like the group didn’t plan this two weeks ago and yes things come up…yet it sucked being kicked to the curb like this. Gas prices were also out of control but none of them bothered to use that excuse and well at least they were honest with pushing Briar to the side! Briar didn’t have to sulk at her new Cape home and could get herself up and out into the city of Wellsbury if she really wanted to. The thing is she just wanted to have a night in with her girls, especially when Briar’s been looking forward to seeing them all after she switched career paths.

So…there she is in the solitude of her home lounging on a couch “watching” some crappy horror film, scowling at that one character who plummets to the ground after being chased by a serial killer.

There’s a knock at the door and Briar has to drag her eyes away from her phone to glance towards the windows that she shielded hours ago. Sighing she guesses it must be some more teenagers doing another round of ding dong ditch, since she was the new person in town and it was fun to pick on the new resident here apparently. Padding through the rest of the scattered “oddly,” placed furniture in the living room—Briar’s uppity mother’s words FYI, she finds her way to the front door. Standing a little on her fuzzy sock covered toes, she peeks through the peep hole after flicking her porch lights back on, to see no other than Joe Mohan waiting on her front porch.

Briar doesn’t wipe the nonchalant expression on her face as she pulls the door open, “Joseph, hello.”

Joe’s lips twitch at the formality Briar kept up with when greeting him, “I thought we classified each other as friends not acquaintances. What’s with the ‘Joseph,’ Ms. Briar?”

Briar sighs as she leans against the doorway of her home.

“That bad of a night huh?”

“Oh you have no idea.”

“Well your lack of lights told me to come over and check so I’m here,” Joe holds his arms out with a smile, “And you look like you can use a pick me up…so you should hang out with me.”

Briar and joe lived across the street from each other, while Joe had a ranch that was pushed back from the road, Briar also had her esquestrian property with cape architecture that was actually closer to the road and a roomy pumpkin filled front porch. They were friendly with Briar heading into the blue farm every Wednesday and Friday due to it being her longer days at work, from there they sparked up light hearted but teasing conversations.

She became the newest talk of the town, unwarranted and she liked to keep to herself just a bit to get adjusted better. Did that mean some labeled her as standoffish? So be it. It was something her mother often criticized her for when change came Briar’s way, that she didn’t have to retreat into her shell and that she needed to take things by it’s horns. Maybe subconsciously that’s why she was attempting to raise some goats? It’s a shame that the way your relationship is built from your parent(s) can still haunt you into your adulthood.

“hang with you and the horses you mean?”

Joe notices the shudder radiating off Briar’s frame and shakes his head. He knows the whole story about her at thirteen and on a horse back in the summer at Martha’s Vineyard. That resulted in eight stitches and a dark scar from her chin bone down to where the underside of her tongue rests. It wasn’t as noticeable despite the horrible laser treatments she endured as a kid; unless you were really trying to pick apart her story and if Briar didn’t have make-up covering the scar.

“Nah, what kinda guy do you think I am?”

“The kind that tried to get me on one at that fair last weekend? when you know that was solely for the children.”

Joe was only joking, he wouldn’t push past Briar’s boundaries.

“Oh my mistake, I thought you started middle school already.”

“Ha-ha,” briar playfully rolls her eyes.

Joe lightly taps Briar’s forearm, “c’mon, what else better do you have to do? Halloween is right around the corner, come out and celebrate.”

“I never took you for one to enjoy spooky season.” Briar tilts her head to the side then turns her hooded eyes into slits, “I feel like you’re more of a New Year’s Eve kinda guy.”

“Really? I don’t give fall guy season?”

“Joseph!” Briar almost crinkles her nose as if she’s appalled, “Don’t tell me you like pumpkin and chai lattes?”

“I’m actually more of a hazelnut, chestnut, or go for a praline vibe.” Joe shrugs his shoulders.

“Ah so a winter girl.” Briar lifts her chin almost in approval, “I can now smell the wreath’s from your pores and see the uggs on your feet.”

Joe scoffs and holds his hand out awaiting Briar’s grasp, “so what do you say?”

“I’d say…as long as there’s no horses and you give me a glimpse of the itinerary for the night, I just might.” She keeps her arms folded.

Joe hums, “don’t have time for all the deets but I can guarantee you’ll have some fun.”

“Fun as that mark on your eye?”

“What do you mean? That’s part of my costume.”

“You’re not wearing a costume, Joseph.” Briar scans the bearded man, wondering just how he injured himself this time.

“I…could be.” Joe challenges the woman with the Pearl clips in her hair.

“Well am I dressed appropriately for this undercover mission of fun?” Briar slaps her hands down by her thighs, “Otherwise I’d have to change and take a shot of liquid courage to get through the night.”

Joe says, “you always look great…and I don’t want to wait another hour for you to be ready. The event has already started by the way. So come on, get your keys and ID just in case they decide to make sure you’re not part of gen-z.”

“Whatever you say, baby boomer.” She winks at Joe before disappearing back inside while the man just sent a mocking smile at her back.

They arrive at what appears to be this abandoned brick building with Joe and a few of his friends that Briar’s meeting for the first time. They’re a friendly group that Briar’s heard a little about but it’s good to put the names to the faces and that they welcomed her with pretty much open arms. It was a contrast to the others in town that were more nosy than getting to actually know Briar. However she’s handled worse attitudes in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

“Don’t tell me we’re going haunted exploring,” Briar says to Joe as they walk side by side through the scarce parking lot.

He laughs, “hell no, that’s more Jake’s lane and none of us would actually be here if that was the destination tonight, believe me. You’re in good hands.” He causally tosses an arm across Briar’s shoulders.

Which she glances at but makes no move to pluck his hand off. It actually felt comforting as they made their way through the breezy night together. As the group stand at the large door, they wait for a section of it to slide sideways revealing a beaming red light that shines over their bodies.

Briar still wasn’t sure if she liked this but Joe’s friends seem to get more excited after?

Soon they’re welcomed into the building which smells like cold air and moss, followed by two figures dressed in all black.

“What in the American horror story?” Briar mutters, which is not unheard by the group who let out snickers.

The voice that echoes off the eerily silent hallway, comes from the figure on the left who’s wearing a plague mask, “ladies and gentlemen, those of you who are ready to put those bones to work, I suggest you say your goodbyes now.”

Suddenly alarms go off with the blaring of red lights illuminating their frames. Briar won’t lie and say that she didn’t clasp both hands across Joe’s waist at that, brown eyes peering around this narrow entryway. She also picked up on the sound of the main door locking behind them.

“Come along,” the feminine voice in the black Victorian poof dress speaks, “we shall see how far those shells above thee bones can take it.”

“Take what,” one of Joe’s other friends, Bode is clearly finding enjoyment in this as he bites back a laugh while his girlfriend, Gabriela slaps his arm.

“The shed,” both speakers say at the same time as the floor beneath them all begins to glide them backwards and their group forward.

“Whoa!” Joe wobbles and steadies himself, “they’re really in tune with their roles.”

Abruptly the track stops at a set of stairs that lead downwards into the abyss.

“Welcome to the resurrection,” the feminine doll face raises her lace gloved hands while the plague man stomps his cane into the floor.

Just as they say this, unexpectedly chains slink down from above their heads while a gush of air almost knocks the group back but some unseen force keeps them upright. Devices are clamped down over their heads, making them immediately grip onto it in bewilderment.

“Please select a Halloween genre.” A menacing voice states, making Briar realize that she along with the rest had headphones on now.

“How do we uh…pick?” Jake asks but the hosts no longer say a word.

Briar presses on the top of the headphones, which light up orange while going over specific sections. A pop tune with a haunting theme fills her ears, making Briar’s wide eyes turn to see the rest of the groups slowly turning from a red hue to orange. With that the entryway to the stairs steam with blue smoke, signaling their cue to enter as the plague man and the doll faced woman side step to let the group through.

“This is pretty cool! I’ll admit. Creepy as hell but cool,” Briar can almost hear Joe saying as if he was speaking to her directly through the headphones and over her briefly lowered music.

Briar nods, guard still up as they all creep their way down the stairs and into what looks like a huge club scene with some attendees dancing in costumes and others in simple night out attire.

“I’m getting drunk! Bye!” Gabriela shouts into their ears, dancing through the crowd while pulling Bode along and right to the bar.

Briar and Joe both share a smile as they turn to each other. She wastes no time twirling around him then and begins to dance to her own tune in her ears. Joe keeps his hands together as he watches Briar let free, throughly enjoying seeing a grin on her face.

When she stops in front of Joe, she poses and waves her fingers encouraging Joe to show her what he’s got. She’s seen joe break out into some moves before when he thought nobody was watching and it was the funniest thing how he got embarrassed about it.

The man can move to a beat okay and if a dance battle was what he was asking for tonight, then who was Briar to stop that from happening?

After all it was all in good fun and what was the harm in that?

Joe tried to play it off like he was too cool for school but briar noticed his headphones flicking dim and back to Orange, almost as if the song changed and Briar didn’t miss the way Joe clenched his eyes closed.

Which made Briar smirk.

His song had to be playing and when he busted out doing his own version of the Wednesday Addams dance, which definitely caught Briar off guard! She couldn’t help but to jump in alongside of Joe but she managed to keep a blank expression on her face much better than Joe did.

They were more in sync than they realized once they whipped back to be face to face, Briar raised their hands up into the air together before a smile broke onto Joe’s face which the woman couldn’t help to match as their hands lowered. Briar lets out a laugh, resting her head against Joe’s chest and he wraps his arms back around her, hugging her close as they found joy in the night.

He figures Briar could at least consider him a friend now, bearing in mind that they just went into a whole dance routine in public together. Not to mention she felt just right in his arms and the moment was cheered on, they noticed as the crowd around them watched leaving Joe and Briar to bow at their unknown audience.

Turning to Joe’s friends, they appear with spooky cocktails with Eve handing off one of each to the pair, which they all cheers to with more laughter.

“Who knew all it took was to bring Briar out on the town with us to get Joe on the dance floor?” Gabriela tells.

Briar peeks up at Joe who sends her a wink with his lips at the rim of the glass.

Briar nudges his shoulder, “Ah, what are friends for?”

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Continue along with my October anthology prompts here.

#queued #october prompts #fall prompts #ginny and georgia #joe ginny and Georgia #raymond ablack #ginny and Georgia netflix #Spotify #the bold type #fire country

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