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LGBT Themes, Stories And Characters On TV

maraleia

By maraleia
in Everything Else TV

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giovannif7

giovannif7

I've been catching up on last summer's Season 1 of Canadian comedy The Lake on Amazon Prime Video, as Season 2 drops today. Fun show, with Julia Stiles and Jordan Gavaris (Felix from Orphan Black) as step-siblings squabbling over ownership of a family lakeside cabin. A nicely diverse cast, including a sweet gay romance for Jordan's character and a gender-queer 10 year old, all in a beautiful setting, make for an enjoyable summer binge! I just hope Season 2 keeps up the campy, chill vibe set in the first season.

 

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janie jones
janie jones

I really don't understand how for some people the actor's sexuality does matter.  When I'm watching some actor play a murderer, I'm never like, "Gee I wonder if he kills people in real life" or "I don

starri
starri

Sesame Street introduces a family with two dads. I'm not crying, you're crying.

angora
angora

Blue's Clues (with an assist from drag queen Nina West!) has also been out here doing the good work, celebrating the entire community in this lovely Pride parade song:  

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Irlandesa

Irlandesa

17 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

nicely diverse cast, including a sweet gay romance for Jordan's character and a gender-queer 10 year old, all in a beautiful setting, make for an enjoyable summer binge! I just hope Season 2 keeps up the campy, chill vibe set in the first season.

I just finished the second season. Maybe it's a little less wacky compared to last season but I completely enjoyed it. It still completely nailed the summer vibe which is all that I'm looking for. 

And it even got gayer.

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possibilities

possibilities

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Just watched the first episode of Season 1. I love it. Justin G is what makes it good, though. I think, without him, it would be terrible. And I guess that explains why so many tv shows and movies exactly like this seem completely unwatchable to me. Some things just wash down better with family. 

Thanks so much for cluing us in to this show's existence. It's the perfect thing for my procrastinating agenda for the day and the bitterness I was feeling over another show that blatantly minimized its queer content for no good reason.

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argrow

argrow

(edited)

Speaking of Canadian shows, CBC series Sort Of is a wonderful show about non-binary South Asian millennial living in Toronto, juggling their identity with their Pakistani family. It has won Best Comedy Series in the last two Canadian Screen Awards and has also won a Peabody Award. It is airing on CBC in Canada and Max in the US. Just a charming show about Sabi as they navigate their life.

 

Edited by argrow
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argrow

argrow

(edited)

With it being Pride weekend here in Toronto, a shout out to Miss Persona- a Canadian pre-school show that aired two LGBTQ- related episodes a few years ago.

In the first episode- Love Every Moment- Miss Persona attends her moms' wedding, and is the first same-sex wedding shown in the Canadian preschool realm. I can't find the episode online, but here's the song that is in that episode

And then, an episode where they went to a pride parade. Thankfully, the entire episode is on YouTube.

Happy Pride, everyone.

Edited by argrow
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Kel Varnsen

Kel Varnsen

On 2/27/2023 at 8:19 PM, giovannif7 said:

I don't know how far you've gotten into the series, but there's another episode where Herb's transgender issues are confronted in an even-more-personal storyline (in the Season 3 Vicki Von Vicki designer jeans episode). It's been years since I've seen those episodes, but I don't recall other regular characters reacting anywhere near as negatively as Herb in either storyline.

I watched that one last night and it wasn't great but it was probably pretty good for 1980. The transgender character was presented as a real person who explains basically that this is how she was born and seems comfortable with her life; instead of being presented as some kind of crazy person who is doing something wrong with her life. The only weird part was her attraction to Herb. A lot of that was played for laughs and the laugh track was going strong,  but I still think for 1980 that was probably pretty good. Especially since like you said a lot of the comedy was Herb's reaction and Herb is always a jackass.  I bet 20 years later that still would have been good as far as presentation of a trans character.

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Spartan Girl

Spartan Girl

(edited)

Speaking of something that was fair for it’s day, I found this video about the Two and a Half Men episode where Charlie reunites with an old lover that came out as a trans man:


It shocks me to admit it: they DID handle it pretty well. I mean, yes, he’s played by a cisgender actor (Chris O’Donnell) but they still handled the subject pretty sensitively. Evelyn didn’t have any issues with him being trans, she was just horrified that her new boyfriend used to sleep with her son. And she was still able to get over that to keep dating him. So yeah, for once that show did do something right—of course this was back when it used to be passable before it turned into a complete shitshow, but still!

Edited by Spartan Girl
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giovannif7

giovannif7

Happy for the progress in seeing so many male-male couples make the TVLine 2023 year-end list of "Most Dynamic 'Ships", including

Heartstopper - Nick and Charlie

Doom Patrol - Larry and Rama

Fellow Travelers - Hawk and Tim/'Skippy'

The Righteous Gemstones - Kelvin and Keefe

The Last of Us - Bill and Frank

Sadly, other couples from Fellow Travelers, Our Flag Means Death, Good Omens and others were not included, and there's a complete lack of lesbian couples mentioned, so there is still a lot of room for diverse growth. I'm choosing to see it as a positive trend toward increasing inclusion.

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Anduin

Anduin

So in the upcoming returning X-Men cartoon, X-Men '97, Morph will be non-binary. Makes sense for a character who can radically change their shape, right? Apparently some people are already up in arms about it. But do these people actually read the X-Men comics? Did they watch the old cartoon? See, the X-Men have always been stand-ins for oppressed minorities. The actual minorities have shifted over the years as creative teams, politics, and acceptance have changed, but that's the general gist of things.

It's my suspicion that some people go looking for minority representation to complain about, regardless of the source material.

Anyway, while the trailer doesn't grab me, I'm happy for other people to have nice things.

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giovannif7

giovannif7

(edited)

Spent the weekend bingeing Season 1 of "Prisma" on Prime Video - an Italian series from 2022 focused on a group of teens, including two 16 year old twins (seamlessly played by the same actor). The inclusive 8-episode series deal with issues including gender norms/fluidity, relationships and sexuality, physical disability, bullying, and self-harm in a relatively honest, non-sensational way. It's somewhat like a less-salacious (minimal nudity), less murdery version of the Spanish series Elite, but with a more realistic feel to it.

The 8 epiosdes of Season 2 of Prisma just dropped on Prime, which I'll be bingeing this coming weekend. If you don't mind subtitles, you might find it worth checking out for Pride month... here's the trailer for Season 1 (semi-helpful English subtitles are available for this video by turning on captions, then going into Settings and choosing "English").

 

Edited by giovannif7
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possibilities

possibilities

When he says he didn't say he doesn't believe in lesbians, and it turns out what he said was that

he can't believe lesbians aren't attracted to men

....

I laughed, but there really is an issue there. I hope we can start seeing shows that center lesbians the way we're seeing shows that center gay men and trans and non-binary people.

---

I like the show because it's set in a world that really does exist, where there is a mix of terrible and great attitudes. The over-simplification of culture is a usual tv shortcut, but this show doesn't make it that easy. And it's still funny.

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I also like the mix of inside baseball and straight-queer culture clash. 

possibilities

possibilities

9 hours ago, Palimelon said:

Based on that trailer, it pokes fun at "wokeism"?

I wouldn't characterize it that way. 

It's more that it is set in a school where there are a mix of people who would be considered "woke" and less woke to various degrees, and how they each respond to issues or challenges that arise.

For example, the gay teacher kisses his boyfriend where students can see. He is then dealing with a complaint by a parent. How does he deal with the threat to his job? And how do various people in his life suggest he deal with it, support or not support him? It's not as simple as you might think. What do the students think about it, for that matter? 

Often, these topics are addressed as though they are theoretical, but in the show, he has practical concerns and who helps him or who doesn't is not only about their degrees of "wokeness" but also other concerns like loyalty, priorities, leverage, courage, etc.

That description makes it seem didactic and overly serious, but I actually thought it was way less dogmatic or "lesson driven" than most shows that include these kinds of situations.

 

Here's an example:

there's a phys ed teacher who is kind of rude, uses gay stereotypes, isn't what you'd think of as "woke". But he saves the gay teacher's job because he thinks the parent who complained is obnoxious, and he has access to her through their shared country club, where he threatens her. The gay teacher is horrified, says the action by the PE teacher was unprincipled, and the PE teacher says he thought the guy was going to lose his job, so he used his game strategy to make sure he got a chance to keep fighting another day, which he can do with whatever principles he wants since he's still in the school.

One thing I think is a strength of the show is that it shows how IRL people compromise all the time, by necessity, and that a lot of situations are not black and white. 

Another example:

There is a "powder puff" event every year where the girls play football and the boys cheerlead. It is in danger of being cancelled and initially the gay teacher thinks it's because the gender police are objecting to boys in drag. But the boys ask him to help save it, they think it's fun. He doesn't want tog et involved afte almost losing his job over a homophobic complaint, but he goes to the principal with the plea from the boys. The principal says he's not the one who wants it canceled, it's the queer students [they have a very long acronym and don't say "queer" but that's my language] are the ones who are objecting. So the teacher aks them why and they say they are being mocked by the cheerleading, that it's insulting and a misrepresentation. This plot takes a few twists and turns and who is a hero or a villain does not unfold along the usual dogmatic lines. It has a happy ending, since it's a comedy, but it's not a rote treatment of the drag/anti-drag politics that most of the time is what we are fed by partisans.

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Featherhat

Featherhat

Ok so I have to mention Agatha All Along here, which has a variety of queer characters. 

There's Teen/William/Billy and his boyfriend Eddie who had a significant chunk of ep 6 exploring their story and how Eddie is supportive no matter the crazy stuff "William" is saying. Helps to live in the MCU I guess. He was first shown as having a boyfriend in ep 2 (on the phone) and so far it has been relatively natural and low key whilst also making it clear that whoever Teen is he loves Eddie and that his parents are supportive. 

Then there's the chaos of Agatha and Rio who are confirmed to be exes with a terrible break up. Obviously 

Spoiler

Rio being death and a cosmic entity

Means that even under ideal circumstances there's no real way they can be any kind of regular couple but Ep 5 showed us Rio sticking up for Agatha against her mother and whilst there's a lot of violence, snark and jokes it is being taken seriously by the writers (see also ep 4). 

I know it's not for everyone but I think the mix of taking LGBT themes seriously and also having queer characters making snarky jokes about being queer "Queer-ent" and "If you want a straight answer ask a straight lady!" is a big deal for Marvel who have otherwise been more tentative and tepid, even with gender fluid, pansexual Loki who was in love with himself. 

It's not perfect but with ep 7 it does seem to have even silenced those critics who were saying "no one cares". Paul Tassi from Forbes even wrote an article about Agatha defying those who thought it was just "another woke project" from the start, as though he hadn't been saying that the last week. 

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Ohiopirate02

Ohiopirate02

(edited)
On 10/29/2024 at 8:43 AM, Featherhat said:

Ok so I have to mention Agatha All Along here, which has a variety of queer characters. 

There's Teen/William/Billy and his boyfriend Eddie who had a significant chunk of ep 6 exploring their story and how Eddie is supportive no matter the crazy stuff "William" is saying. Helps to live in the MCU I guess. He was first shown as having a boyfriend in ep 2 (on the phone) and so far it has been relatively natural and low key whilst also making it clear that whoever Teen is he loves Eddie and that his parents are supportive. 

Then there's the chaos of Agatha and Rio who are confirmed to be exes with a terrible break up. Obviously 

  Reveal spoiler

Rio being death and a cosmic entity

Means that even under ideal circumstances there's no real way they can be any kind of regular couple but Ep 5 showed us Rio sticking up for Agatha against her mother and whilst there's a lot of violence, snark and jokes it is being taken seriously by the writers (see also ep 4). 

I know it's not for everyone but I think the mix of taking LGBT themes seriously and also having queer characters making snarky jokes about being queer "Queer-ent" and "If you want a straight answer ask a straight lady!" is a big deal for Marvel who have otherwise been more tentative and tepid, even with gender fluid, pansexual Loki who was in love with himself. 

It's not perfect but with ep 7 it does seem to have even silenced those critics who were saying "no one cares". Paul Tassi from Forbes even wrote an article about Agatha defying those who thought it was just "another woke project" from the start, as though he hadn't been saying that the last week. 

I honestly do not think any of the main cast of characters is straight. They are at a minimum bi. But, I do hold the belief that any being that is centuries old is  not 100% straight. 

Edited by Ohiopirate02
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Featherhat

Featherhat

17 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I honestly do not think any of the main cast of characters is straight. They are at a minimum bi. But, I do hold the belief that any being that is centuries old is 100% straight. 

Oh, yes I forgot to mention that Jen/Alice "Do I hate her or do I want her phone number?" "Same" convo. 

So yeah all or almost all of the cast being non straight seems true. 

I think What We Do In the Shadows is one of the only other current shows where all the main cast are queer. Are there any others I should be aware of? 

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Ceindreadh

Ceindreadh

22 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I honestly do not think any of the main cast of characters is straight. They are at a minimum bi. But, I do hold the belief that any being that is centuries old is 100% straight. 

Any being that is centuries old is likely to eventually move away from being 100% straight out of sheer boredom and wanting to try something different.

And then of course you have Nando and Lazlo from 'What we do in the shadows' who are most definitely not 100% straight and possibly never were. 

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Ohiopirate02

Ohiopirate02

28 minutes ago, Ceindreadh said:

Any being that is centuries old is likely to eventually move away from being 100% straight out of sheer boredom and wanting to try something different.

And then of course you have Nando and Lazlo from 'What we do in the shadows' who are most definitely not 100% straight and possibly never were. 

I'm so glad you understood what I was trying to say when I forgot a word (that not is rather important). Yeah, boredom plays a major factor in my thinking. And Nandor and Lazlo were definitely bisexual before becoming vampires.

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Irlandesa

Irlandesa

(edited)
12 hours ago, Featherhat said:

I think What We Do In the Shadows is one of the only other current shows where all the main cast are queer. Are there any others I should be aware of? 

All the mains in Interview with a Vampire are queer. Playing again with the (mostly) centuries-old premise.

Edited by Irlandesa
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giovannif7

giovannif7

(edited)

The episode of Brilliant Minds that airs in the US on Monday November 11th at 10PM on NBC (episode 7 - The Man From Grozny) aired in Canada last week, and has a strong, gay-positive focus. It's surprising, exquisitely sad, moving and beautiful, and actor Alex Ozerov-Meyer, who plays John Doe/Roman, is amazing. Don't miss it.

 

Edited by giovannif7
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Palimelon

Palimelon

The series is inspired by the life of the late and great Dr. Oliver Sacks. Look him up if you haven't, he had a very interesting and fascinating life, not to mention a very productive one, though not without some sadness. At least he finally found love late in his life, at the age of 77, though sadly he found out he had terminal cancer a few months after he finally decided to come out, at the age of 81.

He was the guy who wrote the book Awakenings on which the movie was based, with Robin Williams' character based on him as well.

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