Good LGBT Representation is Boring (and why that's a problem)

Comments · 3.4K

• KI

  @KimberlyKohn · 4 years ago

  I don't want "good" representation, I want "broad" representation. I want the boring, the good, the messy, the bad, and the scandalous. I just want the creators to know which one they're writing.

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• VI

  @VivelaSlime · 4 years ago

  I’m gonna say it:<br><br>“If it only took one bad character to make someone hate an entire group of people then they were just looking for an excuse, any excuse.”

  14K

• II

  @iii-zs3dz · 4 years ago

  “I’m honestly tired of people praising “wholesome” queer shows and putting down queer shows that aren’t. Is that the only way you can enjoy gay characters? Gay people have sex, gay people are assholes, gay people can be anything. Showing all sides is proper representation. <br>I just want messed up characters that are so unapologetically gay.”<br><br>- random person on twitter

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• EL

  @ellana5963 · 4 years ago

  It reminds me of a Tumblr discussion where someone complained that people would love mass murderer character but hate characters that had done nothing wrong except being boring.<br>And the answers basically boilled down to : &quot;the mass murder is fictional, my annoyance is real&quot;.<br>The worst thing a character can be is boring. If your show is boring, nobody is gonna watch it, and then what&apos;s the point of representation if nobody sees it?

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• E1

  @E107J · 4 years ago

  A general rule I have when it comes to diversity is &quot;A characters diversity shouldn&apos;t be their most interesting characteristic&quot;. I&apos;d say that overly perfect or boring characters aren&apos;t good representation, personally, because good representation would be treating them the same as other characters: letting them be flawed, interesting and nuanced.

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• TI

  @TigerAceSullivan · 4 years ago

  &quot;I am a transgender woman.&quot; <br>&quot;Thank you.................................................................... for sharing your truth.&quot; that line delivery pains me so much

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• LJ

  @LJA116 · 4 years ago

  “We don’t need perfect representation. We just need more of it.” YES! If writers are concerned about their trans/gay/bi/POC/female/disabled character coming off as a stereotype or offensive, the easy solution is just… have another character similarly marginalized but has their own way of navigating it. Some people IRL just happen to fall into stereotypes. Stereotypes are only bad when they’re the only representation seen.

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• WI

  @witchplease9695 · 4 years ago (edited)

  Although I’m cis, this is how I feel about Black representation as s Black woman. People are worried about being racist or stereotypical that they think writing a flawed Black character is racist and that Black characters have to be perfect and kind to everyone all the time, which ends up making them boring and unrelatable. <br><br>Most of my Black characters are morally grey assholes and I like writing women that are kind of cold and grumpy at first the way male characters are often written (and loved/romanticized by fans for being). But when I write an angsty selfish morally gray Black female lead in my comic, I just know she will be accused of being a stereotype even when she isn’t and seen as her race and gender before as a character. Or people will subscribe a stereotype that didn’t previously exist onto my characters just because they are Black and not always likable. There’s just no way to win.

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• DE

  @Deepstab1 · 3 years ago

  I think the problem started with the very term &quot;representation&quot; as if the characters were embassadors of their culture to the rest of the World and must be paragorns of what is to be expected

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• LU

  @lunarmagpie619 · 4 years ago

  Okay I’m massively overtired but the sheer whiplash of “here is this extremely boring comedy that doesn’t have a single joke in it” to “‘I am a transgender woman’ ‘thank you for sharing your truth. with me’” legitimately put tears on my face

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• DE

  @DenderFriend · 4 years ago

  I&apos;ve often found it boring to have every story involving an LGBTQ+ character be about them overcoming discrimination, but I do realize that there is the opposite issue too- having a queer character face no conflict whatsoever except for the smallest of things. I think the real issue is just people having trouble writing these characters as real people and not just ways to teach lessons.

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• TA

  @taniahylian3799 · 4 years ago

  This video reminded me of one time when I started talking to a trans girl who liked the same series I did, and we also shared a favorite character. She then confessed me that she headcanoned this character as trans for number of (extremely) valid points that actually made me wonder if the creators had done it on purpose, but then she also said that she didn&apos;t want to publish her headncanon on social media for fear of backlash, since this character was (sort of) the villain of the show, and therefore &quot;bad representation&quot;. And honestly? I don&apos;t get it. This character was extremely queer coded regardless, with even a pressumed ex-girlfriend in the show, and she was also very intelligent, cleaver, hot, and fun to watch. I liked her as a character! I didn&apos;t care if she was trans, that wouldn&apos;t make me think any less of trans people; on the contrary, it made me more open-minded than I had been before our talk.<br><br>All of this is to say, I don&apos;t think we need all lgbtq+ characters to be good people. We need lgbtq+ characters to be good characters.

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