#content creators can choose to push for the representation or do what disney usually does and bend | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dgcatanisiri · 4 years

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I don’t know if I make it clear or not when I’m ranting, so for the sake of clarity, I just want to be clear on this.

I am 100% aware that often times, the queer content that we GET is the best that the creators involved can manage. That there are people hovering over the shoulders of every content creator of any major and mainstream production that is even trying to offer queer content and going “but does it HAVE to be that obvious? We have a bottom line to think about.”

I’m gonna take a common punching bag around here - considering the fact that fans had to demand that it be patched to allow gay male players to have equal content to all other pairings, and that there was a fight to keep the lesbian character a lesbian and not a bisexual option, I’m willing to believe that Gil’s story in Mass Effect Andromeda was a wound of triage - his story is so bad, his content so inconsequential to the overall narrative, because at least that allowed them to keep him in the game, or keep Suvi as a lesbian. He becomes bad representation, because the alternative is no representation.

As much as I argue for all bi LIs in BioWare games (in all games, truly), I at least understand where they’re coming from in saying that they want to have representation even if they’re disappointing people who aren’t happy with their choices. It’s not the argument I believe in, obviously, but I do get where it comes from.

It’s why I try to avoid actually targeting writers on the matter - even when it comes to Dorian, a character I’m highly critical of, I focus on the WRITING, not the WRITER (it’s a subtle distinction, I suppose, but it is there). And I’ll often just say “BioWare” instead of naming any singular writer on the subject - even when the head of the project is queer, even if they populate the people working on it (”it” in this context being any creative endeavor, we’re moving beyond BioWare in specific here), with queer people, the ones who hold the pursestrings, who finance things and make the final decisions on how much they’re willing to support them... They’re the ones going “but no, don’t do that!”

It’s a great idea to have a cast full of queer, where no one is straight. Actually GETTING that, though, is virtually impossible, ESPECIALLY if you’re just trying to establish yourself, but even when you’re a major name. Because yeah, you might be able to throw some weight around and argue in favor of things, but you’re still going to hit the wall. And you need to know when you’re going to hit the limit - when to pick your battles, give here today so you can fight there tomorrow.

I recognize that sometimes, the best they really can give is what comes off as half-hearted, barely there, blink and you’ll miss it, because it came down to that or nothing, and they wanted to at least TRY - maybe they could be the stepping stone that led to more.

I mean, I think that’s part of the reason why I honestly just took the Voltron thing in stride, calling it a net win, both the Adam thing and the fact that Shiro got paired up with a barely there character in the finale. Like I pointed out at the time, Shiro was arguably the main character of the series, and he got to end the show not just marrying another male character, but kissing him on screen, front and center. Additional elements notwithstanding... That was a big deal, not even just in a franchise marketed to kids, but in the action adventure genre as a whole. Gay characters aren’t THE LEAD in this genre. At most, they’re a plucky comic relief sidekick, and they certainly don’t get a front and center kiss.

And, as I said back at the time, it isn’t a race where there’s one path for the whole queer community, whatever letter of the alphabet soup you identify with. EACH letter has its own path and set of hurdles - it’s why I was kinda irritated with all the “THAT’S how you do it, Voltron” stuff that went around when Adventure Time ended with the Bubblegum/Marceline kiss, because this was their final episode, while Voltron did TRY to have the character out DURING THE COURSE OF THE SERIES, not in the final episode.

Like... Okay, understand that I’m going to generalize/broad stroke things here for simplicity’s sake, I remember the cheering on Tumblr when Korra ended with Korra and Asami holding hands - Tumblr lost its shit. To me, the reaction to things surrounding the Shiro thing made it come across as Tumblr seeing the equivalent of that Korra/Asami moment, and yet tearing it apart, because, hey, the lesbians had been able to get their foot in the door, isn’t that enough for “the gays”? Shouldn’t that now be the new baseline?

But there’s a difference in “for wlw” and “for mlm,” just as there’s a further difference in “for trans,” “for ace,” “for enby,” for whatever letter or groupings of letters under the queer umbrella you choose. And I’m not saying that it’s any easier for wlw on representation - usually, if lesbians have better “representation” in a given piece of media, it’s less “representation” as it is “fetishization for straight men.” (And let’s not even go near the can of worms that comes from that subject in regards to characters on shows targeted to kids...)

All I’m saying on this is that there is absolutely hurdles still to go for wlw representation, but the hurdles that pass there aren’t automatically passed for any other category under the umbrella.

And all of it comes down to how willing those always-conservative honchos will respond. Even the best intentioned of them will often come down to the concept “but what if this negatively impacts our profits?” Because you can’t keep producing if you can’t make money with it. Somewhere along the chain, you WILL run into the type of person who wants a justification for queer content, and isn’t satisfied with “because people are queer.” They’ll use any justification THEY can to prevent it, from “there’ll be censorship in major markets” (meaning anything from the global economy to just the midwestern area of the US) to “but we don’t want to make controversy” (and, since Disney still gets away with advertising “the first gay character” in their movies, I sadly see that one...), and whittle down what they’ll allow, then cut it down even further in the editing room after the fact.

And I recognize that the situation isn’t going to improve at any noticeable rate. No, not even when “the boomers” die off. Not unless we see a MASSIVE structural shift in society (and, for all my hopes of what kind of soul-searching people will do during and because of the quarantine, I’m not about to hold my breath). Mainstream content is, sadly, a kingdom of nepotism.

So, yeah... I fully understand that, if the representation ends up being bad, odds are, that’s because it got watered down in the name of just being able to make it into the final product. It’s probably at least nine-tenths of why the queer narratives I complain about in my “another angry queer rant” tag end up being repeated, instead of getting new ones, because those are considered the “palatable” queer narratives and perspectives.

It’s a massively complicated chain of complex push and pull dynamics that no single content creator or piece of media will ever fix. The realistic (and depressing) perspective is that, truthfully, this is all a fight that will outlast all of us, and our descendants for generations, because this is arguing the very power structure.

Like the saying goes, when a group has historically had all the power and privilege, other groups gaining equality feels like losing something.

#dg rants #another angry queer rant

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