Recently in film and television, queer representation has changed and become more frequent, especially in mainstream media. Companies like Disney reach millions of viewers with their original movies as well as the productions of the franchises. Disney, in particular, reaches a lot of younger viewers.
“When I was coming out in the early 2000s, all lesbian and gay films at Blockbuster were rated mature, and minors couldn’t rent them,” says Julia Keleher, director of the LGBTQIA Office at the University of Idaho.
Keleher believes that by rating these films as mature, it sent a message to youth that non-heterosexual identities were inappropriate. But with companies like Disney implementing queer characters into their work more frequently, they are attempting to work against that message.
“We are providing a new generation that queer and transgender representation is a part of our lives now,” says Keleher. “It’s not niche materials that need to be hidden from view.”
But as production companies do push to represent more queer identities, they are sometimes limited to the same basic identity: a white, gay man. While it is still representation of the group, it still only represents one of the many identities in the LGBTQ+ communities. Other people of different sexualities or racial identities are still often underrepresented in comparison. Additionally, people of different gender identities are still not represented often or appropriately.
“For transgender characters, there still is a lack of proper representation in the media,” says Keleher. “Transgender people are often still seen as weirdos and outcasts.”
A point of debate recently for the future of the entertainment industry is whether queer roles should only go to queer actors. Many big names in entertainment have publicly weighed in on the issue on different sides. Gay actor, Neil Patrick Harris believes that decisions like this should be based on the actor’s ability to act, not their sexuality.
“As an actor you certainly hope you can be a visible option for all kinds of different roles,” he said in an interview with The Times last year. “I played a character [in ‘How I Met Your Mother’] for nine years who was nothing like me.”
Keleher believes that these roles should be filled by queer actors. She says this is especially true with transgender roles.
“The transgender experience is truly unique. I don’t know how well a cisgender actor could play that part,” Keleher said.
In 2020, Oscar-winning actress, Halle Berry, pulled out of playing a transgender character and later said, via live video on Instagram, she believes that “the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories.”
Another issue in the future of queer representation is how much a character’s sexuality or gender identity is highlighted in a story. Sometimes their identity is used to clearly set them apart from other characters, often highlighting their differences to other characters over similarities. But recently we have seen examples in media where a character’s sexuality or gender identity is merely another aspect of their character, rarely – if ever – addressed or highlighted.
“Schitt’s Creek,” “Promising Young Woman” and Marvel’s “Eternals” all had gay or transgender characters, but the fact that they were queer was never addressed or made to be a central point in the story, no more than any other straight or cisgender character in the story.
So, what does the future hold for queer representation? While not much is known yet about the film, “Bros” is set to release sometime this year, the first romantic comedy by a major studio about two gay men falling in love. Additionally, HBO announced they would be adapting the best selling book by Adam Silvera, “They Both Die In The End,” into a limited series. The book follows two young men on their last day alive as they fall in love with each other.
“There is still a long way to go, but the characters in films and TV are often complex characters that are not as stereotypical as they once were,” says Keleher. “I love seeing characters where they are queer, and it makes no difference to the storyline. That’s representation.”
Tracy Mullinax can be reached at [email protected]