Category Archives: TV

The Greatest TV Show Ever

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Hello friends and welcome back. As promised in last week’s blog post, this week in its entirety will be dedicated to the work of art that I the TV show “Dickinson”. Since the show airs on Apple TV, many people don’t necessarily have access to it; however, if you did manage to find a subscription (often given with new Apple devices!), I highly recommend watching even a season of the show.

Dickinson (TV Series 2019–2021) - IMDb

Advertisement for “Dickinson”

“Dickinson” tells the coming-of-age story of renowned American poet Emily Dickinson who came of age during the time of the Civil War. Emily herself is played by the phenomenal Hailee Steinfeld (who is oddly enough know for slaying many queer/queer-coded roles). The brilliance of the show not only stems from the story line but in the execution; while set in Civil War times, the show intricately entwines current pop cultural references and music into the fabric of the show. For example, John Mulaney plays Henry David Thoreau which I continually find to be one of the funniest castings in the universe, and they have a dance scene with dances from the 1850s to current rap music. Fun fact, coming of age stories have an incredibly close place to my heart, and my personal explanation of her story has three main themes to her coming of age that I will break down for you: her role as a woman in society and her wealthy family, her queerness and relationship with Sue, and her abilities and fate as a writer.

Emily Dickinson came from a very fortunate family as her father was involved in law and government and even served on the Senate at a point before the war. Consequently, there is immense pressure placed on Emily and her sister Lavinia to be the upstanding young women they are expected to be. Literally from the first episode, Emily denies this expectation in being sent to get a bucket of water and instead makes out with Sue in an orchard tree. She continues to defy the expectations typically placed on women around her by refusing to get married, publishing her own poems, and taking power where she can find it.

Dickinson" Season 2 Is an Ode to Emily and Sue | Autostraddle

Sue Gilbert played by Ella Hunt (left) and Emily Dickinson played by Hailee Steinfeld (right)

The Sue I mentioned earlier (played by the beautiful Ella Hunt) is Emily’s main romantic interest throughout the course of the entire show and their relationship is established in the first episode…only for it to be unveiled later that Sue will be betrothed to Emily’s brother Austin. Despite this challenge and turmoil that eventually arises, their relationship is brilliant and beautiful as it continues to grow over the next three seasons. Often in media, queer relationships take forever to develop and become cannon, but this one is canon from the beginning which makes it magical. If you wanted a summary of their relationship, go listen to “Ivy” by Taylor Swift which was essentially written for them (and even appeared at the end of an episode!!).

The final and arguably most vital theme of the show is Emily’s fate as a writer. The entire first season represents her struggle to see herself and be seen by those around her as a writer, but once she takes initiative in being published, she grapples with the notion of fame and how it could impact her life. At a certain point, Emily even travels into the future with Lavinia and meets Sylvia Plath who unveils that Emily will be successful, but under different circumstances than she actually lived her life. I cannot say much more without spoiling some essential elements of the show, but I will say that there is real beauty in the complete unresolvedness within Emily of her future because we can never know the impact we will make after we are gone.

To conclude, this is, in my opinion, one of the greatest TV shows to ever be invented because of its historical humor mixed with pop culture, queer representation, and beautiful coming of age plot. If you wanted to check out a playlist I made based on Dickinson, you should check it out here.

toni on Twitter | Hailee steinfeld, Dickinson, Steinfeld

Emily and Sue in the first episode of “Dickinson”

Welcome Back and Winter Break!

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Hello everyone, and welcome to a new semester! For anyone who may be new to my blog, I write all about the queer media and pop culture that I love and has impacted me the most. The entire premise is inspired by a book I adore called “The 2000s Made Me Gay” by Grace Perry in which she discusses through brilliant essays the media and pop culture that impacted her growing up, even if very little of it was queer. In pop culture today, there has certainly been a spur of LGBTQ+ representation in the past decade or so. And while there are always improvements to be made, I believe in celebrating what exists in terms of representation while encouraging more.

To start of the spring, I thought I would do a recap of all of the media I consumed over our lovely winter break. While not all of it was queer, a decent amount was, and these beautiful pieces all kept me occupied as I wonderfully did nothing for multiple weeks. A few of these titles, specifically “Dickinson” and “Encanto”, will be getting their own posts soon, so stay tuned!

Alice Oseman Updates on Twitter: "My copies of Heartstopper Vol 4 arrived!! I'm obsessed with the colours of this volume!! And the back cover is my fave so far. And the spines!!!!

Cover of Heartstopper Vol. 4.

One habit of mine that I cannot seem to shake is an inability to read during the semester. With so much other work to do, the most brain power I can dedicate to reading at most is re-reading titles that I have read multiple times. While I was initially excited about potentially reading new books over break, I feel into my old habits and only re-read books that I have read, specifically all Romantic Comedies. The books I read over break were “Red, White, and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston, “Something to Talk about” by Meryl Wilsner, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, “Hang the Moon” by Alexandria Bellefleur, and “Heartstopper” Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman.

Hang the Moon (Written in the Stars, #2) by Alexandria Bellefleur

Cover of “Hang the Moon” by Alexandria Bellefleur

Most of these books have been mentioned in other posts promptly because I am obsessed with them. Vol. 4 of Heartstopper was just released this winter, and when I saw it in a Barnes and Nobles one fateful Thursday, I immediately cancelled the Amazon pre-order I had placed months ago. “Something to Talk About” is a sapphic Rom-Com about a famous person in Hollywood and her assistant which does sound potentially terrible but is actually a very cute slow-burn that I highly recommend. The only other book not mentioned in a previous post is “Hang the Moon” by Alexandria Bellefleur, but the first book in the series, “Written in the Stars” (aka my favorite book of all time) is. This book is about Darcy’s brother Brendon and Darcy’s best friend Annie as he tries to rekindle her belief in romance through classic Rom-Com movie moves – cheesy perfection.

Hailee Steinfeld and Florence Pugh in 'Hawkeye' Episode 5, Kate Yelena | TVLine

Hailee Steinfeld (left) and Florence Pugh (right)

Beyond reading, I watched a few shows and movies, including an entire re-watch of New Girl, the new Disney animated movie “Encanto”, the series “Hawkeye” (purely for Hailee Steinfeld and Florence Pugh), and my favorite TV show, Dickinson. New Girl is just as good the fifth time around, Hawkeye was good enough, and Encanto is fantastic. Dickinson actually caused me a great amount of emotional pain over break because the series ended, but you will soon hear about my utter love and adoration for the show.

And as always, I accumulated an insane number of hours listening to music, but my favorite times were spent listening to “Speak Now” by Taylor Swift, “Extraordinary Machine” by Fiona Apple, and the Encanto Soundtrack.

And You’re Watching Disney Channel…

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Alex Russo perfectly represent all my moods #selenagomez #alexrusso #2000s | Alex russo, Selena, Selena gomez photos

Alex Russo in “Wizards of Waverly”.

As a kid, we all have things we love and are passionate about. For some of us, it’s sports, for others, it’s dinosaurs, for others, it’s princesses. For me, it was Selena Gomez as Alex Russo in “Wizards of Waverly Place”. And Debby Ryan as Bailey Pickett in “The Suite Life on Deck”. And many, many other Disney Channel Stars (I did as a matter of fact have an Alex Russo-themed 7th birthday). From the incredible shows to the memorable original movies and more, Disney Channel played an essential part in my childhood. They gave me numerous shows and characters that still hold an important place in my heart, but one thing they did not provide was LGBTQ+ representation. It is by no means shocking that there was no LGBTQ+ representation considering the age we grew up in, but a lack of direct representation does not mean a lack of queer coded characters who young, unknowing LGBTQ+ children would imprint onto themselves.

There are a great number of queer coded characters found in the Disney Universe, but I want to focus specifically on characters from the Disney Channel shows and original movies. The most iconic instance I can think of for this phenomenon is Hayley Kiyoko, specifically while starring in “Wizards of Waverly Place” alongside Selena Gomez as Stevie, (description here). Now known as kind of a lesbian god, the gay energy radiated through this character even if she was not canonically gay. The same thing can be said for a lot of other characters – Cody AND Zac from Zac and Cody, Maddie from Liv and Maddie, Sharpay, Ryan, Chad, and others from High School Musical, the entirety of Gravity Falls, Shego and Kim from Kim Possible, the entirety of Teen Beach Movie (I am still in love with Leila), and infinitely more.

Saved by the Bell star Josie Totah on what's next for season 2 | EW.com

Josie Totah, a Disney Channel Star.

One element of reality that I believe heavily impacts the seeming gayness in these characters is the hidden queerness of the actors themselves. There have been numerous Disney Channel stars who have come out as LGBTQ+ in the past five years or so. Most famously, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Dove Cameron, Josie Totah, and more. These actors now being able to embrace their identities and be their true selves is remarkable to watch as someone who grew up admiring them. There is always such truth and power in people being able to embrace themselves, especially knowing that there had to be a denial of that through Disney Channel and their subtle homophobia and strict contracts.

While representation in Disney Channel is still not as LGBTQ+ as it could, there have certainly been strides specifically in the past three years or so to create more inclusive and representative storylines for people in the LGBTQ+ community. While some instances are small, such as including same-sex parents in one episode of a show, some more major examples are Cyrus Goodman from “Andi Mack”, and Amity and Luz from “The Owl House”.  While the representation we see of LGBTQ+ stories on a major media outlet such as Disney will never be perfect, any progress is celebrated and appreciated.

Disney's 'The Owl House' Just Made Lumity's Relationship Official

Amity and Luz from “Owl House”.

For the Honor of Grayskull!

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Let me take you back to the summer of 2020. Not only was the world still struggling with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but I was struggling with the personal crisis of realizing I was gay. In some ways, I had already known (e.g., openly admitting to myself that I had a crush on a girl on my fifth-grade basketball team but not wanting to actually date her because THAT would be what was gay), but during this summer, I was ready to learn more about my sexuality and accept myself. So, like most gay people in their coming out adventures, I turned to queer media – books, TV shows, movies…basically anything I could get my hands on. However, the one show that single-handedly impacted me more than any other was a literal children’s cartoon.

She-Ra Transformation GIF | Gfycat

A gif of Adora’s transformation into She-Ra

 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2020) is entirely based on the hit cartoon from the 1980s, but some aspects have been changed to essentially make it the queerest show ever. The main character is Adora, the lovable blonde lesbian himbo hero who is a little too hard on herself, cares passionately for her friends, and is willing to do anything to take down the Horde, the evil army she grew up in. In the first episode, we see Adora become She-Ra, the myth of a hero who has existed in their fantastical land for centuries, but in accepting her fate, she must leave the Horde and her childhood best friend (and eventual lover) Catra (who yes, is essentially a cat…I don’t want to talk about it). After leaving the Horde, she is adopted into Bright Moon, one of the kingdoms of Etheria (their planet), by her new friends, Glimmer, the tiny teenage princess of Bright Moon, and Bow, the sweetest archer who always has on a crop top with a heart on it. With her new “best friend squad” and a multitude of other lovable, hilarious, and queer characters who are introduced along the way, they try to save their universe and each other.

 

5,233 Likes, 20 Comments - Shera Season 5 Spoilers Here (@sherainetheria) on Instagram: “Season 3 we got Catradora… | She ra princess of power, She-ra icons, She ra

The “Best Friend Squad” + Catra (left)

At this point in the post, you may be thinking I am crazy, but stick with me just a little longer. In this She-Ra podcast that I adore, they describe the universe as “homonormative” which assumes queerness as the normal state of society in comparison to our “heteronormative society” that expects heterosexuality and cisgenderism. However, the amount of explicitly queer content in the show is still limited as it is a “kids” (TV-7) show produced by Netflix and DreamWorks. While there certainly is material that queer people understand as implicitly gay, the most explicit gay content is 2-3 same-sex married couples, a character who uses they/them pronouns, and, most importantly, the kiss between Catra and Adora in the final episode of the series that quite literally saves the universe.  However, in the world of TV, that amount of queer content is a lot, especially considering that the last episode of the “Legend of Korra” series was not allowed to air on Nickelodeon because Korra and Asami literally held hands.

And so, who do we have to thank for all the queerness in She-Ra? Queer writers. Specifically, I throw a big thank you to one of my personal heroes, Noelle Stevenson (all pronouns). Between She-Ra and a few of his other works (i.e., The Lumberjanes), they have single-handedly wrapped me in the acceptance of myself. She-Ra is not alone in its cartoon world of queer acceptance; in my experience, the media category that showcases the most diverse range of identities, experiences, and stories in the LGBTQ+ community is the realm of comics, cartoons, and graphic novels. Some of my personal favorites are:

Heartsopper by Alice Oseman – a ridiculously cute story of two teen boys in England

Amazon.com: Heartstopper Volume One: 9781444951387: Oseman, Alice: Books

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Ostertag (Stevenson’s Wife!) – a sapphic retelling of The Little Mermaid

Amazon.com: The Girl from the Sea: 9781338540574: Ostertag, Molly Knox: Books

 

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang – a genderqueer, royal love story

Amazon.com: The Prince and the Dressmaker: 9781626723634: Wang, Jen: Books

 

However, I can name numerous other pieces that break bounds by sharing and celebrating LGBTQ+ stories. The reason why comics are so groundbreaking? Because queer people are given more of a platform to write and create compared to other media channels. And when you give LGBTQ+ authors the ground to share queer stories, magic surrounds us all and queer love saves the universe.

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A picture posted by Stevenson for the 1-year anniversary of the She-Ra finale – “A Bright Future”! (One of my favorite pictures ever to the point where a copy is on my wall at home.)

My Lesbian Superhero

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Growing up, I lived in a very anti-superhero house. My siblings and I didn’t have anything against them, but we never watched any Marvel or DC movies until we were all in our later teens. The only superhero movie I had seen before the age of 16 was Disney Channel’s Original Movie “Sky High”, which if you have seen it, you would know that Marvel and DC are still trying to create a film as good as that one. Despite the lack of superheroes in my upbringing, I eventually adopted my own personal superhero after watching the DC show “Supergirl” around the age of 13: Alex Danvers, Supergirl/Kara’s human sister with absolutely no superpowers beyond being a lesbian who is played by the queer legend herself, Chyler Leigh.

Fandom Image

Chyler Leigh as “Lexi Grey” (left) and “Alex Danvers” (right).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Supergirl, perhaps you would recognize Chyler from the role that skyrocketed her acting career: Lexi Grey on “Greys Anatomy”. As one of the longest-running shows on television, “Grey’s Anatomy” has been known for its extensive LGBTQ+ representation over 15+ years on the air.

When I started watching “Greys” in my early teens, the very last thing I was focused on was the queer representation in the show; the thought that I was gay had not entered my brain yet. One of the most groundbreaking relationships of the show is that between Callie Torres and Arizona Robinson (“Calzona”) which was introduced during the fifth season of the show, which aired roughly in 2010-2011.

r/greysanatomy - Would do anything to get Calzona back

Arizona Robbins (left) and Callie Torres (right) in “Grey’s Anatomy”.

Nowadays, I can appreciate their relationship and acknowledge how incredible it was for the time it aired; however, in my initial binge, I had much more important things to focus on, such as my fascination with Lexi Grey. She was my favorite character (and still is to this day, only being tied with Cristina Yang), and I thought I wanted to be her so badly and be with Mark just like she was and grow up to be a neurosurgeon just like she was…in retrospect, I was absolutely in love with her. (Minor “Greys” spoilers if you aren’t at Season 8: her death absolutely wrecked me to the point where I stopped watching the show for a bit.)

Feeding off my love for Lexi, I started watching “Supergirl” the minute I heard Chyler Leigh was a central character. For anyone who has not heard of the show, the premise is starkly like Superman – a woman named Kara works as an assistant at Cat Co. Media Company by day and saves the people of National City by night. The show mainly focuses on Kara and her journey and struggles as a superhero while also granting screen time to the other characters. When Alex (Chyler Leigh/Lexi Grey) meets an NYPD cop at the beginning of season 2, one of these subplots evolves into Alex’s coming out journey from realization to self-acceptance to sharing to her relationship with Maggie (#Sanvers4Life).

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Alex Danvers (left) and Maggie Sawyer (right) dancing on Valentine’s Day in “Supergirl”.

As much as I adore their relationship now, I was filled with mixed feelings at the start. Alex marked one of the first LGBTQ+ characters I had watched and been incredibly invested in. I remember watching the relationship between Alex and Maggie unfold and being so confused – could two girls even get together? Isn’t that a little gross and weird? Why do I keep wanting to watch more of it? Their relationship prompted me to acknowledge why I was feeling these things and explore some of the (internalized) homophobia I had at the time.

“Supergirl” required me to address the vague discomfort I had with myself – this underlying sense that I was somewhat different than most other people. Alex Danvers held my hand as I realized that a romantic relationship with a woman like she had was not only something that I wanted in my future but also something that could be okay, accepted, and celebrated. While Maggie and Alex did eventually break up (Please never mention this fact in my presence unless you want me to cry.), their relationship, and specifically Alex’s coming out story, taught me to accept myself before I even knew who I was. And that is what it truly means to be a superhero. ­­

 

Check out this article on Chyler Leigh’s own coming out story and how Alex Danver’s also helped her come to terms with her sexuality.

A Blog Introduction

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During the months of May to August, books are my religion. Devoid of brain-sucking schoolwork, I spend my entire summer with a good book in my hand, sometimes reading up to three in a day. Through these books, I not only live other people’s lives, but I also gain clarification into who I am. As a young queer woman, I can find my sexuality represented in only selective pieces of media; hence, this past summer, according to my color-coordinated spreadsheet series, I curated the list of books I read to be 60.4% queer in either their authors or characters. In my list of recommendations that I give to others, 93.8% of those books are queer (100% willing to send a copy to whoever wants it…). My own choice in the media I consume is to make it as inclusive of LGBTQ+ themes, identities, and stories as possible.

A screenshot of my recommendations spreadsheet!

This entire blog is inspired by a book I read this summer (part of that 60.4%) titled “The 2000s Made Me Gay” by Grace Perry. According to the publisher: “This collection of essays is a hilarious nostalgic trip through beloved 2000s media, interweaving cultural criticism and personal narrative to examine how a very straight decade forged a very queer woman.” In this book, Perry discusses how the media and culture around her, even without much queer representation, still impacted her as a queer woman.

Regardless of someone’s sexuality, the media they consume has an undisputed effect on them. However, for people in the LGBTQ+ community, seeing stories and identities they can relate to shown and celebrated in the pop culture they consume can be life-changing—and sometimes even lifesaving.

Beginning in my early teens, specifically twelve and thirteen, I distinctly remember finally seeing queer relationships in the shows I was watching. As I continued to grow up and eventually come to terms with my sexuality, that representation helped me feel less alone and more myself. However, the distinctly queer media I have consumed as a teenager is very different than what I grew up watching. So, with this blog, I hope to analyze how the media and pop culture I love and adore has impacted and shaped me either before knowing I was gay, accepting that I was gay, or being gay.

However, in this discussion about my own personal experience with queer media, I must point out that the topic of LGBTQ+ representation has been a popular discussion topic, particularly over the past decade as major production companies, such as Netflix, are increasing the number of LGBTQ+ characters included in their productions. The reality of this decision is not everyone supports queer stories, identities, and love being shown. In a quick search across popular discussion forums, such as Reddit and Quora, these were some of the ~incredible~ comments I found against queer stories being shared:

“There are already enough/too many gay movies and they have enough representation, so can they please stop producing them.”

(Thread: “I get that people should support gay people but why does every new TV show have to have at least a gay guy or girl” )

“But Netflix!!! you have got to stop shoving this in our faces!!!!”

(Thread: “Why does Netflix include so many gay characters in their TV shows when most network television shows don’t”)

“The best thing you can do is to send these networks a message and to stop watching or turn it off when these characters are introduced if you are uncomfortable watching the content. Or call them up and complain. I am not against this stuff but I just want it properly labeled.”

(Thread: “Why does every show seem to require LGBT characters now”)

Hilarious…am I right? At the end of the day, each person who consumes media has a choice in what they will watch, but production companies also have a choice in what they produce. Being LGBTQ+ is not a choice, but inclusion is a choice. And inclusion can save lives.

 

Check out a link to “The 2000s Made Me Gay” by Grace Perry here.

The 2000s Made Me Gay | Grace Perry | Macmillan

Cover of “The 2000s Made Me Gay” by Grace Perry