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Things I have watched with representation in, in no particular order:

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Things I have watched with representation in, in no particular order:

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Crazy Ex Girlfriend (there are other characters and storylines, but particularly for the song Gettin' Bi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e7844P77Is)
Orange is the New Black
Tipping the Velvet
Fingersmith
Steven Universe
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Umbrella Academy
Star Trek Discovery
The Magnus Archives (A horror podcast)
Atypicial
Big Mouth
Feel Good
Superstore
Chasing Amy (feel a bit ambivalent about whether this one has aged well or not, but the rep is there...)
Brooklyn Nine Nine
What We Do in the Shadows
I expect I'll think of more... tbc

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"Gettin' Bi" (feat. Pete Gardner) - "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

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My understanding of the term is that there may be hints, or even a storyline that appears to promise or even show queer-coded characters or developing relationships, which then come to nothing. Supernatural is a recent example of this, where a character expresses feelings for someone else but then is immediately removed from the storyline (trying not to give too much of a spoiler, in case anyone wants to watch it for the cheesy Spookyness, which there's plenty of!). There's also the 'bury your gays' trope, which involves only allowing a queer relationship of any kind if it ends badly or with one of the people literally dying, especially in TV series which are otherwise 'mainstream'. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a particularly bad example of this! It's my hope that this kind of trope is starting to die out, and that queer characters are beginning to get fairer representation as the industry becomes more aware of how good representation is key to good viewing figures!

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I was late to watching this one, not realising there was more to it than just "Rich family loses their money", but once I gave it a chance I was very glad I had. One of the main characters has exactly this kind of representation, although sexuality is certainly mentioned and is a focus in some ways, there is no trauma-centred storyline in terms of sexuality, there are no problems with the character and their immediate friends and family in regards to their sexuality. It's simply a fact, and that's how it should be. It's important that sometimes, a gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans or queer character can simply just *be*, and it's not a facet there for exploration and trauma driven stories. It's important that, sometimes, we just exist in a space. Showing that we're here, it's not all doom and gloom or exciting coming out stories 24/7. We're just people.

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This is an awesome show, a cartoon seemingly for children but has a deeper message about being yourself, whoever that might be, and champions diversity in all kinds of ways. There have been a few LGBTQ+ positive animated shows emerging recently, but Steven Universe is my favourite by far. Plus, it has songs that support the overall message of "love is love" and "be who you are". I can't recommend it enough!

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I watched the film 'Moffie' the other night ('moffie' is a derogatory Afrikaans slang word for homosexual - apologies if posting has offended anyone), which details with being gay in the military in 1980s apartheid South Africa. It is a powerful portrayal of both the apartheid era and the challenges of hiding your sexuality in the military. Really emotionally challenging but I would recommend.

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A great coming of age film set in the summer in the South of France. Beautiful love story.

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Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Celine Sciamma's other films :)

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Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Celine Sciamma's other films :)

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Beautiful cinematography and the female gaze throughout felt so natural.

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Reflecting the intersectionality of sexual identity and culture is so important and mainstream media doesn't do enough in this regard. The best films to do this are the ones I find many people haven't heard about. While representation has increased in recent years, the diversity within this group hasn't. Pose is one show which has been able to make progress and we need more of it.

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I think representation is about actually highlighting the lived experience of a group of people, in all its diversity and ensuring they are actively represented in discussions etc. Tokenism is performative and not about actually being authentic or representing lived experience - it's about ticking a box. Pride has often been accused of becoming too corporate and tokenistic. I think we should celebrate the LGBTQ+ community everyday.

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What's worrying is that I've seen so many examples as of late where producers have used this as a marketing technique, both onscreen and offscreen. For example, in the press screenings and promotional tour for Call Me By Your Name, the two lead straight actors were doing this quite a bit.

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I think mainstream media and many recent films tend to perpetuate various stereotypes about the LGBTQ+ community and the diversity of the community isn't highlighted or celebrated. I also think there is a general issue in terms of gay films/tv shows not being intersectional - for example, I am an ethnic minority and I am gay and in that sense I have several intersections of 'disadvantage' - I really struggle to find films and tv shows that I can connect with from that perspective.

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I have never in my life cried so much watching a film. I think it captured, authentically, the Aids crisis of the 1980s. Everyone I have spoken to, who was around at that time, comments on how it touched them and unearthed some hidden trauma. It deals with the effects of Aids on the gay community, which isn't mentioned enough in film./television.

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Representation matters. I think straight actors have been able to give some great performances, but I firmly believe that gay actors, because of their lived experience, bring a level of authenticity to this that is unmatched. And I feel gay actors are being denied opportunities and continue to be underrepresented in this industry.

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I think queer-baiting in a big problem in film and television. Queer-baiting is where a film or tv show is marketed as habing LGBTQ+ characters in them but have very little indication in the content itself that these characers are part of the queer community.

I recently saw the new Scream film and only afterwards discovered that one of the main characters was part of the LGBTQ+ community. When I looked back at the poster I saw the character wearing an LGBTQ+ pin badge. But the content itself didn't have her with a grilfriend and din't have her showing affection to anyone of the same sex.

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Love Simon really portrayed the stresses and struggles of coming out and of LGBTQ+ love, and it was a film about LGBTQ+ romance (as opposed to sex and hedonistic lifestyle) which is highly under-represented.

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Obviously, film and TV are visual mediums and, of course, straight cis actors should be able to portray gay men and women.

But, at the moment, I don't believe we're at a stage where equality is balanced. The percentage of straight cis roles go to straight actors leaving queer actors without work. Even a large percentage of queer roles go to straight cis actors now.

Before the film Brokeback Mountain emerged, straight cis actors would never approach gay roles because of the stigma of being typecast. Now, because of the prospect of award recognition, straight actors are all bidding for these roles. There is something very privilieged about actors saying that they "connect" with these characters, and about the academies awarding actors with "well done" trophies for being able to play these difficult parts.

I'm really pleased that trans parts are finally being recognised as essential to trans actors and that it's obnoxious to give these parts to straight cis actors. But I think that we need to start seeing more LGBTQ+ actors and actresses playing these parts, as that's true equality.

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Hello everyone.

Here's the link to the tv and film content list.

And here's the link to the questions.