ratcreature | queer tv characters

Not that I needed another tv series, but recently I started watching Traders eps. Initially it was because I've seen a bunch of SGA/Traders x-overs centered on David Hewlett's Traders character Grant Jansky, and I dislike reading crossovers without having seen at least a little bit of all characters so that I can imagine them. So I figured I'd watch an episode or two. (Yeah, we all know how well something like that tends to work out. *g*)

I didn't expect to like it much because I'm not a huge David Hewlett fan (I mean, I like his acting and characters well enough, I'm just in general not obsessed with actors, nor watch series just because an actor I like is in them), and I don't find investment banking interesting either. But it turned out that the series is really cool and I like many of the characters, not just Grant. I mean for example Donald is adorable, and Marty is kind of a jerk, but really fun too. Anyway, by now I've watched up to the middle of season three, and watched that episode in which Sally's ex-girlfriend shows up.

Obviously I find it cool that they revealed a major character as bisexual in a subplot, and handled it in a decent way too, IMO, but that ep made me wonder whether it is somehow easier to have lesbian/bisexual women appear as regular tv characters than gay/bisexual men (in not "specialized" programs, I don't mean things like QAF or L-Word and such, nor minor characters that are just there for one or two episodes for some coming out story or whatever).

That is, I remember a bunch of lesbian major or recurring characters on shows I watched, but fewer gay ones. Like there's Kerry Weaver on ER, Susan Ivanova and Talia Winters on Babylon 5, Willow, Tara and Kennedy on Buffy, Original Cindy on Dark Angel, Sharon on Wonderfalls, Marissa on The O.C. and I've heard there's a major lesbian character on Nip/Tuck and a bisexual one on One Tree Hill (I haven't watched either of the last two). OTOH I recall Tim Bayliss on Homicide being bisexual, that gay kid on Dawson's Creek (I never watched more than two episodes, so I can't recall his name), and I have heard that Six Feet Under has gay couple among the major characters as has that prison series Oz, though I watch neither.

So did I just forget a bunch of gay characters from my shows or are they all in the other many shows I've never watched? (and in a greater number than the queer women in shows I don't watch?) Or are lesbians for some strange reason more palatable than gays on tv?

And not that it has much to do with anything, but I really really wish the drunk football fans would shut up already, and stop singing, shouting and honking. It's been hours already, and this is a residential neighborhood. Argh.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Where did you find all these lesbians?

Seriously, it seems to me like the Token Gay Character (recurring or one-shot) is always male. Running down the shows I've seriously watched in the last few years, Joan of Arcadia had a Token Gay Guy Episode; The Book of Daniel had a gay guy in the family (although, to their credit, a lesbian couple was revealed in the episode before it got canceled); Doctor Who, the 2005 series, has homosexual subtext in half of the episodes (to be fair, half of it's from Captain Jack) but it's all between males; The Daily Show and The Colbert Report make gay jokes all the time, but again, all about the guys. Star Trek: Enterprise had all straight characters, but there were only two females and their relationship was never developed, so any subtext was between the guys. In movies, Brokeback nearly gets Best Picture, but there's no buzz about any film with lesbians. And before that, I'm running out of examples, but it just feels like whenever there's a Token Gay Character appearing, it's a guy. (And let's not even get started on manga. Shōnen-ai everywhere from FAKE to Gravitation to Tokyo Babylon, and subtext all over everywhere else, but lesbians? Ummmm, RG Veda, which nobody's ever heard of, and Sailor Moon. Big crowd, there.)

...that was a bit of a rant. Hm.

I think I need to get into Buffy.

I suspect main characters and minor characters present for only one or two episodes work differently from the perspective of TPTB. I mean, Ewerwood has a gay teenager coming out subplot for a couple of eps, and another subplot about how Bright at first assumes his roommate is gay because he talks about his ex-partner and such (also he's very body conscious in a gay stereotype kind of way with caring about his looks, working out etc), when that guy was a paramedic and meant his work partner. Traders has minor recurring gay characters too. Of course Smallville had that episode with the homicidal lesbian stalker girl or whatever that was, but I prefer not to count that one... I only read Western comics, but there are some lesbians and lesbian couples, like that lesbian cop in Superman (Maggie Sawyers, I think) and Renee Montoya (another lesbian cop) in Batman comics, and of course the new Batwoman is supposed to be lesbian too.

There is shojo-ai and f/f subtext in a few more manga/anime series than those you've listed. Noir, Utena, Planet Ladder all leap to my mind immediately. There's also an anime series (the title of which escapes me) about two reincarnated mikos, mechs and the obligatory ancient evil. Card Captor Sakura also has some unrequited f/f.

There's so much anime/manga out there that I'm sure there are examples I'm forgetting (or simply don't know about). Of course, what's popular in terms of anime/manga is something else again... Planet Ladder fan fiction, for example, tends to focus on the male characters (though I think the female characters are more compelling).

If you look at something like CCS, there are a couple of unrequited f/f pairings, and a couple of unrequited m/m pairings, so it evens out. Utena's the classic example, but the farthest the f/f goes is one kiss, and that was in the movie (which is crack on a stick in all other respects, so I'm not sure it counts).

I know the miko series you're referring to; I read the first two chapters. It wasn't that good, alas.

I'll have to look into Planet Ladder. Still, while subtext is all well and good, I'd love some more text. The requited kind. Where is the f/f FAKE?

I love Planet Ladder, but I'll warn you that the main character is... She starts out as rather weak and not necessarily very interesting. She does get better, but she never develops much personality (apart from the traits that fit her type). Also, the ending of the series is dreadful because the manga-ka seems to have run out of space. The last volume is longer than the others, but it still-- How to explain it? Everybody gathers for the big fight to decide the fate of everything, and then the story abruptly skips forward to about a dozen pages of who's doing what several years later. I really think that she misjudged the length of what she had to tell.

Also, the two female characters don't end up together. There's definitely an attraction/connection there, at least on one side (it's hard to tell what's going on with the heroine). I'd have liked to see a lot more of Banvivrie. I wish someone would write decent fic for the series (I haven't the time in the next couple of years, not till my daughter's in school). There are about half a dozen stories out there, and they all focus on male characters.

So it's one of those series that sort of skips the climax. Wish did that. So did Victorian Romance Emma (actually, it never really reached the climax, which is too bad as it had some potential f/f couples, but oh well). Le sigh.

And the f/f is unfulfilled? Le double sigh.

I'll look into it anyway, see if I can help write good Banvivrie fic.

While I think everyone should get into Buffy, because I'm a huge fan of the show, if you want other options:

For the shoujo-ai/yuri (Japanese fandom term for femslash), try

daily_yuri, which is an f-locked comm that posts images of girl on girl.

For a blog that reviews anime/manga with a focus on yuri, try Okazu (http://okazu.blogspot.com/).

For a website devoted to yuri, with links to Amazon, and a huge list of anime/manga(although not quite helpful, since they count minor characters and subtext that I sometimes interpret as just female friendship), try Yuricon (http://www.yuricon.org/).

Oh, and for a website that reviews Western media, movies and tv shows, that focus on lesbians and bisexual women, try After Ellen (http://www.afterellen.com).

I agree that the male/male is more prevalent, and easily found, than the female/female. I have no idea if it's just the areas I hang out in, or what, but it felt like the m/m just fell into my lap or was pimped to me, while I had to sift through stuff to find the f/f.

Love the icon.

I'm used to saying shōjo-ai, actually; it's been weird saying "femslash" for this thread ^_^;

Thanks for the resources! I've already started digging through them. The yuri equivalent of FAKE is out there somewhere, I'm sure . . . *starry eyes*

I wasn't sure if you were familiar with the terms, so I figured it was better to be redundant than confusing. ;)

Happy digging! I can't think of a non-subtext shoujo-ai version of FAKE, but then again I just got into anime/manga about a year or so ago.

Oniisama (Translated as Brother, Dear Brother) is an old, old manga series from the 70's with lesbian text and subtext. But mostly text. And then it was made into an equally gay anime series with an elegant old-fashioned look available on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/results?search=oniisama&search_type=search_videos

Basically, teenage girls in an exclusive high school, having the kind of obsessive but not explicit relationships that teenagers have. Only gorgeous and sort of epic and very gothic novel. Femme lesbians, androgynous lesbians, androgynous straight girls, terrifying little high school divas, confused and innocent young bisexuals...

It doesn't break pg-13, but it doesn't need to.

queer tv characters

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject