When is any representation a good thing?
I'm not going to link to the current imbroglio going on about GLBTQ representation in YA fiction. A few seconds of searching will find it for you, and it's not those specifics of that incident that I want to discuss.
So there's a school of thought that says any representation of [minority] is a good thing and a school that says any representation of [minitory] is not, de facto, a good thing, and there's the school of thought that says ... it depends on [social, historical, cultural context].
Once upon a time in North America, any representation of a black person in a film with white people in it in which the white people and the black shared a scene was a good thing, a progressive thing. No. Seriously. And one of the (many) reasons for this was that the mixed-race presence on screen made it much harder for Racist Idiots (note the capitals) to completely edit the black people out of the picture when these movies were screened in the US South and/or rebroadcast on TV down there. Also, the famous discussion between Dr. King and Nichelle Nicholls about Star Trek speaks volumes for what mere representation meant. (As for Uhura? A black woman on TV who wasn't a maid!)
Today? No. Not at all. And maybe, someday, we'll have made enough progress that movies like Hollywood Shuffle and Tropic Thunder will satirize things that need to be explained to the audience.
Once upon a time, any depiction of a female character in a SF/Fantasy/Action-Adventure was a good thing.
Today? No. Not at all. We still have far too many damsels in distress, women who exist solely as a love interest, and hoochie-mamas in battle thongs. We've gone backwards from the days of BtVS and Xena.
So, in the ongoing debate about GLBTQ characters in YA fiction, there's one camp that says any character is a good thing, and another that says not, and ....
Given the fact that we need things like It Gets Better, and It's Okay to be Takei, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of YA is about straight (white) people, despite the fact that that if you poll the YA demographic (in North America), a majority of them are okay with GLBTQ or even know "Takei" people?
(a) Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more North American mainstream fiction/media with GLBTQ characters in it. (Right now on TV in the US I can't think of any shows with GLB characters outside of Glee and Teen Wolf* that aren't on premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, and Starz. And in Comics, don't even get me started on DC's relaunch. [I stand corrected on the DC Comics thing.])
*Now with added: Modern Family, The Good Wife, Desperate Housewives, and White Collar. (But, as I understand it, it took a writing campaign to get our M/M couple on Modern Family to do racy things like hold hands and kiss.)
(b) But, given the paucity of representation and the loud campaign of misanthropy and hate from the Republiklan Reich? I'm so very, very sad to think that we still might be in the stage of "any representation is good" on this issue.
So there's a school of thought that says any representation of [minority] is a good thing and a school that says any representation of [minitory] is not, de facto, a good thing, and there's the school of thought that says ... it depends on [social, historical, cultural context].
Once upon a time in North America, any representation of a black person in a film with white people in it in which the white people and the black shared a scene was a good thing, a progressive thing. No. Seriously. And one of the (many) reasons for this was that the mixed-race presence on screen made it much harder for Racist Idiots (note the capitals) to completely edit the black people out of the picture when these movies were screened in the US South and/or rebroadcast on TV down there. Also, the famous discussion between Dr. King and Nichelle Nicholls about Star Trek speaks volumes for what mere representation meant. (As for Uhura? A black woman on TV who wasn't a maid!)
Today? No. Not at all. And maybe, someday, we'll have made enough progress that movies like Hollywood Shuffle and Tropic Thunder will satirize things that need to be explained to the audience.
Once upon a time, any depiction of a female character in a SF/Fantasy/Action-Adventure was a good thing.
Today? No. Not at all. We still have far too many damsels in distress, women who exist solely as a love interest, and hoochie-mamas in battle thongs. We've gone backwards from the days of BtVS and Xena.
So, in the ongoing debate about GLBTQ characters in YA fiction, there's one camp that says any character is a good thing, and another that says not, and ....
Given the fact that we need things like It Gets Better, and It's Okay to be Takei, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of YA is about straight (white) people, despite the fact that that if you poll the YA demographic (in North America), a majority of them are okay with GLBTQ or even know "Takei" people?
(a) Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more North American mainstream fiction/media with GLBTQ characters in it. (Right now on TV in the US I can't think of any shows with GLB characters outside of Glee and Teen Wolf* that aren't on premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, and Starz. And in Comics, don't even get me started on DC's relaunch. [I stand corrected on the DC Comics thing.])
*Now with added: Modern Family, The Good Wife, Desperate Housewives, and White Collar. (But, as I understand it, it took a writing campaign to get our M/M couple on Modern Family to do racy things like hold hands and kiss.)
(b) But, given the paucity of representation and the loud campaign of misanthropy and hate from the Republiklan Reich? I'm so very, very sad to think that we still might be in the stage of "any representation is good" on this issue.