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[Burnouts3s3]

I visit Escapist Magazine a lot.

 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/

 

There was something that Ross Lincoln, Senior Editor of Comics and Cosplay, said during the Escapist Movie Podcast. He said (I'm paraphrasing) that it would be nice if we could have 'casually' gay men and have it not be a big deal.

I said this in response.

 

I think the problem with making homosexuality a minor detail (moreso in showing gay men than gay women as Ross and Ingoo brought up), is that if it plays almost no part in the story, a conservative producer or even a producer who doesn't want to shy people away, is so interchangeable with men depicted as heterosexual that the producers will either downplay it or change it. And when you're considering the action genre, where the majority of the consuming demographic is men, it's hard to address the idea or theme of diversity so that depiction can be sidelined.

 

But now, I'm wondering if I wasn't mistaken in that belief and we should have homosexuality or transitioning between genders become a non-issue. I'm confused as whether or not that the narrative or story should address homosexuality and other issues of diversity or simply not discuss it. I've played a lot of Bioware games, The Sims and know that Saint's Row that changing one's gender/race/sexuality doesn't really get addressed (other than some romantic options) and not really talked about. To me, since the idea that race and gender and sexuality are so interchangeable for a player character and doesn't change their role in the story (A Gay Shepard will still shoot their way to victory as a straight Shepard would), those themes of diversity are non-issues to me.

 

I also stumbled upon this quote from Tumblr.
 

http://greenwolfmusi...o-characters-on

 

That having been said, these characters (Claire Augustus from Questionable Content and Alysia Yeoh from Batgirl, two male to female transgender portrayals) do frustrate me a little. While on the one hand they represent very character driven portrayals, I'm concerned with how insignificant their genders are to their stories as a whole. Both authors use "coming out" as a trope to solidify the friendship between the protagonist and the trans side character. However, beyond this, these characters' trans status is not used for any other sort of development. These characters could very easily be replaced by cis characters without dramatically affecting the narrative of the stories they appear in.

 

Other times, I've heard the criticism that the homosexual aspect of one's character, such as Steve Cortez from Mass Effect, is 'shoehorned in' and isn't part of the character. Other times, I fall under 'if it serves a purpose in the story, it's okay' aspect.

 

For example in Scandal (I just started watching. I only finished the first episode), Olivia defends her client who happens to be gay, and such showing footage that he was with another gay man would release him from suspicion of murder. However, the client doesn't want to come out the closet since he is a soldier and is part of a conservative community. Olivia eventually relates to him, saying who he loves shouldn't be a secret (and also relates to Olivia's own affairs with the President of the United States). In Paranorman, the issues of Aggie being persecuted from a New England's conforming society eventually plays into the theme that even different or strange people should be accepted (and thus adds to the humor at the revelation that Mitch was gay).

 

What are your thoughts on all of this?

[Fidite Nemini]

Homosexuality and transsexuality are normal. There is no need to make it into something extraordinary by giving it priviliged focus.

 

 

 

To improve that singular statement a bit:

It also depends on what the author tries to tell and how the audience can interprete it. If a homosexual/transsexual character is been given extra focus to explore his character, the reception can go both ways. People can interprete it as that character being singled out from the rest of the cast, being something irregular that needs attention. Or it can reflect on how society is still struggling with their traditional norms and acceptence. If the express purpose of that character is to raise awareness, adding focus can be desireable despite the inevitable number of people who will get it the wrong way (even I'd argue there is no necessity for raising awareness). If the character is different for another narrative purpose and his/her sexuality is simply part of the character rather than an integral part of the narration, then there should be no priviliged focus, just as much as characters with receding hairlines get no more screentime.

[Jorji Costava]

Not really sure why games should have to address an old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era. Seems like a pretty obscure topic to me.

 

EDIT: In all seriousness, I would say that there's a difference between focusing on a gay character and focusing on that character's gayness. Even if a story is dealing with a gay's character's relationships and romantic attachments, it's not necessarily about that character's sexual orientation in a deeper way than, say, a relationship between mShep and Miranda is about their straightness.

[Jaison1986]

Exactly my feelings on the subject. I don't have an problem with an character having an different preference or belief in an fictional work. But it annoys me when people try to glorify it. It's like if in Inquisition it went like this:

 

Fan 1: Look at Dorian here, he is an homosexual companion and romancable! 

 

Fan 2: Cool, what else can you tell about his character?

 

Fan 1: What else? What do you mean, what else? The guy is gay. How awesome is that? We need to talk more about it!!!

 

There is no substance about it. There is supposed to be more about these characters but people get so obsessed about their unusual preferences by media standards that they forget that we can learn much more from them then just an preference. It's so shallow if not juvenile.

[Jalil]

As long as it didn't feel forced in the story and as long as the story didn't feel like a soapbox (GRRRR I HATE SOAPBOX STORIES IF I WANTED SOAPBOX STORIES I'D READ AESOP NOT A COMIC BOOK/rant) I'd have no issue with it. 

 

That said, I personally haven't witnessed a whole lot of gay/other characters in storytelling that did not feel like tokens or a soapboxes. It seems like they're either tokens, soapboxes, or porny bs 99% of the time. Admittingly, I haven't really looked, but I'm looking for good stories first and foremost, not gay characters.

 

Just my observations and rantings.

[SlottsMachine]

It should be a non-issue. I'm in the camp that if we all started demanding better written characters first and foremost the rest would take care of itself. 

[Isichar]

This is actually a lot more simple then people make it out to be. It should depend on the setting and the characters themselves.

Is the culture the character is being portrayed in tolerant to homosexuality? And if so to what extent? Is the character open about it or embarrassed? I've seen stories in which homosexuality is an everyday part of the world, and so there's no reason to call special attention in the show, likewise if you're doing a story in a setting that would typically be bigoted towards homosexuality then yes I'd think it would be brought up.

All depends on the context itself.

[mybudgee]

[Steelcan]

This is actually a lot more simple then people make it out to be. It should depend on the setting and the characters themselves.

Is the culture the character is being portrayed in tolerant to homosexuality? And if so to what extent? Is the character open about it or embarrassed? I've seen stories in which homosexuality is an everyday part of the world, and so there's no reason to call special attention in the show, likewise if you're doing a story in a setting that would typically be bigoted towards homosexuality then yes I'd think it would be brought up.

All depends on the context itself.

I agree with this, a setting where homosexuality is generally tolerated/accepted ie Dragon Age shouldn't be dealing with the issue all too much.

[Fidite Nemini]

I agree with this, a setting where homosexuality is generally tolerated/accepted ie Dragon Age shouldn't be dealing with the issue all too much.

 

The problem is that writing is three dimensional. You are looking at the character, at the character's social environment and at the audience's social environment. Even if a character is perfectly normal in the setting, the people reading the whole thing are an entirely different perspective a writer has to consider.

[Isichar]

The problem is that writing is three dimensional. You are looking at the character, at the character's social environment and at the audience's social environment. Even if a character is perfectly normal in the setting, the people reading the whole thing are an entirely different perspective a writer has to consider.

Sure, but it still comes down to context and what the author is trying to portray to the audience. I mean if a story is trying to be self consistent then I'd expect it to do what is right for the story regardless of the audience it's being told to.

If the audiences perspective plays into how the story is being written then it all comes down to what the author or w.e is trying to portray to the audience.

Let's take murder for example. Murder happens in a lot of stories, but that doesn't say much on whether the audience or writer condones murder or not, so it shouldn't necessarily be restricted in a story. Then again your not going to have a show aimed at children dealing with that the same way one trying to be realistic and mature for adults would.

It's all just context.