Life Action: San Diego Comic-Con 2017 LGBTQ Geek Year In Review Panel

By P. Kristen Enos

For the fourth year, Prism Comics gathered representatives from various LGBTQ+ media and organizational outlets to discuss key moments in geekdom that may have a greater impact than what was shown in the comic, on the movie screen or in your television show.

The panelists this time were:

  • Diane Anderson-Minshall (Editorial Director of The AdvocatePlus, and Tiny Living Chic)
  • Nick Adams (Director of GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program)
  • Mike Ciriaco (LA Weekly, WeHoTV News)
  • Amber Garza (Director of International Licensing, Sequential Rights & West Coast Coordinator, Geeks OUT) 
  • Chelsea Steiner (AfterEllen.comAutostraddle.com)
  • Amelia Vaughn (Huffington Post, Riptide Publishing.) 

And if you didn’t know, I was again the moderator on behalf of Prism Comics (of the panel that I originally created.)

And as always, Spoiler’s Ahead:

The Handmaid’s Tale

Diane kicked off the panel with the overview of how The Handmaid’s Tale became very ironically important because of the current political climate.  This show about a future where women’s worth was in her body, regardless of orientation, was impactful enough to Diane that she admitted crying in every episode.

She brought up the point that the source novel was written by Margaret Atwood in 1985, at a time when the author viewed tyrannical elements in world politics.  Little did everyone know how even more relevant the tale would be today.

Diane admitted that in the beginning, the actors of the show downplayed the feminist message in the series, focusing on just bringing a powerful novel to life.  But with the public criticisms about the show from conservative sources, several of the actors have now embraced the feminist message and become activists through their work.

When I asked Diane what she thought of the Trump-supporters thinking the show was created just to criticize Trump, Diane did make note that their limited view of the world just makes them look even more stupid.

Sense8

Nick pointed out the realization that he had appeared on last year’s panel promoting and cheering Sense8’s breakthrough trans representation in the character of Nomi.  And then upon finishing the viewing of season 2 in May, he (and other fans) felt an instant excitement about Nomi and her girlfriend’s proposal to each other and the possibility of a wedding in season 3.

In the series’ other key queer representation of Lito, a closeted gay actor who comes to publicly embrace his identity in a scene during the show’s on-the-location shoot during the real Rio pride festival.  He realizes he can still have his successful career and be an openly-gay man.

But then the Netflix announced that the series would end with season, during the beginning of the Pride month of June, no less.  Fan protests, Netflix insisting on the cancellation, and more uproar, has led Netflix to finally announce a two-hour wrap-up movie.

When asked on what he thought about Netflix’s handling of the cancellation/non-cancellation announcements, he admitted that he had never seen anything like this.  Ever.

Disney’s Beauty & The Beast (Movie)

Disney fan and mom of a 7-year old gay son, Amelia went through the key moments in the live-action version of the movie that were the crux of Disney’s attempt at queer representation:

  • She pointed out that the characterization of LeFou was portrayed as enamored of Gaston without saying anything.
  • In the climatic fight scene between the villages and the castle servants, there was a significant moment where 3 men were literally sucked into a wardrobe (i.e., “closet”) and spat back out in the frilliest female garb possible. (“Misogyny much?”) However, when two of the men ran away in horror, one man clearly liked the change.
  • At the end of the movie, LeFou and the “awakened” villager from the wardrobe scene ended up dancing together for a moment that lasted maybe 1 second.

When Amelia asked her gay son if he saw any queer representation in the movie, he said no because “no one talked about anything.”

This lackluster reaction was the focal point of Amelia’s real issue with the so-called queer representation in Beauty & Beast. When the word leaked out about a gay character in the movie, religious right protestors immediately slammed Disney over the idea.  Amelia pointed out that since Disney was going to get in trouble anyway, they might as well do the representation right and “help those kids who are dying to see themselves on the screen.”  All of the angst without accomplishing any good doesn’t make it worth it for Disney or us as fans.

Diane brought up the instances of when religious protestors were at screenings of the movie, several queer-friendly counter-protestors went to see the film in order to support it.  But because the content was so minimal and questionable, it was understandably disappointing to those who had been excited about the idea.

American Gods (TV Show)

Amber’s overview of the new TV show based on the novel by Neil Gaiman included several key points that should be important to our diverse community:

  • Because the showrunner Bryan Fuller is a gay man, when he viewed the initial cut of the scene of two male characters having sex, he thought the editing was anatomically unrealistic. He ordered a recutting of the scene, which improved its authenticity.
  • The above scene was also noteworthy for being the first real gay Muslim representation in geekdom. And a very sexy one to boot.
  • An improvement the TV show had over the book was in the presentation of Bilquis, the Goddess of Love. In the book, she only has sexual encounters with men.  In the TV series, her activities were broadened to include women, simply because love has no gender.

The panelists all agreed that this show was ground-breaking in its portrayal and should be a standard for other shows to come.

Wonder Woman As Bisexual (Comics & Movie)

Mike had the following main points in his overview that has gained a lot of visibility with the DC Comics reboot last year and (of course) critically acclaimed film:

  • Wonder Woman’s original creator William Moulton Marston, a famous American inventory and psychologist, was involved in a polyamorous relationship with two women that involved S&M elements, a sign that WW’s creator was already thinking outside of hetero-normative boundaries.
  • When fan-favorite comic writer Greg Rucka (of Batwoman) was interviewed about embracing Diana (and the Amazons) as being only heterosexual made no sense. And after all, it was called “Paradise Island!”
  • In the movie, the discussion between Diana and Steve Trevor about men being required for procreation but not necessary otherwise should be a big clue about her bisexuality.

Amber, who admitted she really liked the film, expressed extreme disappointment that Diana’s pivotal quote about love didn’t come from a great Greek philosopher but Steve Trevor, a guy she just met and had sex with once.  She felt it was a poor portrayal of assumed heterosexuality.

Diane pointed out that the scene’s interpretation with queer people really depended on their personal perspective, as she said that many felt it was valid just as many felt it wasn’t.  She pointed out that Diana’s relationship with Steve underscored the idea that bisexual people are still validly bisexual even when they’re in a heterosexual romance or relationship.

I pointed out that the comic-book version of Diana’s bisexuality had its own problems in that Rucka’s reboot involved a girlfriend for her that basically became unimportant and disappeared as soon as Steve appeared on the island. I felt like it was using a female character to show that she was bisexual, but not that her relationships with women were just as important as her relationship with men.

We all agreed that we had to wait and see what would happen in the future Wonder Woman film(s), especially since Gal Gadot has been public about supporting the bisexual interpretation of Diana.

Supergirl (TV Show)

Chelsea’s overview focused on Kara’s sister Alex Danvers (portrayed by Chyler Leigh, the second female lead of the series) coming out in the past season.  The story treatment of Alex embracing this aspect of her identity was given a lot of authenticity thanks to queer people behind the scenes of the show, including the openly lesbian show-runner Ali Adler.

Instead of making it a one-time revelation episode, the different aspects of Alex’s coming out was treated with respect and depth in various episodes:  falling for Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima) who responds that she won’t date newly out women, coming out to family, coming out to friends, dealing with exes, etc.  Her portrayal reinforced the real-life experience of many queer people that it’s never clean and simple; you are constantly coming out in different ways and circumstances. “Sanvers” was a couple to celebrate by many.

Chelsea pointed out that Lima’s decision to downgrade from “recurring” status of the show will hopefully not affect Sanvers’ relationship on the screen. And she would be upset if either is killed off (as would many fans.)

And Chelsea also threw out that she would fully support the idea of Lena’s declaring her feelings for Kara in the next season of the show, as a nod to the fanship “Supercorp.”

Riverdale (TV Show)

While admitting that he was a fan of show, Mike admitted that the new show was very lacking in LGBT representation.

Archie Comics fan-favorite character Kevin Keller was portrayed as just the GBF to Betty, engaging in shallow sexual encounters, and then having a boyfriend in the form of a gang member.

While established as asexual in the comics last year, Jughead is fully engaged in a romantic and sexual relationship with Betty.

Diane pointed out that the show’s creators had said they would tackle the issue of a character coming out as asexual however she felt the current portrayal shows a lack of knowledge and authenticity of what asexuality really is. It doesn’t make sense that an asexual character would love sex and then suddenly not.

Topics That The Panel Had Considered But Couldn’t Get To

Gotham’s Oswald (The Penguin) Cobblepot being in love with Edward Nygma:  Simply ran out of time

Black Panther movie het-washing female characters:  Again a lack of time, as well as the decision that it would be better to wait for the film to be released so we can discuss what ended up on screen.  Was it just hetwashing, or were there other problematic elements?  Hopefully we’ll have time for this one next year.

Other Topics That Came Up

Nick promoted the new cartoon series Danger & Eggs as a series that should be supported with its trans woman showrunner Shadi Petosky and its willingness to tackle gender and orientation issues in its fun and comedic storytelling.

An audience member asked for suggestions of representation of gender fluid representation.  The panel recommended Asia Kate Dillon from Billions.

Another audience member asked if the lack of culturally diverse representation in content and in the panel members was viewed as a problem and if it should be addressed.  I pointed out that there was a lot non-Caucasian diversity in the topics discussed.  Amber conceded that we as the panelists could do better in terms of showing more culturally diverse representation within the panelists (though it was noted that Diane is “not white” despite her bottled blonde appearance and I am in Asian-American, even though I’m just the moderator.)  Panelist presentation would be something to be addressed in the future.

It should be noted that we had an Sean Z. Maker, an Africa-American panelist in the first two years even though he wasn’t able to return for our third year.  And the fourth-year panelists were all returnees from the third year.

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Oh, and if you’re interested in another view of the panel, here’s the panel from Joe Glass on Bleeding Cool:  LGBTQ Geek Year In Review – Looking At Another Year in LGBTQ+ Representation.

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