Prejudice and Bias in Media

Prejudice and Bias in Media

Annapurna Pictures (2019). Booksmart [Movie Poster]
 Retrieved September 26, 2019 from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1489887/

There is no denying that the representation of LGBTQ+ characters in movies and film has increased dramatically in recent years. This is a great leap forward and allows for people who identify as LGBTQ+ to see someone who looks, thinks, and speaks like them and is them. They can relate to characters better than ever before. They can cry in empathy with characters who are having similar experiences to them. They can learn when a character deals with an issue that is common amongst LGBTQ+ people. These outcomes, however, occur when an LGBTQ+ character is done right. This is not always the case. 

Let's discuss some LGBTQ+ characters done right. The movie Booksmart was released in 2019 and was directed by Olivia Wilde. Booksmart is summarized as a movie about two best friends who decide to finally have wild nights of fun after being accepted into their dream colleges. Main character Amy is a recently-out gay teenager, but this is not the most emphasized part of her personality. There are actually multiple LGBTQ+ identifying characters in the film. According to the article, Booksmart and LGBTQ: New Movie Brings Diverse LBGTQ Representation, one of the actors who played a supporting gay character in the film, Austin Crute, stated: 

“This movie is authentic… because Amy had come out for two years and still hadn’t kissed a girl, and that kind of phenomenon has to be recognized,” Crute said. “[Coming out] is a very wide spectrum of exploration, insecurity, inexperience and a whole bunch of stuff.”

By including actors who are openly gay in real life, the film can be more authentic. These actors could appreciate the script and the characters because they could relate to them firsthand. This is one of the many reasons why Booksmart was such an effective film. It tapped into the life of LGBTQ+ teens while also making sure they still had identities that did not revolve solely around being queer (Hassanein, R., 2019). 

Kurt Hummel [Online Image] Retrieved from https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Kurt_Hummel

An example of how a movie or show has given in to stereotypes in portraying LGBTQ+ characters is seen in Kurt Hummel on Glee. This may come as a shock to many Glee fans because the show does focus heavily on the hate that Hummel and other queer (and straight!) receive, but the portrayal of Kurt Hummel as a "bitchy, jealous, emotional, and effeminate" gay teen who was in love with his step-brother paints a terrible picture on gay men (10 Worst Depictions, 2014). 

Additionally, the main antagonist for Kurt was a football player named Dave Karofsky, who torments Hummel for most of their high school careers until it is revealed that he is, in fact, gay. This trope is often used and joked about in pop culture, but it once again paints the gay community in a terrible light. The trope places the blame of homophobia on gay people, which is usually not the origin of homophobia. It is realistic and important to show how affected LGBTQ+ students are by harassment in school, since "verbal harassment of LGBTQ students is not only the most common form of harassment, but it persists at alarmingly high levels (D’Augelli, Pilkington, & Hershberger, 2002)" (McCabe, Dragowski, & Rubinson, 2012). This issue is also displayed in the film, The Laramie Project, which displays the true story of a man named Matthew Shepard who was beaten into a coma (and later died from his injuries) by two homophobic men simply for being gay. As aforementioned, I do believe it is important to make it known that these are the struggles that members of the LGBTQ+ community deal with, but Glee's creators could have done without making Karofsky's character gay. 

Clearly, there is a right and wrong way to portray the LGBTQ+ community in media, and the film and TV show industry is still trying to come to a consensus on the right way to do so. Although proper representation can be very beneficial to members of the community and to straight, cis-gendered people, improper and stereotypical representation can be very damaging to all the progress the LGBTQ+ community has made in fighting for equality.

10 Worst Depictions of LGBT Characters in TV and Film • GCN. (2014, November 18). Retrieved from https://gcn.ie/worst-representation-lgbt-characters-tv-film/.

Annapurna Pictures (2019). Booksmart [Movie Poster] Retrieved September 26, 2019 from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1489887/

Hassanein, R. (2019, May 23). Booksmart and LGBTQ: Movie Brings Diverse LGBTQ Representation. Retrieved from https://www.hrc.org/blog/booksmart-and-lgbtq-new-movie-brings-diverse-lgbtq-representation.
HBO Films presents ; directed by Moisés Kaufman ; written by Moisés Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project ; produced by Declan Baldwin. (2002). The Laramie project. [United States] :HBO Home Video,

Kurt Hummel [Online Image] Retrieved from https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Kurt_Hummel

Mccabe, P. C., Dragowski, E. A., & Rubinson, F. (2012). What Is Homophobic Bias Anyway? Defining and Recognizing Microaggressions and Harassment of LGBTQ Youth. Journal of School Violence, 12(1), 7–26. doi: 10.1080/15388220.2012.731664