Hello! Today is June 1st. Which means it is officially the start of Pride month. A month to support the LGBT+ community and come together to show the world we are stronger together than the hate from people outside of the community that tries to pull us apart. For this article, I’ve decided to talk about a subject that seems to raise a lot of talk within the lgbt+ community. Specifically, the sapphic community and the representation we get in T.V and Movies.
Before I begin, I’d just like to state that I do not get paid for these articles and this is just written for fun! Okay, now here we go
I think it’s important to first define what sapphic means. According to google, sapphic means:
Just because a show has sapphic rep does not immediately mean that it is GOOD sapphic rep. Anything can have sapphic rep. Shows, movies, books, comics, video games, etc. However, and this seems to be a little bit of a touchy subject for some, but a show having rep doesn’t mean it is good rep and it shouldn’t mean we need to shut up and settle for whatever rep they throw into a T.V show or film. We as sapphics deserve decent rep. We do not just have to shut up and settle for whatever rep we have in the media just because it is there.
For years, many sapphic shows have been canceled. From First Kill to Warrior Nun to The Wilds to Paper Girls. Even Teenage Bounty Hunters. All shows that have queer rep, but specifically, sapphic rep. Though, in my own personal opinion, each show has had great sapphic rep. Although, I can’t speak for Paper Girls, as I have not watched it. However, I hear it had butch lesbian rep, which in my opinion, is fantastic and such a shame it was canceled. Another show worth mentioning is Batwoman, who had two black lesbians in a romantic relationship. Which again, is a huge shame it was canceled.
If a show is not canceled, then something else happens to its sapphic pair. That being → it is poorly written, rushed and lacking chemistry or somebody gets killed off and we have another instance of “bury your gay,”. The one most known is Lexa Kom Trikru from The 100, who was killed by a gunshot wound. Which set off a chain of reactions and a movement to put an end to bury your gay started. Of course, there are plenty of other notable queer women deaths throughout T.V history, such as Tara Maclay in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was pre Lexa or Villanelle from Killing Eve, which was post Lexa, who, ironically enough, also died from a gunshot wound.
If a show isn’t canceled, or if no characters die or there’s no poor rep, then that also leaves the option of queerbait. Queerbaiting is a whole nother topic that I could easily get into and discuss, especially when it comes to what is queerbait and what may seem like queerbait, but isn’t necessarily by definition, queerbait.
So, looking at the list of the rep we as sapphics get in shows, it is: Good but the show gets canceled, good but somebody dies, bad or poorly written rep or queerbait. As you can see, we have a very limited list of options to choose from. Not a lot of them are very good.
You also have people throwing into your face when you express frustrations of something, that some shows that aren’t sapphic centered, have sapphic rep, but are more focused on the sideline. But this is for another thing to discuss
For some reason, people expect fans of shows to just settle with whatever rep we as the sapphic community receive, solely because it is sapphic rep. Why should we settle for rushed rep when writers could take the time to actually give viewers a proper, well written ship that has chemistry and a beautiful story line. We as sapphics are depicted as picky or rude because we ask for proper rep that isn’t rushed or lacks chemistry, that we ask for rep to not be put on the side or overshadowed by other things. That we’re not queerbaited by writers.
I could list out several ships in several shows that are thrown in just for it to be rep. It isn’t good rep, it isn’t even rep at all, really. It is just something thrown into the show so the writers and showrunners can tick the box that says sapphic representation! and call it a day.
A very good example I could use is “Finsie,” from Legacies. The romantic pair between Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Kaneshiro) and Finch Tarrayo (Courtney Bandeko) → this is a ship that while the show was airing, was always something fans were told to “Just shut up about asking for (insert here), you already have rep,” and the rep is very poor and just lacks any interesting aspects or chemistry.
Before anybody tries to come at me and accuse me of being mad Finsie was a thing and not hosie, no, that is not what is happening here. I am not unhappy about the ship because I wanted hosie, I am upset because it was poorly written and rushed. The ship itself lacked any depth and Finch was just a fairly boring character who only seemed to be used as a plot device to play Josie’s girlfriend. Which is a shame considering how little Filipino queer rep we have in Western media.
There are plenty of people who were insisting that criticizing Finsie was somehow intertwined with racism because Finch was a brown character. As somebody who is the same race as Finch, I can say, no, it isn’t. Unless somebody says, “Josie shouldn’t be with a WOC,” then simply saying something about Finch or criticizing the writing is not racist. Nor is making little moments between them about another ship, something I noticed only non-Filipino folks were bothered by. I can argue that other shippers of non canon ships did this as well when it came to canon pairings. Take a ship moment from a canon pair and make it about their non canon. But I won’t discuss that.
While I can go on and on about how Finsie is a prime example of “A show has sapphic rep, but that doesn’t make the sapphic rep good,” it would take me all day, really. But this is the ship that comes to mind when I think about it.
Another ship is JenNoa, from Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, or previously known as Pretty Little Liars: Original Sins. The romantic pair between Jen Fox (Ava Capri) and Noa Olivar (Maia Reffico). I know people are going to come and yell at me for judging this ship because I have not actually seen the show, which, you know what? Fair, I guess. However, that isn’t going to stop me from commenting on the ship.
From what I’ve seen, there is nothing there between Jen and Noa. It feels very forced and rushed with zero chemistry and it very much feels like it is sapphic just to be sapphic. It feels like the rep is just there for the writers to tick off the checking list. Just like with Finch and Josie.
Another major issue I have with Jen and Noa is that there was a cheating plot line. Noa in the show has a boyfriend named Shawn Noble (Alex Aino) and she ends up kissing Jen. Which of course, feeds into the cheating stereotype that is placed on bisexuals!!
This is all I can really discuss right now.
A.J
May 31st 2024
