5 Queer “Representations” I’m Tired of Seeing

While far from an exhaustive list, here are a few queer tropes I am tired of seeing:

1. Gay Best Friends in Rom-Coms

Damian in Mean Girls, Blaine in Cruel Intentions, Brandon in Easy A, Christian in Clueless, George in My Best Friend’s Wedding, Stanford in Sex and the City, Donnie in Isn’t It Romantic?, and even John in Happiest Season (although that one clearly isn’t exactly the same)

A very common 90s trope that still exists today, these characters are usually gay male best friends of a female lead in a romantic comedy, although they do occasionally appear as gay male best friends of the male leads. However, no matter who they are, they always serve a clear purpose. They are likable comedic characters who make jokes, talk up the main character, and serve as a voice of reason. Almost everything they say is both sassy and wise. Their queerness makes them quirky and unthreatening. The male lead trusts them because they are not “competition” and inherently understand women due to their femininity (a clear stereotype). The female trusts them because they won’t try to hit on them. As a bonus, they serve as an accessory, characterizing the lead as “hip” and “accepting.”

They have no arcs of their own and exist only to help the lead. Maybe in the background of the ending, the main character looks over to them and sees that they have a boyfriend, but it’s not really relevant. Sometimes, like with Blaine in Cruel Intentions, they completely disappear from the narrative after they’ve served their purpose. I’m tired of seeing this trope because it reduces gay males to a stereotype and gives them no narrative arcs of their own. No one wants to exist merely as a quirky accessory to straight people. 

2. Bisexuality as Deviance

Catharine, Beth, and Roxy in Basic Instinct, Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Frank Underwood in House of Cards, Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, Kalinda in The Good Wife, Camilla in Empire, Monte in The Fosters, and so on

Contrary to popular belief, bisexual people are not evil cheating sex monsters. Being attracted to more than one gender does not mean double the attraction/sex drive, it just means double the options. Bisexual characters are often evil, deceitful, hypersexual, and/or non-monogamous. While there is obviously nothing wrong with casual sex or polyamory, continuously putting these traits onto bisexual characters specifically is undeniably harmful.

Catharine of Basic Instinct is a murderous, deceitful, hypersexual, unfaithful, overall terrible person, and the other (potentially) bisexual women in the film are not much different. Tom Ripley’s murderous tendencies in The Talented Mr. Ripley’s film seem to be linked with his sexuality specifically. Frank Underwood in House of Cards is a man with practically no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and having bisexuality sprinkled into the mix to add to his “greed” is similarly downright offensive, even if not a huge part of the show. Even characters who are not explicitly bisexual but coded as such, such as Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer fit into these tropes, in part because such tropes are what is used to code them. 

3. Huge Age Gaps

Call Me by Your Name, Carol, Little Miss Sunshine, Gods and Monsters, The Favourite, Blue is the Warmest Color, Killing Eve, and so on

While this is probably the least problematic entry on the list as once you reach a certain age, 30 and 45 may not seem so different. However, in queer stories, there is often a disturbing age gap. In Call Me by Your Name, Elio is a minor and Oliver is 24 (the similar situation is Blue is the Warmest Color). In Little Miss Sunshine, Frank is a college professor who falls in love with one of his graduate students. As a graduate student, his love interest is clearly an adult, but there is still a power imbalance in place as Frank is still his professor. 

It is worth noting that wide age gaps exist in heterosexual relationships on screen as well, usually with a young actress and older actor. However, this is also a common stereotype for queer couples and makes things such as Call Me by Your Name appear “normal” rather than predatory. Furthermore, having queer age gaps mimic that of straight ones serves as a subtle form of homophobia. The older of the two tends to be the more masculine, dominant, and stoic of the pair, with the younger as the more feminine, submissive, and emotional. 

4. Trans Characters Played by Cis Actors

Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game, Hillary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry, Felicity Huffman in Transamerica, Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, Elle Fanning in 3 Generations, Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, and so on.

There are two major issues with this trope. Firstly, there is the blanket issue of what “representation” truly means. Is “representation” solely presenting a character to audiences (which does undeniably affect such viewers)? Or does “representation” also include the “behind the scenes?”

I would definitely say it is both. To have actual proper representation that is a clear reflection of people’s genuine lived experiences, you need the people who actually lived such experiences to be involved in the entire process. While this includes directors, producers, screenwriters, and so on, in this particular instance I am talking about actors. The roles I just mentioned have touched people’s lives by allowing for a trans character to exist on screen for mainstream audiences, but they pretty much stopped there. It is very important for trans people to see themselves on screen. But if trans people are not the ones actually presenting themselves on screen, one starts to wonder how authentic such representations truly are. Furthermore, trans actors deserve roles. But when was the last time you saw a trans actor playing a cis character on the screen? Probably not a lot, if any. Trans actors are therefore not allowed to play cis actors due to transphobic assumptions about bodies, and then get shut out of actual trans roles as well, in favor of cis actors.

Secondly, trans characters are often played by cis actors who are not the same gender. There are some exceptions to this of course, such as Huffman in Transamerica, but those roles still maintain all the aforementioned issues. But with Redmayne, Leto, Swanks, Fanning, and so on, they are hiring cis men to play trans women and cis women to play trans men. In these roles, not only are actual trans actors denied opportunities to represent themselves on film but harmful and pervasive stereotypes about trans people are perpetuated. These castings imply that trans women are men “dressing up” as or “playing” as women, and vice versa. 

I understand this type of casting a bit more with Redmayne as his character does spend a huge portion of the film presented as a man which could be traumatizing for a trans woman. However, that is a generous reading of why Redmayne cast since he is only one of the countless examples of transphobic casting. Trans women are not “dressing up” as women. Trans women are women and trans men are men. These castings deny trans actors roles while simultaneously denying their gender as well. It needs to stop. 

5. Minor Queerness Heavily Marketed

The film is equivalent to rainbow capitalism. This definitely doesn’t quite fit with the others, but I feel it is important to note, nonetheless. We need to stop using queerness as a selling point. 

For example, before its release, the queerness of New Mutants was heavily marketed. While, as a queer person, I do remember falling a bit into its trap, I still find it to be a little offensive. Yes, queer people are starved for representation, and we are probably going to jump on whatever we can find. However, the emphasis on this minor aspect of the film felt like the director was saying “hey gay people, I want your money too!”

While I do believe that having queerness exist casually is just as important as queerness existing in the forefront, having straight filmmakers scream about the background queerness of their film stinks of bad intentions. If every time a character is queer the makers and marketers of the film feel the need to loudly announce it, then queerness does not exist casually. We need queerness to exist in films without needing to be used as a selling point.