The shows we watch shape the way we view the world. Likewise, the way we view the world shapes what we watch. But sometimes, the very thing we watch to find validation is what leads us to self-doubt.
The show The 100 perfectly demonstrates the reality of problematic bisexual representation within the television industry. In general, the broadcasting industry tends to reduce screen time, stereotype personalities, and kill off LGBTQ+ characters. According to research conducted by LGBT Fans Deserve Better and The Trevor Project, American LGBTQ+ non-profits, researchers found that over 30% of bisexual characters represented in the media were killed off in American Television from 1976-2016. High LGBTQ+ mortality rates in television foster a lack of life-like LGBTQ+ characters in the media.
In 2014, The Columbia Broadcasting System and Warner Brothers’ (CW) channel first aired The 100, a teen/adult post-apocalyptic drama. Originally a book, the storyline follows 100 teenagers sent to repopulate Earth after the apocalypse. In season three, one of the teenagers, Lexa, is killed by her advisor, Titus. He blames Clarke, the main character of the show and Lexa’s girlfriend, for the tension in their territory. In the aftermath of Lexa’s death, The 100 had no other lesbian representation — leaving only two other queer characters.
Many people tuned-in to the show once they found out it featured a gay couple. Clarke and Lexa were two very liked characters, and their sexual orientation contributed to their fanbase. Much more than ‘just’ a gay couple, they were two powerful women whose main personality trait was not that they were gay. People tuned-in to the show for those two alone — they made it better. It gave LGBTQ+ people the representation they wanted.
When Lexa was killed off, many people weren’t surprised. Lexa’s death was exactly what the viewers did not want. Having been around for the second season, her death in the third season was not essential to the show’s plot. Lexa’s death had fans in an uproar.
It proved that the ‘Bury Your Gays,’ or ‘Lesbian Dead Syndrome,’ trope in media is correct. In general, the trope represents the ongoing and popular idea that queer characters are treated as tokens or pawns. Homosexual characters are seen as more expendable than heteronormative characters. Though the reasons vary — from having no other conclusion to their story, to becoming less useful to the storyline, or being villainized — in the end, LGBTQ+ characters tend to die. People on the LGBTQ+ spectrum have scarce representation to begin with, and if they are portrayed on screen, they are used to move the storyline along before being killed off.
Within the same month as Lexa’s death, numerous other gay characters were killed off in other popular shows. Denise from The Walking Dead, Rose from Jane the Virgin, and an unnamed lesbian character in The Magicians who was introduced only to be killed a few scenes later.
Often, LGBTQ+ people are happy to have any representation at all, even if it’s stereotypical and incorrect. Underrepresented groups are so used to not being included on the screen that any representation at all means a lot.
Minorities look to a character for courage, so they can see that they can be queer, powerful, and have a happy ending. With stereotypical representation, there is at least some, if only surface-level, resemblance to the truth. But accuracy matters even more than representation. It matters that a character who is meant to represent a large and powerful part of society isn’t just a pawn to entice vulnerable people into watching a show, getting attached, and then once again being reminded that they are not equal in value to other heteronormative characters.
In The 100, Lexa was a character who wasn’t a stereotypical lesbian. People didn’t assume she was gay from the beginning, there were no ‘signs.’ Her relationship with Clarke happened as a result of a natural progression. Their relationship wasn’t forced and it wasn’t her main personality trait. Lexa was a leader, a friend, a warrior, a peacekeeper, and a powerful female figure who just happened to like women too.
Her storyline had so much potential and everybody knew it. In the three weeks following Lexa’s death, fans rioted. They used graffiti and art to make their point clear: ‘Lexa Deserved Better.’
Fans’ reactions to Lexa’s death are a clear call to end ‘Lesbian Dead Syndrome’ for good. It is important that the characters we identify with most get to live long and happy lives. Realistically and statistically, people die, and gay people aren’t exempt. However, I would love to live in a world where characters just like me got happy endings — so other members of the LGBTQ+ community could feel like they could too.
Featured image provided by IMDB.
