wanting the show to treat gay people well for pride month i think is a misunderstanding of how emmerdale “treats gay people well” and a missing of why they tell the stories they do and what its Representation is built on, a) it doesn’t hand out only niceties to characters it likes, it often gives them horrible trauma events so it can put them on screen for longer, terror is its love language, b) engagement with gayness is and has to be engagement with homophobia bc the show is built on conflict as mentioned and conflict-creating power structures, it’s less interested in biological homosexuality than it is Social homosexuality, and in a rural village a plot about Being Gay is going to be a plot about being gay in a homophobic place, torturing gays is not the opposite of representing or even Nicely representing them, bc it’s through engagement with that homophobia that Gayness in its muchness is formed, c) non-homophobia gay torture still often examines the difference between that torture in a gay vs straight context, ie charity/todd is explicitly gonna deal with the woman/woman of it <- something i dont think they’ve ever done before and which is uncommon on general tv, something that therefore should be valued for its Representative abilities and the gay insight it might provide d) serious emmerdale/psadale plots are less about inspiring feeling and more about inspiring Thinking, its representation is therefore less about making you feel good and more about providing (still emotionally moving) information around a topic, making you aware of reality as opposed to only demonstrating a potential Better one (which it does still do.. it can be Hopeful on occasion but it’s not generally in its nature, it cares more about reflecting what’s Real which is usually bad) e) wanting the show to do something it doesnt want to do, to bend to telling a story that isnt in its nature, is not the place where “good representation” comes from, it’s almost a call for it to Pinkwash, where it just splashes gay in entirely for the audience, to please them (/draw them in (fine line)), it might feel nice to be Seen and Heard but would that really be what’s happening? slash would the product of that listening truly be doing what you want it to do?? would the show bending to calls for Fluffy representation actually be it earnestly caring about gay people if it had to abandon what it was in the process, if it was shallowly begrudgingly putting out empty happiness, if it muted itself <- the desire for its muting is based on beliefs that plots like this are Homophobic which theyre just not is the point. emmerdale isnt homophobic for torturing gays bc it tortures everyone, it’s not homophobic for writing intricate plots about homophobic power structures, or how being gay affects other ones, bc that’s again what it does with everything and everyone. they treat gay people Remarkably well compared to most other minorities, like despite conscious plots about misogyny too it is far more unintentionally misogynistic than it is unintentionally homophobic, and then ofc it’s sooo conscious of its pocs and their struggles!!!!!! where are calls for more Representation during black history month for example, i think the three million gays it has rn that it gives constant Gay plots to shows its care and its loyalties... tldr a lesbian sexual assault plot Is representation, this is what emmerdale is, you can want it to be something else but if it were something else would that “better” representation actually be authentic and therefore truly what you want?? is the only valid/good representation one that’s just niceys or is there value in more Exposing/Difficult ones? This is the show’s authentic care, its contribution to the concept, and the fact that it’s torturing gay people More during pride month is kinda proof of that. lesbians can rape too #pride #equality ‼️‼️‼️‼️🏳️🌈🏳️🌈~~~
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