Celebrating Representation in Every Form

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This blog strives to be inclusive and welcoming of all types of rep. If there’s any trigger warnings I need to/have forgotten to tag, wording to change, or a correction, please message me and let me know!

Please remember there is a real human being behind this blog; I try to fact check and be inclusive but I know I’m not perfect and I have my own life outside of tumblr. Always feel free to message me about corrections, triggers, submissions, reminders of posting, etc. but please don’t be rude about it. 

Update:

I am on indefinite hiatus

Character: Aleks/Alexis

From: Somebody Told Me

Representation: LGBTQIA+ (Bigender, Nonbinary), Jewish, Sexual Assault Survivor

Their Importance: Somebody Told Me tells the story of bigender teen Aleks/Alexis who abruptly flees their home after an unspoken trauma. They move in with their Catholic preacher uncle and realise that they can overhear confessions from their room. This motivates them to anonymously help the congregation with their problems before realising that there’s something truly sinister going on in their new community. Aleks/Alexis is bigender, a particularly rarely portrayed nonbinary identity and they regularly flip between feeling and presenting as different gender. A large part of the story is the conflict between Aleks/Alexis’s liberal Jewish family and the narrow fundamentalism of their new surroundings even as they unexpectedly find good people and allies in the congregation.

It’s later revealed that the trauma that drove Aleks/Alexis from their original social circle was being sexually assaulted at a fan convention. This, alongside other toxic and bigoted idea can thrive in fandom circles and little social attention is paid to this. Aleks/Alexis coming to terms with what happened, permanently ending their relationship with those involved and being motivated is an integral part of the story ad is an empowering survivor narrative. 

Character: Waylon Russel

From: Pumpkin’ (Dumpln’-verse)

Representation:  Gay Femme, Drag Queen, Fat

Their Importance: Waylon is the protagonist of the third Dumplin’ book, another breezy feel-good tale of Clover City. The story unfolds after his audition tape for a drag queen competition is leaked, leading to him being nominated for prom queen as a joke. Waylon decides to take his nomination seriously to stick it to the bigots in his community.

He is completely open about his sexuality and gender expression and is mostly free of angst about being an outsider in his small community. Waylon explicitly describes himself as femme and notes various points in the story that gay men who don’t fit a narrow band of acceptable gender-conforming and conventionally attractive aesthetic are frequently erased and are at a particular risk of bigotry even within gay communities. While there are many stereotypical camp gay characters out there there’s a few major femme characters who get to have character focus and depth.

One of the more prominent themes is the liberating potential of drag especially to various marginalised groups. Waylon is initially uninterested in the prom nominations until he begins to flesh out his drag persona, realising that it’s a way to boost confidence by creating a new persona and celebrate unconventional features. Several other drag queens are featured, and Waylon talks about how drag has been commodified in the mainstream.

Body positive stories with male protagonists aren’t that common. Given that body image issues are particularly common in gay men makes this story particularly great to see.  

Character(s): Sage Solara, Vega, Leona, Tessa, Gemma, and Adora

From: Star Darlings

Representation: Indian (Sage), Asian (Vega), Black (Leona, Tessa, Gemma, and Adora)

Their Importance: Star Darlings was a rather obscure and short-lasting Disney franchise starting as a book series before becoming a web cartoon. It focused on Sage Solara, Leona, Libby Rose, Vega, Scarlet Maroon, Cassie, Piper Dream Soule, Astra Torch, Clover Molensa, Tessa, Gemma, and Adora, 12 teenage girls from the planet Starland, and their missions to grant wishes on Earth. Most people don't notice, but many of them are POC. Sage, who is the main character (at least in the cartoon), is Indian (as revealed in one of the books, her mom is named Indira), which is very rare, as even other POC main characters are usually from other places. Sage is bright and hopeful, always looking forward to spreading as much good luck and granting as many wishes as possible. Leona is an aspiring pop star and the lead singer of her own band. Vega is practical and tends to think about things before doing them, and is revealed to be Asian from her Earth disguise. Tessa is an aspiring cook, and her younger sister Gemma is a supportive sister with dreams of also being a great wish granter. Adora is a combination of a nerd and girly girl, being into both science and fashion.

Issues: While in the books, each girl gets an equal time to shine, the cartoon only focuses on Sage, Leona, and Vega (as well as Scarlet and Libby) while all the other girls, including S=Tessa, Gemma, and Adora, are practically left behind except for them getting one 2 minute short each and the finale episode. They don't even get real focus in the pilot.

Out With Dad is a charming little Canadian Web series telling the story of the close-knit Miller family and their ever-expanding queer social circle. While there’s heavy drama around love triangles and homophobia the basis is the wonderful relationship between awkward-but-avid ally single dad Nathan and his insecure but rapidly blossoming daughter Rose as she realises her lesbianism.

Character: Rose Miller

Representation: Lesbian

Their Importance: The most prominent overreaching plot is Rose’s coming out story. It’s not a one-off episode plotline like the majority of TV coming out stories, noting that it’s never a single process and most people have to do it over and over. Rose starts the series as an insecure teen with such severe internalised homophobia that it takes her several episodes to be comfortable with the word lesbian. As the series go on, she gains confidence in her identity, becoming willing to fight back against her school’s homophobic policies, entering college and getting into soap opera-like love triangles comparable to hetero romance protagonists.

Character: Nathan Miller

Representation: Asexual

Their Importance: Towards the end of the final season after several abortive attempts to re-enter the dating scene Nathan realises that he’s been subconsciously sabotaging his relationships and hasn’t truly wanted intimacy with anyone else since his wife’s death and was underwhelmed when they had sex. His therapist suggests that he may be asexual which Nathan quickly realises is the case. The final episode is an amusing inversion of the introduction where Nathan awkwardly struggles to come out to his daughter who is immediately accepting. There isn’t a wealth of canon aspec characters out there so having a titular character, a deeply loving and ideal parent who is defined by multiple positive platonic relationships, is special. 

Issues: While it starts off low-key there are a lot of plotlines focused on homophobia including hate crimes and familiar rejection.

Character: Diane Goodman

From: Next to Normal

Representation: Bipolar

Their Importance: Next To Normal focuses on the dysfunction of the Goodmans, an outwardly idyllic-looking suburban family who rapidly start to fall apart as Diane, the mother of the family, experiences a manic episode after a period of stability.  Musical theatre isn’t exactly known for its realism but this story gives a painfully accurate depiction of the unpredictable and wildly fluctuating nature of bipolar disorder acknowledging the joys as well as the destructive nature of mania and the debilitating lethargy of depression and how devastating the condition can be for both the individual and their family. The medium manages to convey various aspects of bipolar and its treatment in various creative ways but manages to avoid the glamorisation and oversimplification common in more conventional mental illness narratives that aim for realism.

Issues: As well as being an unflinching look at the tribulations that can come with mental illness the death of a child plays a major role in the narrative.

Character: Danny “Dan” Torrance

From: The Shining, Doctor Sleep

Representation: Addiction (Alcohol), Abuse survivor

Their Importance: After surviving a nightmarish situation as a child in The Shining, Dan struggled to come to terms with how the abuse he experienced impacted his life and turned to alcohol for relief. As the central protagonist in Doctor Sleep, his main story line is about his recovery from alcohol addiction, coming to terms with the abuse he experienced from his father (who likewise struggled with alcohol addiction), and overall gaining some control over his life again. 

As these books were written by someone who similarly struggled with addiction and has been very open about his experience, Dan's story provides a nuanced and realistic depiction of the difficulties in maintaining sobriety. Removing oneself from alcohol is typically not something that can happen over night and the story follows Danny through the years, showing how much hard work he needs to put in to remaining sober.

Character: Zatz

From: Maya and the Three

Representation: Disability (Blind in one eye), Indigenous

Their Importance: Zatz is first introduced as a seemingly flat antagonistic figure before some pretty great character development. While raised among the gods and forced to work for the main villain Lord Mictlan, Zatz wants a chance to make his own choices and free himself and his father from serving someone so cruel.

It takes him some time to convince Maya and the team that he's not their enemy, but once that happens, his friendship and later relationship with Maya is really sweet. At first their interactions are just fights, but Zatz slowly falls in love with Maya and recognizes her as a hero capable of changing the world. Zatz allows himself to be vulnerable around Maya, and their relationship makes Zatz realise that he doesn't have to be alone in his grief and showing weakness is not a flaw. In a particularly moving scene, he shares the story of his mother's sacrifice to protect him from monsters, and Maya (who recently lost her brothers in a battle) reassures Zatz and comforts him. They fight side by side in the final episode, after he's officially joined the protagonists.

Character: Maya

From: Maya and the Three

Representation: Indigenous 

Their Importance: She's a confident and powerful warrior princess who wants to protect her people, and the hero of a prophecy who's meant to defeat the god of war Lord Mictlan. While brave, selfless and loyal, Maya also has to grow out of her arrogance and she's forced to confront her own flaws and admit to mistakes multiple times throughout the show. 

She's a well-rounded character overall, and her kindness and loyalty especially shows in her friendship with the other protagonists- Maya bonds with them and slowly becomes a better and more responsible leader, even referring to them as her chosen family. This doesn't happen immediately, though, and the team needs to take some time to learn to work together despite their very different personalities.

Issues: For a cartoon, Maya and the Three has a LOT of violence and multiple character deaths, with some being rather disturbing despite no blood shown. There are also references to human sacrifice, as Lord Mictlan's main goal is to kill Maya to become stronger.

Character(s): The cast of Angels in America (Belize, Louis Ironson, Hannah Pitt, Harper Pitt, Joe Pitt, and Prior Walter)

From: Angels in America

Representation: Belize (Black, Gay), Louis (Jewish, Gay), Hannah (Religion: Mormon), Harper (Religion: Mormon, Disorder: Agoraphobia, Addiction: Pills), Joe (Religion: Mormon, Gay), Prior (Gay, HIV+/AIDS)

Their Importance: One of the first major dramatic works to address the ongoing AIDS crisis, the play was notable for it's sympathetic portrayal of gay men and people living with AIDS at a time when legal discrimination against both groups was actively harming people and halting progress on dealing with the AIDS epidemic. 

The cast of characters are all well-developed to ensure that they are not defined solely by their representation. Everyone is shown to be realistically flawed which also helps to keep the story grounded when more fantastical elements enter the picture. 

 The play goes to great lengths to show the diversity of gay men's lived experiences and how complex factors such as race and religion intersect with those experiences. For instance, Prior and Belize are openly gay, Louis is openly gay except to his Jewish family, and Joe comes out as gay over the course of the play while constantly struggling to reconcile his homosexuality with his Mormon religion. Every way of living is shown to have it's own set of hardships and the play never states what is the right path, only that it's important to do what's best for each individual.

Issues: The play does include racial slurs said by bigoted characters directed at Black and Jewish people in addition to depictions and discussions of homophobia. 

There is also a fairly important lead character, Roy Cohn, who is a Jewish man who has sex with other men (he specifically rejects the label "gay") and is living with AIDS. I did not include him in the representation as a) the vast majority of the bigoted remarks come from him and b) he is based on a real life person of the same name who held similar opinions. The play does not endorse his actions and he is ultimately the closest person to an actual villain in the story.

From: The Stormlight Archive

Representation: Nonbinary

Their Importance: The Sibling is one of three major bondsmith spren on Roshar, the setting of the Stormlight Archive. What they are is fairly complicated, as this is a fantasy book series. Spren are nonhuman characters, sort of sentient manifestations of concepts. The Sibling is the spren of the tower of Urithiru, the base of power of the Knights Radiant, more or less the "heroes" of the story. Their "siblings" are the Stormfather, the masculine spren of storms, and the Nightwatcher, a mysterious feminine spren that grants boons and curses. Most if not all other spren have a masculine or feminine gender, but the Sibling does not. They express this explicitly, and are always referred to with they/them pronouns. 

The Stormfather is the child of the god Honor, the Nightwatcher is the child of the goddess Cultivation, and the Sibling is the child of both.

Issues: Nonbinary characters are notoriously often non-human characters. However, spren are very prevalent and major characters in this series, and most if not all of the others do have an explicitly masculine or feminine gender. So the Sibling's nonbinary identity isn't simply because they aren't human.

Character: Katie Mitchell

From: The Mitchells vs The Machines

Representation: Lesbian

Their Importance: Katie is one of the protagonists of an animated movie and there's not even an attempt to hide that she's a queer character- she wears a pride button and the ending reveals she's dating a girl in college. Part of her character arc is wanting to find people who will understand and accept her, and while this mostly has to do with Katie's filmmaking passion and creativity, the movie implies she also took some time to figure out her sexuality and feel comfortable with herself. It's wonderful to see a main lesbian character in a popular film meant for younger audience- while there's recently been more representation in animated media, the vast majority of it is still side characters, not protagonists. This is also probably the first animated production I've seen that has rainbow flags showing a character's identity- not only the pride button Katie wears, but also a flag in her room visible in several scenes.

Character: Danny the Street

From: Doom Patrol

Representation: Genderqueer

Their Importtance: Danny is a living and sentient street who can magically and seamlessly place themself in landscapes and cities at will, without any disruption to their surroundings. Danny is canonically genderqueer and the flag on the flagpole on Danny is the nonbinary flag. The heart of Danny that keeps them going is “the perpetual cabaret” a drag club/kareoke bar that is always open and bustling with life by the many inhabitants of Danny (The Dannyzens). Danny uses LED signs, smoke in the wind and leaves in the ground, Etc... to spell out letters to communicate and talk to the people visiting them, they’re super welcoming and loving and adores to learn about all the new people coming to them. Danny transports themself around plopping in in all kinds of places and picks up the outcasts of the world, LGBT people, people of color, disabled people, anyone seen as “not normal” or a minority and gives them a home to express themself as they want without shame.

Character: Cliff Steele

From: Doom Patrol

Representation: Physical disability, depression, anxiety (possibly) 

Their Importance: Cliff lost his head in a car accident and his brain was put into a robot body where he can only see and hear. He can’t feel touch, smell or taste (or eat anymore) When he first awoke in this new body he was told his wife and daughter died in the accident too and became depressed for years just standing by a window not moving or talking. He slowly came out of his shell again and began to interact with the other Doom Patrol members. He had to relearn how to walk and move properly without his sense of touch/force. There is a great scene where he basically has physical therapy and has to learn how to walk up stair and he uses the memory of him teaching his young daughter how to walk on stairs from all those years ago to get it right. He also learns how much stronger he is now and can rip people apart. Another member, Jane, sees this and becomes frightened because of her trauma with strong adult males and he needs to learn how to control himself as well as his ‘easy to anger’ temper. Cliff becomes anxious easily and swear and yells to himself and others in stressful situations.