cable girl

holywood

anne with an e

elisa & marcella (it’s a movie)

high seas

Being a pretty experienced viewer, I often find myself thinking about the significance of tv-representation. The process of shaping into the person I am today would never have the same result without countless tv-series, shows and movies I stumbled upon on the way. Media space is a place that can be not only entertaining, but also educational. By educational here I don’t necessarily mean academic knowledge, I’m talking about every day-life skills and widening world perception. Learning how to live in peace with ourselves and with other people is a true secret of a happy life. That’s why it is important use media with a purpose to remind people about the past, educate about today and show possible consequences in the future.

I tried to highlight the reasons why I believe TV-representation has significant relevance nowadays. Firstly, watching TV or videos happens to be the most common way of spending leisure time among kids, teenagers and youngsters. Since it requires minimum activity it is the easiest possible way to relax and stay entertained at once. Secondly, TV has the biggest potential to turn boring topics into something relatable and exciting by creating interesting characters, breath-taking plots, using popular audio-tracks and eye-catching sceneries. The last but not the least important reason is being able to change people’s world-views or opinions towards the represented issue or make people feel accepted and okay with themselves by relatable content.

In my opinion, such theme should only be discussed and explained via examples of tv-representation. Here I’m going to display only a few series that I either found to be great representatives of particular social issues or social groups or breaking irrelevant and toxic stereotypes.

(SPOILER ALLERT! + Everything I state below is exclusively my own perception of those series and everyone is completely free to agree or disagree.)

 1. GREY’S ANATOMY (2005- )

I’ve been a huge fan of this medical show since 2014 and the there are quite a few issues represented throughout 16 seasons that aired in a period from 2005 to this year. In my opinion, the most important part of the show is representation of feminism. Development of the main character – Meredith Grey is fascinating. She has turned from an insecure intern into a surgeon with a world-known name and a head of general surgery in the Grey-Sloan hospital in Seattle. Alongside with Meredith there are plenty of amazing women working as surgeons and heads of departments in GSH. Moreover, the chief of surgery currently is also a woman! In this show both men and women not only dream big, but also have an opportunity to turn their dreams into reality. Grey’s Anatomy has a huge impact on young girls and boys all over the world as it inspires them to become doctors. Every day is a beautiful day to save lives, I believe.

 2. TOY BOY (2019 - )

This show is my recent but no less valuable discovery. Dictionary defines «toy boy» as a young man who is having a sexual relationship with an older woman – used humorously. The main character of this show, Hugo, has been put in prison for the crime he did not commit. After 7 years in prison he is determined to prove his innocence with a help of a young lawyer – Triana while getting back to his work as a stripper in a bar alongside with his best friends: Ivan, German and Jairo. While watching this show I pointed out a few topics that the attention of viewers is clearly supposed to be drawn to. Firstly, male stripping and prostitution. It is important to remember that not only women choose to do this professionally and that it is completely fine as long as you enjoy it and stay mentally in a good place. Every job has its struggles and we can see the ups and downs of being a male-stripper on this show. Secondly, thanks-thanks-thanks a lot to writers for representing a disabled person. One of the key-characters – Jairo is mute. And he receives nothing but support and appreciation for being who he is, never being treated differently by his friends. It doesn’t in any way diminish him as a person. I consider Jairo to be the most loving, accepting and understanding character that makes him truly likable to the viewers. His relationships with Andrea, who was raped as a child and grew up to be really introverted and shy, is the most precious thing to be seen on this show. The way Jairo and Andrea were able to bond over their struggles and the way they found comfort in each other is a great example of something beautiful coming out of something dark and uncomfortable. The other important topic is domestic violence and rape. The phenomena of being sexually assaulted is horrible on its own, while being sexually assaulted by your relative, by your ankle is terrifying. Andrea represents all those kids and teenagers whose mental health was completely destroyed by people who were supposed to care for them. I’m glad that «Toy Boy» found a way to show how it can get better even when it seems like it never will.

 3. HOUSE OF FLOWERS (2018 – 2020)

The time has come to talk about traditional values clashing with being who you are and feeling good as a person. This show is a story about a dysfunctional upper-class Mexican family that own a prestigious floristry shop and a struggling cabaret, both called «The House of Flowers». The story features plenty of amazing LGBTQ+ characters such as María José Riquelme Torres – transgender woman, Diego Olvera – gay man, Julián de la Mora – bisexual man, Paulina de la Mora – pansexual woman (not straightforwardly stated in the series, but I clocked her as one) and Patricio "Pato" Lascuráin – gay man. Firstly, I like how gracefully and accurately the line between gender and sexuality was treated on this show. When Maria Hose comes out as a trans woman she doesn’t stop loving her wife. She doesn’t change, she just gets closer to looking the way she has felt for a long time, if not her whole life. That’s it with trans people, I believe, coming out and the transitioning process is never actually about changing, it’s about getting the outside to match the inside that has always been there. I also adore how Paulina loved Maria Hose for the personality and not for the gender. Hands down vote for them together as the best couple on the show. Secondly, I would very much like to comment on conversion therapy part featuring Diego and Patricio being a victim of horrible hate crime. Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions. Sadly, it is still being practiced these day even though various jurisdictions around the world have passed laws against conversion therapy. Diego, a gay man, wants to have a kid so much and also earn the acceptance of his homophobic parents, he agrees on being put in a place where it is promised to turn him straight. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t change his sexual orientation but makes him suffer through the whole experience. In the end, he stands up to his parents and faces them alongside with his fiancé, Julian. He realizes that loving himself and being happy is more important than being accepted by someone who doesn’t really care about his well-being. Also, family is about people loving and supporting each other and never about following «traditional» gender-roles. Conversion therapy has no proof to be helpful in the sense of changing sexuality, but is totally effective at making people mentally unstable and self-hating so they are unable to develop any healthy relationships in the future. Talking about hating yourself, another closeted character - Agustín Corcuera is a great example. He grew up with his head filled with toxic stereotypes and fully dependent on social opinion. That’s why his desire for a loving, outgoing and open about his sexuality Patricio had horrible consequences. A hate crime is defined as a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or race. Agustin was clearly mesmerized by the way Patricio couldn’t care less about what people around him had to say, but he was also scared of that. It made me upset that Patricio loved Agustin a little to much to notice how much the guy hated even the thought of people considering him to be anything other than straight. One night at the New Year party in 1970 Patricio was beaten to death by Agustin himself and his homophobic friends - that’s how much Agustin was scared of accepting himself and admitting he had feelings for Patricio in front of his friends, just enough to take away another person’s right to live. The last words Patricio said to Agustin before receiving that one last punch was «I love you», which makes the scene even more terrifying than it could have been.  The absurdity of love facing hate like that, the horror of murdering love with hate, hate not only directed towards the victim, but also towards Augustin himself. Self-hate happens to be extremely dangerous not only to the particular person, but also to their surroundings. This is the example of what the self-oppression and the lack of ability to love yourself in the first place can lead to and it is awful.

 4. HOLLYWOOD (2020)

The show that rewrote the history and we were all completely there for it! The show about people being brave and following their dreams despite it being truly dangerous. This story is inspiring for all people cause the most important thing to learn from this show is that it doesn’t matter where you come from, what you background is, no matter what color your skin is or what your sexuality is – it should never stop you from dreaming. All those things should never make you feel like you don’t stand a chance, that you’re not worth it, that you’re less valuable. What actually means a lot is your personality, your talent and determination to go all the way. I was blown away by literally every single character in this show. I admire Raymond Ainsley for not giving up on representation in his movie. I admire Camille Washington for not giving up her right to be treated the same as other actresses. I admire Archie Coleman for being brave and showing that true success never depends on anything but talent. I admire Richard Samuels for always staying unbiased and finding the courage to be himself truly. I admire Avis Amberg for standing up for the right values and using her power is the most honorable way there was. I didn’t mention all of the characters, but every single one of them has their own story and something to teach the viewer.

 5. COMMUNITY (2009-2015)

And now you're gay. She's gay. He's gay. They're gay. Anyone could be gay... you never know.

women are baby making golddiggers that go crazy because of men hurting them.