In new media today, film and tv have done an excellent job presenting through the queer-lens, ultimately increasing exposure of the queer lifestyle to our society. For example, I movie “Love Simon” which was based on the book “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli, depicted the story of a boy, Simon, who is a closeted teen being blackmailed for his sexuality. Not only does the film include new media such as app platforms (Instagram and Twitter), current music (at the time of its production), slang, clothing, and more, but includes the queer-lens as the main POV amongst the ever-changing, fast pace, aspects of everyday life. While one does not need to identify as queer themselves, I feel that this film and book did a great job fostering empathy, understanding, and commonality through Simon’s story and “life”. This movie got two Teen Choice Awards, hence its influence on youth in our society.
Additionally, beyond film, I have also encountered new expressions of Queer through media influencers from Youtube, Podcasts, and famous artists. One example of this was through the top charts podcast “Call Her Daddy”. This lifestyle podcast hosted by Alexandra Cooper features celebrity guests to co-host episodes weekly. One episode guest-starred Miley Cyrus. Miley Cyrus, who is commonly known to once be “Hannah Montana”, has now extremely shifted her look and influence as a much more open person. On the show, she notes her sexuality as being someone open to anything. She says, “I love people, I love who I love”. Miley Cyrus had a heavy influence on many people in their youth as the peppy blonde pop superstar she played on the show, and the inclusion, especially presented through her actual voice, helps push toward the “Queer OS” that Tongson mentions in the chapter. Exposure to queer perspectives and lenses, especially through society’s biggest influencers, will encourage others to explore, understand, further accept, and appreciate the queer media.
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I completely agree with that last line. I feel like the more inclusive media portrayals become; as in the more representation being cast results in a more open-minded audience. Growing up in an age of inclusivity, I feel like our generation has had if not the most, a large portion of this century’s exposure to things seen as “taboo,” “sinful,” or outright “disgraceful.” With queer-ness being one of those, I feel like the exposure and representation that identity has is a production of not only queer identity, however also the complexities such as discrimination, prejudice, etc. I think it’s important to note that the growth in representation and exposure results in a more connected and acceptive audience to queer media, which you greatly explained.
Although I agree that a movie like Love Simon is a step in the right direction in terms of queer representation in media, the movie is not without its critics. One criticism I have heard is that in order to appeal to a larger market the main character of Simon is written to be very similar to a protagonist we might see in a straight coming of age teenage love story. Basically, the movie isn’t diving much into queer culture and instead creating a movie that can be lauded as amazing representation without making the larger straight audience uncomfortable at all. I think this speaks to the larger issue of companies often including representation not out of a desire to tell unique and varied stories, but because it can help them rake in more money. Here is a link further explaining this concept: https://amherstwire.com/23418/entertainment/love-simon-a-queer-movie-for-straight-eyes/