Media portrayals of bisexuality
The portrayals of
, and other mediums.Bisexuality is a sexual orientation that refers to the romantic and/or sexual attraction towards people of more than one gender (historically towards men and women). Bisexual characters have been featured in animation and anime for years. Despite this representation, "not all queer presentation" is created equal as one scholar noted, with representation of bisexual and transgender characters lagging behind lesbians and gay men in some respects,[1] with this representation important in the U.S. political climate while GLAAD called for Hollywood to produce more films with LGBTQ characters.[2][3]
Film
In a 2002 report analyzing bisexuality in various mediums, specifically movies, television, and music,
In 2005, the site Out Films, listed 10
In 2018, the
In February 2020,
In September 2020, Zachary Zane and Adrianna Freedman concluded in an article in
In December 2020, Apoorva Nijhara examined bisexuality in
Live-action television
In 2003,
In 2015, Eliel Cruz, in even counting bisexual characters in their annual reports even though "the majority of characters never using the word bisexual." She said the effect of this is that "bisexuals are severely underrepresented in the culture" and are often badly represented, with Drake's character as an "example of what can happen with television producers and writers get our community right."
In 2018,
In 2019, Madison Lennon of
During the HBO special Home Videos stand-up comedian and director Jerrod Carmichael talked about his sexuality, revealing that he has had relationships with both men and women.[19][20]
In 2021, Nerdist writer Marya E. Gates wrote that bisexual representation often featured biphobia, but argued that in the preceding years, representation had both increased and improved, highlighting Hannibal, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Jane the Virgin and Schitt's Creek.[14]
Anime and animated series
Isaiah Jones of CBR, posting during BiWeek in September 2019, explained that throughout anime there have many bisexual characters, all with their own "circumstances and stories relating to their sexuality."[21] Jones then listed ten bisexual characters in anime series, ranging from the late 1990s to the present. This included Utena Tenjou in Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997), Honoka Maki in Kiznaiver (2016), Ranka in Ouran High School Host Club (2006), Yukari Sendou in Rosario + Vampire (2008), Suruga Kanbaru in Monogatari (2009-2012), Pitohui in Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online (2018), Miku Izayoi in Date A Live II (2014), Apollo in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (2015–Present), Ertegun in Carole & Tuesday (2019), and Ash Lynx in Banana Fish (2018). However, Megan Peters of Comic Book stated in 2018 that "Pitohui has never acknowledged her sexual preference," meaning that the canon is "wide open"[22] and some argued that Ertegun is a "massive jerk" and is self-serving.[23][24]
Due to the fact that series creator
In 2020,
In the commentary for Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, the writers describe how they were going to make Stewie discover he was gay but decided to scrap this idea in order to retain Stewie's sexual ambiguity for writing purposes.[38][39] MacFarlane planned for the series' third season to end with Stewie coming out of the closet after a near-death experience.[a] The show's abrupt cancellation, before later continuing, caused MacFarlane to abort these plans, and the episode "Queer Is Stewie?" was produced, but never shown.[40]
The Nickelodeon animated series The Legend of Korra included two bisexual girls as some of its protagonists: Korra and Asami Sato. The two girls are both initially romantically interested in the same man, but after putting their feelings aside, they manage to become friends. Over the course of the series, their relationship is shown growing and developing, and eventually culminates in the final scene, which indicated the start of a romantic relationship between Korra and Asami. The series was lauded for its unprecedented representation of bisexuality in American children's television, as well as its portrayal of a same-sex relationship between bisexual women.[41] The creators later confirmed the intention of the ending scene was to show Asami and Korra becoming a romantic couple.[42][43][44] In the graphic novel The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, which is the sequel to the animated series, Korra and Asami are in a relationship.[45]
Video games
In June 2017, Sean Murray of The Gamer noted that while many video games in the early 2000s have gay characters, bisexuality didn't appear more in games until the 2010s, when "different romance options" are shown.[46]
This included Jacob Frye in
Separate from that, in
Also, in
Radio, podcasts, and web series
Having been created as a radio program in 1937 and transitioning to television in 1952, Guiding Light is the oldest television series in the world to feature bisexual characters; Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera Aitoro. Olivia was introduced in 1999 and Natalia in 2007, with the two women realizing they are bisexual and beginning a relationship in 2008.[47] In 2011, presenter and singer-songwriter Tom Robinson on BBC Radio 4 explored the topic of bisexuality.[48]
There are a few podcasts that have bisexual characters and discuss bisexuality. Bisexuali-tea, hosted by Rin Ryan and Sasha Fernandez, and produced by AWOL at
As of October 2009[
Rager Antinian in Hero Squad: Under the Dragon's Shadow was confirmed to be bi/pan in Episode 6, when he said he was "down for anything" and "very curious" in reference to seducing a male character[55] while the series KTHNXBI[56] follows the daily lives of two bisexual individuals: Ben and Emily and Vax'ildan in Critical Role was confirmed by Liam O'Brien as bisexual in a Q&A[57] and Allura Vysoren by Matthew Mercer on Talks Machina.[58] Also, Panic Grimtongue and Greckles Birdman in The Unexpectables are bisexual. Panic is depicted as having multiple love interests, primarily male. Greckles is shown having attraction to the character Remy Corbeau. Both characters hired male and female escorts in episode 26.[59]
Music
In 2003,
Literature
Donald E. Hall on the now-defunct
...the discourse on sexuality has rewidened since the mid-twentieth century so that validation for bisexuals is no longer impossible to locate in literature and social movements. Conceptualizations in the 1990s of a broad notion of a "queer" identity...have been welcomed by many in the subsumed communities, even as others have resisted any revision in the narrower, binarized notions of identity...But simplistic designations of all human beings as fundamentally heterosexual or homosexual are clearly as oppressive toward some people as institutionalized homophobia has been toward gays and lesbians...in recognizing the unique interests of the bisexual community, as well as the numerous ways such interests intersect with those of the gay and lesbian communities, we can come to a better understanding of social history and the rich heritage of literary traditions and representations that counter heterosexism and challenge the narrow, tradition-bound, and oppressive categories through which society identifies and thereby judges people.[68]
The wending "discourse of sexuality" and improved bisexual representation was reflected in novels such as John Glassco's Fetish Girl (1972),[69][70] Jane Ransom's novel, Bye-Bye,[71] Tom Perrotta's Little Children,[72] Seanan McGuire's October Daye novels,[73][74] Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire,[75] and Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword. Kusher, on a post on her Tumblr confirmed one of the novel's characters as bisexual.[76]
Comics
Comic books and webcomics have featured numerous bisexual characters over the years. This includes characters such as
Wonder Woman was confirmed as bisexual in a September 2016 interview with comic book writerIn 2020, a new Guardians of the Galaxy comic from Marvel portrayed the character Peter Quill, otherwise known as Star-Lord, as in a "polyamorous bisexual relationship."[86] CNET further stated that Valkyrie is another bisexual woman in Marvel comics and will be "portrayed as bisexual on screen" in the upcoming "Thor: Love and Thunder" film.
Notes
- Leviticusfrom being written: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination.' But we decided it's better to keep it vague, which makes more sense because he's a one-year-old. Ultimately, Stewie will be gay or a very unhappy repressed heterosexual."
See also
- Biphobia
- The Bisexual Option
- Bi the Way
- Bisexual lighting
- List of bisexuals
- LGBT stereotypes
- Media portrayal of lesbianism
- Media portrayals of transgender people
- Media portrayal of asexuality
- Media portrayal of pansexuality
- Media portrayal of LGBT people
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Further reading
- Bryant, Wayne M.. Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee. Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies, 1997. ISBN 1-56023-894-1
- Thomas Geller's Bisexuality: A Reader and Sourcebook (1990)
External links
- Bisexuality in Media: A Dangerous Game of Telephone by Samantha Newsom
- Journal of Bisexuality
- Lee Wind's blogsite, "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?," lists, summarizes, and offers reader reviews of 4 books with Bisexual Teen Characters and Themes
- The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television – Excerpt by Maria San Filippo