The Symbiotic Relationship between Researchers, Storytellers, and Gen Z in Authentically Representing LGBTQ+ Youth
Media has the power to shape our communities, and that is especially important when we look at the representation of historically marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community. The ideas and beliefs contained in media content, both positive and negative, directly impact audience attitudes about the world around them. When featuring queer adolescent characters, it’s essential to listen to the perspectives of today’s teens and young adults and create stories that implement the real change and representation they want to see in their communities. In a cycle of listening, creating, and learning, storytellers, adolescents, and researchers can and should collaborate to create authentic depictions of LGBTQ+ adolescents that inspire and positively impact audiences.
Sheena Brevig, a filmmaker and the Workshop Director for the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS), draws from her own experiences as a queer person to foster more accurate representation of LGBTQ+ communities in film and television. Whether it be through facilitating workshops for large entertainment companies or working on smaller film projects, often in collaboration with other queer creators, she “really believes in the power of storytelling to break down walls and foster conversations that might be hard to have.”
For Brevig, the most beautiful part of this is creating projects that others can watch and relate to, find bits of themselves in, and serve as parallel experiences for the queer community.
“It’s about increasing visibility for the queer community as well as breaking down stigma. Particularly in queer communities of color and in my case, Asian and Japanese queer communities.”
For instance, Brevig’s LGBTQ+ Identities workshops have created vulnerable moments of sharing and healing between strangers.
“People end up sharing really vulnerable things and it seems to be somewhat cathartic, or it seems to start a conversation for the company on their end. We have played the role of this unique kind of start-the-conversation-space.”
Brevig and her team have even worked to tackle areas often not addressed when considering diversifying media landscapes, like the gaming industry. In collaboration with Activision Blizzard King Gaming, Brevig ran one of the most interactive workshops to support the breaking of old patterns and toxic representations of gender. The Body Diversity Workshop, which ran in collaboration with Warner Media explored “body-type diversity, representation, and character creation. It was something every single person in the audience could relate to, it doesn’t matter what gender you are or how old you are.”
Many industries and companies stick to stale tactics of performative LGBTQ+ representation – like adding rainbow colors to their company’s logo for Pride Month – and think it achieves the impact queer youth are asking for. In actuality, these are tiny changes that check a box but do not appease the greater audience who want more acknowledgment and action. These audience demands are long overdue and Brevig encourages the calling out of companies that have not completely embraced this wave of much-needed change.
“The queer community is critical of what they’re seeing and they want to feel represented, they will call out things that are through a heteronormative lens. ”
It is not just about quantity but quality of representation, for example expanding past just the gay white male lens and including all queer communities. This pursuit for intentional content that creates a genuinely positive impact is one of the best outcomes of Brevig’s workshops. They unify and inspire others to learn from her team’s guidance and plant seeds of change wherever they go.
Clearly, the impact is evident, with people who participated in CSS’ workshops applying learned empathy to shows and movies they create. After attending the workshops, Tim Federle, the showrunner for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a show that ran on Disney Channel starting in 2019, was able to bring a fresh awareness and perspective to the writers' room when developing his diverse cast of queer characters. “It was a really full circle moment where I saw how the workshops we put on were applied. As a viewer, I saw how much I could reap the benefits of seeing this more inclusive and more accurately, authentically representative content,” said Brevig.
For Nare Aghadjanian, a rising sophomore at UCLA, who identifies as queer and fights for queer rights every day, seeing shows like High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and other recently diversified shows is something she has a personal stake in. For Aghadjanian, feeling safe and represented is equally about a physical and digital environment.
At UCLA she says that at first she “wasn’t expecting to feel as safe being out as queer at [school] as [much as she] ended up being.” But Aghadjanian found a community.
“There was a Pride Admit Weekend that I attended online that made me feel really glad about going to LA for school, I knew that no matter what I would always have a community, and after being surrounded by a lot of homophobia that led to major mental health issues, it was a breath of fresh air to see the resource center and queer groups at UCLA. ”
Digital and intangible representation is just as important and impactful and Aghadjanian fiercely highlighted all the negativity and misrepresentation that is not being addressed. “I see so much racism, misogyny, transphobia, sexualization, and ableism.” She echoes the need to break free of the heteronormative patterns industries have fallen into, saying how mainstream movies and novels only focus on what makes them comfortable rather than what actually incites change. “When aiming for representations of marginalized groups it’s important actually to have it represent the general public - these movies shouldn’t be focused on the sexual aspect or just be one big coming out story.”
Nuanced storytelling is what Aghadjian is fighting for and she encourages every young, eager queer person to fight for it too. “I hope one day queer representation will turn towards actual representation and not just be a glorification of a white gay man, even if that representation is critical as well,” she said. The amplification of voices like hers is another step industries, researchers and creators alike should take, expanding their hearts to listen and implement what the youth actually feel.
“Queer people are not just a coming out story or solely experience violence, there should be an incorporation of all love.”
The benefit is nothing if not a win-win, allowing audiences to feel more seen, reflecting the world as it really is, and allowing studios to find more success and respect in the industry.
Research is the root of all this change and communication between researchers and creators is the conduit to representation that reflects the truth of queer stories and real-lived experiences. Adriana Manago, Ph.D., a cultural development psychologist, has been researching LGBTQ+ adolescents and the power of social media. She’s found that social media was not an obstacle but a tool for LGBTQ+ kids to explore themselves and use the language of the Internet to develop their queer identities in a place full of community and validation.
“There are three key navigational strategies on social media for engaging with cultural narratives for gender and sexuality on social media platforms: seeking and sharing information, creating queer community, and making choices about visibility and permanence.”
By engaging in all of these activities, LGBTQ+ teens can branch past the restrictive definitions of gender that Manago said are part of the hard-to-break rigidity of youth identity development. More than anything, a supportive environment whether digital or family-based is key to offering the honest and authentic space LGBTQ+ teens need to feel understood and represented in the media they are consuming.
“LGBTQ+ community is not a monolith. My students and I have examined variations in social media use and consequences depending on family contexts and intersections between gender, sexual, and ethnic identities. In these studies, we are finding that LGBTQ+ youth who have more supportive families and who provide resources for exploration and validation are less likely to rely on social media to understand and construct the self.”
Being proactive and utilizing the various intersecting identities of individuals to initiate change is one of the most important and beautiful tools of research. LGBTQ+ teens are using social media to find a safe space and to understand themselves, and so perhaps if creators understand this intimate need for a space to grow, this quest will be satiated much sooner. If Brevig’s comments and Aghadjian’s input are taken to heart, compounded with the robust research of psychologists like Manago, real change is on the horizon and this Pride Month brings us one step closer to it.
Wonder Woman 1984: When Lack of Diversity Makes Wonder Woman Lose Her Wonder
If you were to ask the typical moviegoer who is the first female superhero you think of, chances are they would say Wonder Woman. While other female superheroes do exist (say Catwoman or Storm for example), they often take a backseat to the male protagonist, serving as a romantic interest or cliche rather than as a nuanced, complicated character. So when Wonder Woman came out in 2017, it provided a much-needed breath of fresh air in an overly saturated male-centric superhero genre. Seeing Princess Diana in her native land with her sister warriors of Themyscira by her side inspired millions of girls around the world, telling them that they too could be the heroes of their own story.
But while Wonder Woman (2017) pushed the boundaries of representation and diversity forward, its sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, failed to break new ground, sacrificing the empowering plot of its predecessor for empty spectacle. And the consequences were considerable. While Wonder Woman (2017) boasted a B Mediaversity rating, 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and 76 Metascore, Wonder Woman 1984 suffered from a measly C- Mediversity rating, 59% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and 60 Metascore. So what went wrong?
Where Wonder Woman 1984 Went Wrong
The film opens with a breathtaking flashback sequence, showing a pivotal moment in the life of young Diana, years before she’d become Wonder Woman. As she competes against fellow Amazons twice her size and age in feats of strength and skill, a perfect euphony of swift camerawork, quick editing, and an epic score fills the screen. The scene showcases Diana’s fearlessness and teaches her the virtue that truth triumphs over deception. Unfortunately, the rest of the film pales in comparison, whether it be in visual cohesion, story structure, or emotional impact.
To start things off, the film treats Barbara, Diana’s coworker at the Smithsonian Institution, as a two-dimensional plot device that reduces her to the strange girl trope. The two bond over a meal discussing how they fit in society, but beside that, Barbara’s role in the film becomes apparent: so Diana can have a big (poorly rendered) CGI fight with a physically imposing antagonist in the third act that seemingly every superhero film has. Considering the lack of nuanced female friendships in superhero films, it’s a shame that the screenwriters favored a heterosexual romance with Steve Trevor rather than exploring a potential relationship between Diana and Barbara, especially given that Wonder Woman is canonically bisexual in the comics. This was a perfect opportunity to represent the LGBTQ+ community that has been historically underrepresented, particularly within the superhero genre.
Instead, the film relies on what we are used to in superhero films, a heteronormative relationship in which the superhero’s purpose is based on their partner. Romance has the potential to be resonating and meaningful, but in Wonder Woman 1984, it feels forced and undeserved, especially given the context of how Steve sacrificed himself in Wonder Woman (2017). Diana’s abilities are regained only when she learns to let go of Steve, and there’s something deeply depressing and illogical about a female superhero whose identity is intertwined so much with a man that she is willing to lose her powers for him. Also, what is going on with the man whose body has been magically overtaken by Steve? Does he have a family or a job? Is he in the white man’s sunken place? Doesn’t Diana, who is supposed to be a beacon of truth and morality, find the notion of Steve inhabiting another man’s body problematic? The plot could have focused on this as the consequence of Diana’s wish, as it would have been much more thematically resonating for her to struggle with choosing her moral code over her love for Steve.
And that begs another question, why doesn’t Diana miss her Amazon sisters or her mentor who inspired her to believe in truth in the opening scene? Wonder Woman (2017) devoted the entire first act to the Amazons, portraying them as warriors, politicians, caregivers, and complex women with nuanced relationships. It set the standard for a feminist plot that didn’t pander to its audience but empowered them. The sequel would have benefitted from furthering this story arc by venturing deeper into Paradise Land, home of the Amazons of Themyscira. Instead, it takes place in a mostly white D.C., even though the city has been majority-Black since the 1950s and white residents made up just 26% of the population in 1984. It also relies on a banal plot device in a stone that can grant wishes, which seems more like a lazy deus ex-machina. rather than something original and exciting. Diana’s wish doesn’t cause a chain of events that lead to her losing her powers, they just magically disappear as a tradeoff for the sake of the plot and theme.
Lastly, I want to talk about the theme of the film: truth. Wonder Woman 1984 bashes the viewer in the head with this theme through dialogue that lacks subtlety and relies heavily on telling the audience rather than showing them. Its connection with the main plot seems incoherent at worst and passable at best, reducing the complex issue of longing for what you don’t have into something that is black and white (reminiscent of Kendall Jenner “solving racism” by handing a police officer a Pepsi) rather than addressing class differences and social/economic inequality. Barbara wants to be cool and confident so that she can become likable, but must stay a nerd because if she wishes to be like Diana then she becomes a cheetah? That just seems cruel and anti-feminist. And the film’s solution of Diana magically convincing the entire world to stop being greedy over the span of a painfully ignorant monologue was as tone-deaf as when Gal Gadot sang “Imagine.” The world may be beautiful if you’re a gorgeous Amazon superhero, but for most people, telling people to put rose-colored glasses over their terrible situation is patronizing. I’m sure the filmmakers’ intentions were in the right place, but the execution of the theme was mediocre and is obviously pandering to today’s political climate, sacrificing its authenticity in the process.
Why It Matters
You might be thinking, why do all of these things matter, can’t Wonder Woman 1984 solely be based on entertainment value? While I would argue the film doesn’t even meet that quota, we as a society cannot settle for mediocrity. And from a financial standpoint, there is a great benefit to having authentically inclusive representation. Yes, there is content that represents underrepresented communities in a profound way, but there’s still a huge room for improvement before we can get complacent. Very few films have the audience and reach that the Wonder Woman banner has, which is why it’s so important that the film, along with movies that have similar platforms, empower underrepresented communities instead of kicking them to the curb. Yes, there will be bumps and bruises along the way, but that’s to be expected with generational long-lasting change. The late great novelist James Baldwin put it best, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Take risks as creatives and challenge the status quo, and then just maybe Wonder Woman can have a shot at getting back her wonder.
Actionable Insights
Take tests like the Race in Entertainment Media (R.E.M.) Test to help evaluate Authentically Inclusive Representation in your content.
Use your platform to empower underrepresented communities instead of avoiding them in your film.
Hire more women and POC in behind-the-scenes positions who can incorporate their lived experience into the plot, otherwise, their characters’ storylines may lack authenticity or even be depicted as raceless.
Write characters that defy both negative and positive stereotypes to help prevent prejudice and discrimination.
Showcase stories that are authentically diverse, as meaningful representation consists of more than simply casting women and people of color.
CSS Intern
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this blog belong solely to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers.