LGBTQ Within Media
[Intro]
Representation in any form of media can be good without using any type of stereotype. But bad representation of people will both show off something that people won’t enjoy or add more onto a list of why they can be a bad thing to show off. Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community is something that is still attacked at but not as much as back in the past well in some countries. But representation in the media is something that can hopefully normalize it for the section that doesn't think anyone of the LGBTQ+ is anything but their sexuality. These current times have shown a lot of changes to the expressiveness of one’s gender or art. Personally I think having good representation within the community would help people both understand and normalize it for others. Though it won’t change everyone's opinions but anything like body dysmorphia or anything of the ladder would help people understand it better. But it will also have players not feel as alienated within society no matter their age and have another role model to follow as they continue to live life.
Gone Home is a linear story that follows the journal entries of Samantha Greenbriar and her journey through high school in 1994. You play as Katie Greenbriar (Samantha’s older sister) after coming back from studying abroad to the new home her family moved into when she left. But once she gets there no one is there to greet her. Then you begin to play the game as Katie and begin to explore around the house to find out what happened while she was away. Samantha starts her story off by wanting to make friends with a senior named Lonnie. It continues to describe their intimate friendship and Samantha’s confused feelings about Lonnie. Then they both agree that they are infatuated with one another and begin to date secretly. Once Samantha's parents find out they begin to react in disbelief that it was a “phase” or she hasn’t found the right guy yet. To then lead to the thing of her parents went on vacation with one another and Lonnie stopping at Salem and going with Lonnie and driving away from their home town.
Obviously, not all stories go like this most of the time considering the type of family would treat their children once given the news. But the confusing feelings and sprouting spark can be something very relatable to almost any person when they sooner or later fall in love. Even common things that people would normally do would be something big for another person because of how much they love them. But these kids as they grow might have to hide their relationship to some because of how people treat them. In one of Samantha’s entries, she questions Lonnie’s reaction to the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell rule. When Lonnie herself would stand up to anyone homophobic at school and intimidate them. But Lonnie just reacts with “they don’t have to know about what they don’t need to know''. Which confused Samantha because of how she knows Lonnie and the fact that Lonnie wouldn’t normally say that. But that is how a lot of people would react because they didn’t want more problems on their plate. But it does have a good representation of how one feels when falling in love be it different actions and events.
Like this, there are even some characters with good representations and sometimes some games with bad representations about it. One good one is Dorian from Dragon Age Inquisition which is a male-only romanced character. His backstory goes in the sense that his parents end up sending him to a person who practices blood magic to “help” Dorian. In this relatedness to real life what his parents did was exactly what other parents did once they found out about their children's sexuality. Which some send them to conversion camps and those types of camps aren’t really the greatest. But the emotion one feels that their own parents want to convert something that is a part of them is something that players see with Dorian and usually feel bad for him. But it also defines why he loathes his father for doing such a thing. He also questions why do people care about his sexuality when it shouldn’t matter. Which he says it’s true, why would people care about what you do in private?
A bad representation can also be counted as overly stereotypical or sometimes queer baiting. Which queer baiting is a way making it seem like a queer storyline or relationship or misrepresentation which tricks the consumer to what they were looking at. So something for example in Fire Emblem Three houses we have characters Alois and Gilbert. When you reach S-Rank with them you get the “close friend” ending where you wouldn’t be able to marry them and instead marry another gendered character. Not only was that a bad thing one of them was a husband with children which if it turned out another way it would end up making the character a homewrecker. Which a lot of stereotypes sometimes include that in the list other than the flamboyant characterization of a male character. Another queer bait-like argument from another person is the story of Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4. They as a character struggled with their gender representation. But once you begin to recruit them after defeating their dungeon they come to terms with it by what the writer classifies as a false sense of dysphoria.
https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/2020/07/01/byleth-pairings-and-controversy-in-fire-emblem-three-houses/
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