Black Queer Romance Is Dead...
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- queer love stories, and why we've yet to get a true POC love story
🌟 subscribe: / imurgency
📸 instagram: / imurgency
🕺 tiktok: / imurgency
👾 twitch: / imurgency
🤖 discord: / discord
🐦 twitter: / imurgency
🫂 channel membership: / @imurgency
Hey Rummates, today we're talking about representation, and, more specifically, why Hollywood sucks at writing Queer POC love stories. Let's talk about it!
Timestamps:
0:00 intro
1:27 history of queer media
3:52 the state of queer characters in media
6:22 what is the problem with this?
9:46 the few examples of poc love
11:15 what I want for the future
#imurgency #commentary #hollywood #lgbt
I just want a Black queer show that is free of trauma and the characters being themselves. I want to see two Black queer characters specifically dark skin loving each other out loud. Why is that so hard to ask??
That part
Because many people including many of us black folks think only of black struggle. Instead of giving us a great example of black relationships whether it's LGBT or hetero. They're also OBSESSED with interracial relationships instead of black with black relationships. Not that there's anything wrong with interracial just show more black couples together more often.
Give me like a year. I'm writing that book now
@@ville__science disagrees with you take, bozo.
@@ville__😩😩😩
I just have to say it-but the representation/stories for the girls who like girls-it’s even worse!!! It’s hard to find gxg rep/stories, and it’s even HARDER to find girl x girl representation/stories involving woc!!! Especially us black and brown girls 😭
Us black sapphics are in the trenches!!!
FR
yeah everyone is excited about that movie with Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel but I'm not excited... especially with how white queers masculinize black women.
frr and when we get wlw representation, it's either a sad period drama or it gets cancelled
I hated when they cancelled first kill because the girls chemistry was so good and me as a black gay guy never dove into lesbian shows but that one was interesting especially since it had a supernatural element to it which I also liked. So sad it’s cancelled
As queer black person who has never date a yt person. This phenomenon has been glaringly clear to me. Like why are the queer love interests for queer poc in media ALWAYS white? 😂
aint nobody would voluntarily choose to date m m men @@ville__ 🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤢
@@daddysfavorite1721 Ignore them, they are a troll that goes around to youtube videos about queer shows and content typing this. Don't feed them.
they want the white and black audience to feel represented I guess to attract everybody to the show
@@___Somebody___ two black characters is not palatable for white audiences
Truthfully, white viewers drive the numbers for these shows. So they make it interracial for diversity points and to keep their main viewers feeling represented. I unfortunately cannot see a show with two black men/women drawing in large numbers. Now the question is why general audiences don’t watch shows with two black main characters? Inthink at that point it becomes a “black show” which comes with several connotations about the quality of the show. (I’ll be real, a lot to black media simply isn’t very well written. Like it’s even worse than the junky white ones people binge in a day)
I will say that I’m very much over black queer characters only being paired up with white characters and the white characters being given more attention in the story. Prime example: Devon and Jake from the Chucky series; outside of being Jake’s boyfriend, Devon has no character outside of that.
Devon wanted to be a cop/detective like his mom. Whatever happened with that goal of his? 🤔
Agreed 👍
Now that u mention it, I feel like this also applies to Tara and Darcy from heartstopper as well. Neither of them get much screen time in the books, but in the TV show, we see more of what Darcys home life looks like and how that affects her. Hopefully we'll see more screen time given to Tara in the next season, but this is definitely something to think about when consuming queer stories with poc in them
@@lavender4658we def see way more Tara in season 1 and basically no darcy that season.
LITERALLY?? LIKE WHY EVERYTIME THERES A QUEER POC THEY ALWAYS PUTTING THEM WITH A WHITE PERSON😭💀 like it’s so annoying and I’m getting tired of itt
The black heartstopper is a webtoon called daybreak 👀💃🏻 Y’all go run that up so we can have a Netflix show in 4 years thanks 👯♂️👯♂️
Thanks for the recommendation!!
OMG I was about to recommend that before reading this.Oh I am so glad someone else knows this cute story
@@lesedintuli340 AND THE REPRESENTATION WITH OUR MAIN CHARACTER BEING TRANS 😫😫😫
i fucking LOVE daybreak omg
Will do 👌
The backlash the Black Heartstopper would get… OMG. And it’s so sad.
Probably. But that’s what I’m creating and I don’t care. Those who truly want it, will hopefully enjoy it it.
But I would so watch a Black Heartstopper.
Really? Why is that? I would watch!
Noah's ARC
@@galaxylucia1898just because there will be backlash doesn’t mean it isn’t needed. Keep going!
It's a webtoon, but Daybreak is an adorable and happy black queer love story. The main character’s relationship is healthy and wholesome! Highly recommend if you like reading comics.
Im so glad you mentioned Daybreak. It's a nicely written story that has good black queer representation, and overall, the relationship between the two main characters is one of the cutest/ most wholesome I've ever seen.
Daybreak is so wholesome! I hope more people get to discover the webtoon.
🎉🎉🎉Yess Daybreak should be the poster child of wholesome queer webtoons; the rest of the cast also has quite a lot of rep and interesting dynamics going on plus the art is MAJESTIC ❤❤❤
I love Daybreak! CogsxMarcus 4 Ever ♥️
Thanks for the recommendation
the movie « bottoms » also has a main sapphic couple with 2 poc played by Ayo Edebiri and Havana Rose Liu and it doesn’t revolve any trauma it’s so so good, and also the new show « fellow travelers » has a black mlm couple played by Jelani Alladin and Noah J. Ricketts although this one does revolve around trauma, but their story took place in the lavender scare era up until the aids epidemic but despite all that they were the ones who ended up with each other and had the most beautiful relationship, and it really highlights the struggles of being black AND queer in the 50s-80s they did a great job, I wish they had more screentime.
That another problem...they feature us and don't give us enough screentime. I feel this is done as a caution because they don't want to lose ratings but still keep it in there to claim diversity smh
@@thejword0416 Agreed! I can only speak from what I see in the decent amount of representation of poc in media, Hollywood still has a LONG way to go in terms of accurate representation of anyone who’s not a cishet white individual, we’re always side characters but hopefully we can see some improvement in the near future
@@malakelabbadi04 we need people like us to speak up to the writers and directors. It seems the only time that is not needed is when the director and writers are poc. But yea hopefully it gets better in the future.
Bottoms is so good!! I’m definitely going to check out Fellow Travelers. Thanks for the recommendation!
@@filmsquirksbts1132 that’s great I hope you enjoy it!! Prepare some tissues just in case lol
We almost got something beautiful with Eric and Rahim in Sex Education, but of course they went for the tired white self-deprecating gay bully stereotype because why would they ever do something different 😩
The show kept trying to convince us Rahim and Eric had no chemistry when they clearly did. It was hilarious and sad.
LITERALLY!!! Omfg I was so excited for him and then… Crickets. Younger me was like “omg yay” but the other part of me even then was like “but is that it?” Because I was a FIEND for gay love stories and had a hard time finding POC characters in general and then… It was always a white love interest. Honestly the show teasing me with that made me realize that I had never seen a gay black character with anyone else and it really shaped how I originally went into my dating life.
It took me a while to get out of the mindset of “only white guys will like you so go for them” and it took me a LOT of relationships and self-investigation for young me to realize this (until probably 11th grade, which seems ridiculous nowadays)
It started off so nicely too and they actually had really good chemistry on screen….oh well
*Yep! We need more shows like "Noah's Arc" - Both the show & its movie were all about Black Gay love...!!!* 💏🏽
Eric literally broke up with him and went to Nigeria so that relationship with him never happened if you ask me
My argument is, with the exception of indie media that’s specially aimed towards a Black LGBT audience, these media are primarily aimed towards white audiences, especially when the main love interest is white.
Do you have any recommendations?
@@asterismos5451I recommend for the boys here on UA-cam. If you want a sorry that represents black LGBT stories I highly suggest it
@@asterismos5451love @first night
@@asterismos5451slay tv on youtube has some indie short series
Recommendations please
The movie and book Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe is a story of two Mexican American boys who eventually fall in love with each other.
It shows representation of 2 poc finding love and dealing with homophobic ,sexuality and internalized homophobia in the 1980's in El Paso ,Texas
It made me cry run to Amazon prime y'all 🥺❤️🙌🏽
Omg yesss!! I Just finished the second book and I love both sm!! And I'm so excited about the movie coming out soon it's directed by Lin Manuel Miranda lmao
AHH THATS MY FAV BOOK, THE MOVIE IS SO GOODDD
omg yes! thank you for reminding me that this existed! I completely forgot about it! Where can we watch the movie?
I’m a couple minutes in and there are a couple problems. While your argument overall is strong and valid about the lack of 2 party POC queer relationships in mainstream culture, you needed to do more research on early 20th century film representation. The Production Code NEVER supported queer representation or reduced negative portrayal of the queer community. It pretty much stifled all queer representation. The portion you highlighted was talking about portrayals at 2:10 was talking about until the 90s…seen just past the highlight.
In the late 90s you had teen soaps in the US and UK with a gay character. In many shows it became a stunt or a big event: Dawson’s Creek, for example. The Real World always had a queer person, including a season with Pedro who chronicled life as an HIV positive activist and getting into a relationship with a Black man, also HIV+. Then you have Ellen Degeneres headlining her own show and coming out as the character and the creator. Will and Grace and Jack. 2000s brought us Queer As Folk UK/US. Willow coming out in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Queer Eye the Original Version. It was common to have one gay (usually side character) on shows. All the competition reality shows. Not to mention the non-mainstream queer culture with Noah’s Ark & Dante’s Cove. Leaving out all the films and documentaries altogether, that were mainstream adjacent.
Yes, Queer PoC leads were rare in early mainstream queer media and still are today. More queer PoC characters should be centered and studies and creators should stand up against audience backlash. Representation can always be better, but the steps (and the mistakes) aren’t to be forgotten. I don’t mean to jump so hard on this, but I was there for this imperfect but revolutionary period. Thank you for bringing attention to the dearth of Queer PoC characters and relationships, but more research was needed.
And being the old man I am I realize I posted this as a reply to an unrelated comment. 🤦🏻♂️
i agree that western media lacks non-dramatic poc queer representation. That's why when I see asian drama (especially Thai and chinese) with queer main characters, I'm so happy. They are treated as a normal character and not token with over dramatic background stories. But my issue is often they are lightskin and some viewers view them as spicy yt (my perception of some fetishist ) . As a blasian I would also love to see a black on black love story tho.
I love Thai BLs but I've definitely noticed how light most of the characters are and while I've seen half white characters in them I've never seen a half black character in them 😭😭
@@BlackieChan21E Thai people aren't white .. they are poc 💀
omg I literally made a post about this yesterday! I NEED a black lesbian romcom movie with no trauma. I want a regular cute and fun corny romcom. both brown and darkskin lead characters 👏🏾👏🏾 being a black queer woman I really want to see that on screen.
Have you seen “Bottoms”? One of the lesbian/queer couples are Black and Asian! And it’s very much a crazy romcom…
@@galaxylucia1898 yes but I'm talking about them both being black
@@berryjunmill9029Ah gotcha. I know the pickings are slimmer than a slim Jim’s.
Are you interested in only movies and tv shows, or do you like to read fiction novels and comics/graphic novels/manga as well?
@@berryjunmill9029bro wat. 😂I feel they are shows where two black lesbians exist .
I even think lesbians are slightly more represented in the black community than homosexual men and let's not forget how they are more accepted....
@@galaxylucia1898 right now just movies but I do like novels
I just had a struck of motivation to write a book with a black gay couple and I'm like, "Wouldn't it be nice if we had a story where the world didn’t hate them for being gay."
My black gay friend sai, "Good luck with that."
Don’t share ideas with ppl who won’t get what you’re doing. Just write the story that YOU want to read. You’ll be surprised at how much you enjoy making art that fulfills you, not others’ expectations.
I'm so here for it
I’m excited to read it when it’s published😊
That’s exactly why the world needs your story. Good luck!
Notify us when it gets published so we can support the shit out of the story
Although it's not really considered a queer tv show, 9-1-1 has a great lesbian POC couple who both have really fleshed out personalities, and interesting story lines, and they both bring so much to the show (imo). I don't watch much TV but I can easily say it's the only show I've seen with two poc wlm characters.
@@ville__ heard you the first 42 times babe x
They're overshadowed by the white x latino pair that is barely a canon
@@Kaastengels maybe in fandom but iirc they both have pretty similar screen time
@@Kaastengelsi think they meant the LA 911, not lone star. hen x karen
@@oshunbruhee idk, whenever i look up 911 tag its always mucked by their faces when all i wanted was to see metas, spoilers, or just hen x karen posts
I'm thinking of Ayo Edebiri and Havana Rose Liu in Bottoms in sapphic Blasia representation. I liked it but Havana's character is written quite race-neutral. The media flinches from queer same race love interests because they fear LGBT-centered stories automatically alienate some imaginary "mainstream" so they need to broaden the audience with more than one culture. But POC meet in generally single race spaces as well, like churches, clubs, universities. And there seems to be less swirling going on irl than it may seem from the media.
speaking of sapphic blasia being up, don’t forget josie and isabel in bottoms lmao
“Gentefied” on Netflix portrays 2 Latina women in a relationship:) not the best or healthiest but it felt real. The show as a whole is such a fun representation of being Chicano and made me and my fam feel seen
Yes! So sad it was canceled 😞. That scene with young Ana and her gf was everything! I recommend the movie Hearts Out Loud, which has similar vibes.
Imma have to check that out bc I can barely found good Chicano shows with queer characters
That show consistently made me emotional even when it wasn’t intentionally supposed to make me emotional only bc it was so realistic to what Chicano/mexican American life can be and our struggles. Not to mention all the queer brown rep we barely receive. I’m still waiting on a gay cholo love story 😂😭😭
I’m actually reading this book called the Black Queen (which I haven’t finished yet) but the main character is a queer Black girl and has another Black girl love interest. If writers can do it, why can’t shows and movies 😭
What, I just started reading this.
my thing is stories like this DO exist you just have to look for them unfortunately. they may not be as mainstream as heartstopper or young royals but they are definitely out there and need to be watched/supported if you want to see more happy queer stories or just queer stories in general with black and brown leads
There's a webtoon called daybreak that revolves about two trans gay Black boys that fall in love and it's slice of life and cute and I love it
I didn’t know Cog was trans? I know Marcus is. I can’t wait for the next season.
@@andybrie5753cog is no binary
I really enjoyed fellow travelers. It had a really good storyline with two male black queer characters. I’d recommend it tons. Obviously they didn’t do everything correct but it is getting there. However, there is definitely a lot of trauma surrounding them but they do end up with a happy ending.
I would also like to say that while their characters are surrounded by trauma, no outright physical violence happens directly to them (To any of the characters actually)
Enraging things? Sure, given the time period the show is set, but I'm sure they're things any normal person would be able to watch with no problem.
Having said that, Fellow travelers should've had ten episodes with more screen time for Marcus and Frankie.
but you also have to consider the time period. they were Black and queer in a racist and homophobic time period that outrightly discriminated against them. there is no way to tell their story without mentioning the trauma of their environment
@@maggiemcfly5267 I agree obviously. I think that the show needed to deal with the trauma of the time period to correctly tell the story. I was just saying that it deals with a lot of trauma because he was talking about how he wanted a happy (without trauma) poc queer story.
@@effpng Yes, i agree. I was just saying within context of what he wanted as he was kinda talking about like a heart stopper love story with poc characters.
@@Snazzy16 but even Heartstopper isn’t a could comparison. it explores themes of coming out, eating disorders, and mental health. i think what you mean is trauma, but also showing the joyful moments. i think Heartstopper has a good balance of both
You guys need to check out a show called Noah’s Arc! It’s kind of like Girlfriends but with Black gay men. It’s honestly a revolutionary show for the time it came out and deserves more attention!
does it end on a cliff hanger
Yes sadly but they also made a movie a little after the show ended which kind of ties everything up lol
I love this show. I have both seasons on DVD.
Another example that fits into this list is black lightening with anissa pierce and grace choi!
It's still woc x woc though?
@@Kaastengels yes? I said it fits into the list of examples given, didnt't I? So what is the problem with that?
And Batwoman. Ryan and Sophie
I've noticed this too in tv shows and it's pretty depressing. I find that the best rep I can find these days for fully poc queer relationships is in books - I would highly recommend 'Juliet Takes a Breath' which is a YA story that deals with race and queerness for a young black woman but with race being at the forefront. There's a graphic novel with gorgeous art too if that's more your speed than the novel!
I loved that book! BIPOC sapphic books are so good
theres a book called 'the lesbianas guide to catholic school' i found randomly one day that features a mexican lesbian mc and a chinese girl love interest
@@urisuu_ just bought that one!
I have this book called 'The Henna wars' by Adiba Jaigirdar. It centers around a Bangladeshi teenager and the love interest is a Black Brazillian girl. It contains a character being outed, racism, bullying and homophobia so keep that in mind. I totally recommend it though :)
There’s a Samoan movie called inky pinky ponky i saw on TikTok. No white people involved and I do like Polynesian representations. I’m black but as someone who lived in Hawaii i haven’t seen a lot of them represented in the media. Especially when they can sing down!
Thank you for the recommendation omg can’t wait to watch!
Nathan and Skylar had nothing in common imo. It's not because they’re the only gay characters they have to date. I thought we were past that.
Yeah, their relationship is kind of embarrassing. Nathan immediately fell head over heels for Skylar when he saw him with his top off and then Skylar after Nathan wrote him that discount Ed Sheeran song. At this point, I feel like their relationship is only being held together with hopes and dreams.
Y'all should start writing the stories you want to be told, illustrating the characters and the interactions you want to see, or anything like that. Anyone can do it, being published or famous is another thing but you have the power to make the things you want to see more of in the world. And the more people that see others doing that can then in turn be inspired to do the same, and just like that it becomes more and more visible. E.g. this video is a great example; I've never sat down and thought about whether I can name any examples of 2 black queer characters together, but this video really made me wonder why I couldn't think of any at all. It makes me hope to see it in future!
My thoughts exactly I’m writing a story I rarely seen done right so I’m writing it that way bc I don’t see it like ever
the same also goes for people who maybe don’t want to create but want to see more representation of queer poc. when the shows and books that have good rep come out, support them. that’s the best way to make people realize that these stories are still profitable.
Noah arc has to be the best representation so far for me. I hope the future give us more representation with empowering , feel good stories
I just left this comment.. It was such a good show
But then there’s the criticism that it’s very unrealistic. Seems people forget we watch tv and read books as a form of escapism
Can't believe I had to scroll down thisfar to find this show commented - and actually a bit concerned Imurgency and many of his younger followers don't know about queer BIPOC representation that's older...
@@JC_Cali is the show even readily available online? This the digital age, out of digital sight definitely out of mind. It’s like it seems hard pressed to find the Ski Trip movie anywhere
Thank you, while I'm not black myself, I am part of other minority groups and am queer. I've noticed a severe lack of queer media that isn't white, abled, cis, etc. and that if it does come around, it goes under the radar really often.
I'm happy there's more queer media coming out but I want the same happy love stories cis white able-bodied queers get. I want people who aren't cis, white, and abled to get the same representation. Of course there's a place for the sad and dark stories that talk about trauma, but can't we have a soft love story too?
I want two trans black men just holding each other, I want an interabled interracial WoC relationship where they're just being soft with each other, I want two black bear men who are out on a first date trying to impress each other, I want two lesbian latinas who aren't obviously written for white cishet men, I want the stories that exist but aren't being told. I want more PoC rep, I want more trans rep, I want more disabled rep. I want representation that doesn't just exist to be profitable to the perceived majority of the minority.
People write what they know, which is more than fair. Rather than asking where the representation is. I ask who are we encouraging to express their creativity? If no queer black men/women are writing these stories authentically, then I rather them not exist. Because a lot can go wrong when straight white women (yes, they are mostly the creators) try this.
Are they giving enough support from their community and peers to express themselves and grow their craft? Because the black community is hardly known for encouraging their child to go into creative fields. I've had friends get laughed at for trying to pursue these dreams. This is the same in a lot of cultures. Which in turn suppresses their stories and representation in media.
I also wanna add that the climate of entertainment rn is ATROCIOUS, and there’s very little room given to queer stories without them being reduced to pandering to whyte cishet sensibilities. It’s marginally better now, but it’s not where it should be.
I'd love to see a happy POC queer love story!
Daybreak! It's a webtoon about 2 black trans boys falling in love with each other and it's happy and cute
YES. As much as trauma rep is good, I would love to see a happy POC queer story whether that be just a simple movie or series POC queer story
There's a movie I watched recently called Mars One, it's a Brazilian family drama movie, with a black lesbian relationship as one of the central points for the story, and while there is some homophobia from the dad, there's love and acceptance at the end. It's a pretty good movie, I think it's maybe worth checking out!
this is why i loved the batwoman show (seasons 2 and 3 ofc) and was actually kinda sad it got cancelled. despite it having all of the quirks of a cw show, it was amazing to watch two black women, who were each developed main characters, build a healthy relationship, and its crazy we don’t see that more often in mainstream tv and movies
I don't know if you're only looking to western media, but if you look into eastern media there's actually a lot of Thai BLs across a variety of genres and a few GLs (girls' love) as well! I think they do a really good job of displaying a qpoc experience :)
But most BL’s are copypasted lightskin boys and most of the time don’t portray actual gay relationships , everytime a BL gets popular it’s because a bunch of trauma , or the love interest/main character is being violated and abused , think of “killing stalking” , “painter of the night” or a newer “BL” called “Jinx” and just because characters are lightskin/asian , most of the straight girls that read these things think that the abuse and r@pe is “Hot” because they sexualize gay guys , especially gay asian guys
I got so tired of western rep of queer relationships that I ran headlong into asian queer media. It exploded after COVID and studios started realizing it was profitable but extra props to Taiwan and Thailand for being there before it started making money. GagaOOLala is a great streaming service for Asian queer media. It definitely isn’t without its faults but the fact there is so much to see and we can sort between good and bad is pretty amazing. Even just five years ago you would get one maaayyybbe two of them a year and now there are a couple a month to watch. It would be interesting to see if one day we might get a similar expansion out of some of the African studios in places like Nigeria or South Africa but I’m not going to hold my breath for it.
It’s a WEBTOON - but if you want a gay thriller story with a black protagonist and an Asian love interest - then you might like “HAPPY HOLIDAYS” It’s definitely a lot darker than other romances due to its setting but if you want a story with a morally gray complicated protagonist whose quite open about his queerness but - I think you’d like it. It might not be for everyone though but it’s quite different ❤
Plus Santa Claus is literally his dad and the Claus family are canonically black in this universe. It’s really crazy. 😅
The thing to me about this conversation is that the things that we are asking for had already been done before. Pose, as you mentioned, had many queer, black romances being developed, and mind you, this wasn't even a romance show. Yes, Pose showcases trauma and struggle for the queer community (in a very necessary way I think), but still, it managed to stay hopeful at times, and to deliver cute, heartwarming, love stories.
So it raises the question, how come a show like Pose, with its heavy themes and grand messages, still depicts black queer love, and these silly-willy, coming of age shows centered on teen romance don't seem to be able to do it?
The narrative around queer stories unfortunately centers white men with slim body types. And not saying some of those shows and movies aren’t entertaining, but media needs to better represent queer women, non-binary folks, disabled people, poc, and people with different body shapes.
In "The Bold Type" Kat and Adena are a POC queer love story and that's about it lol
Yeah and then they played in our face when Kat started dating a white republican 😂. No they weren’t endgame but I checked out of that show so hard after that
@@LizzieHunterPaul I'm glad they had a pandemic hiatus so they could go fix that nonsense, cuz I would've stopped watching the show if there wasn't more important stuff going on.
And then she dated another black girl when they broke up which I loved, but then had to ruin it by making her date a white republican like... side eye🙄🙄
@LizzieHunterPaul I was ready to fight someone when they introduced that storyline.
What do you think about everything now? Mia and Carli are woc (half black and Filipino) which I thought was great even though their relationship was rocky asf.
The Main character in Gen V and their love interest are also half black and Asian (Sorry im really bad at names)
It's still woc x woc so i think they dotn suck???
I loved their chemistry together, but they never dated and each dated someone white for most of the show.
I still enjoyed it though
I can’t hate too much on Heartstopper. Elle and Tao are poc and there’s not a lot of trauma going on there. Yes, Nick and Charlie are the mains but they’re deeply rooted in trauma. The effort is there in Heartstopper but I agree, in media as a whole, there needs to be more so it becomes the norm in poc communities.
Elle and Tao aren’t a queer couple. Elle is queer but Tao isn’t, that’s why they’re not included in the video. You can be bisexual/trans/ace/identify yourself as a member of the LGBT but that won’t make your relationship queer if it isn’t queer.
@@imaniketo err that doesn't make sense to me. Idk if I end up in a relationship with a guy being a woman, then suddenly I'm not in a queer relationship? When also being attracted to men is an inherent part of my bisexuality? It feels like bi erasure all over again so idk. Imo same goes for trans people, them being trans is part of who they are and their daily lives, every relationship they have will still have their trans existence going through that. And ace people too, often times the other person literally adapts to the ace partner and lives an ace relationship that they wouldn't normally do unless they're ace. I just don't feel comfortable erasing the queerness of the relationship when it only comes from one of the parts. It endorses stereotypes and harmful statements made even within the community that invalidate and ostracize queer people who are apparently "not being queer enough" or "not performing their queerness enough" whenever they're not in same sex relationships.
There’s a Disney plus original show, “diary of a future president” that houses a gay brother (the main character and her family are poc). In the show his coming out is explored along with a cute little relationship with a black boy in season 2. I think that it’s really cool seeing as the show is targeting more of a younger audience (pre teen-teen) and the relationship is just sweet. The show got cancelled after season 2 but what we got of the two was really cute
The first tv show that comes to mind is Season 6 of Druck, a German webseries. It is a sapphic story between a mixed black girl and Vietnamese girl. The story is not necessarily always feel-good, as it deals with the MC's struggle with school and the miscommunications between her and her love interest. I did see some complaints that I agree with, that the show focused more on the MC's identity as a lesbian and not as a black lesbian. Although it definitely isn't perfect, I love the show and this season specifically means so much to me
yess druck is so good
Came here to say this Fatou and Kieu My's season was so good
Oh I love that show!
yess omg i love that show sm
i feel like whenever i see a drama-free POC queer couple in media it’s at the beginning of a movie/show and they randomly break up so they can move onto a white person or barely get 5 minutes of screen time?? like it’s ridiculous. i’m glad you brought this up because it’s been floating around in my mind for a while.
Exactly
I really enjoyed this video and your channel. I totally agree that there is a lack of representation of queer poc, I think that the only thing I have seen with this kind of representation is the movie Bottoms, it's a teen sex comedy and one of the two main characters is a black girl whose crush is an asian-american girl. Even though their relationship is not the main plot, it's still very important, and since it's a comedy is not a dramatic relationship with trauma. I really enjoyed the movie and the way they portrayed the different relationships, and I hope that if you decide to watch it you will enjoy it too.
The way I was about to use this as an example, but you beat me to the punch lmao but you are spitting facts, and it was definitely refreshing to see!!!
Again, sapphic blasians UP!! 😂😂 Love to see it
The lack of black queer representation is crazy especially black queer rep that doesn’t have a yt partner or no trauma or even diverse body types.
I’ve been reading Daybreak and when I first read it I almost cried bc as a fat black trans enby I neeeevvvver saw myself being represented (especially by popular media) and one of the main characters is a non skinny black nonbinary person. I felt so seen.
Everybody and they mama are like “omggg Heartstopper!!!” and I believe ppl when they say it good but like…I’m super tired of cis gay yt boys/men or poc and yt cis gay interracial couple practically being treated as the overall representation for the queer community. Like I stopped watching/reading that type of queer media bc all it is to me is classic hollywood “yt representation first” and “look!!! us yts will date and marry you colored ppl” bullshit but ✨gay✨.
I neeed recs so def give me any black queer couple or poc queer couple media that I can watch or read. Idc if it’s not in english if it got subtitles I’m watching it.
As a writer, I lean more to Asian BL content. They’re more focused on the things that us westerners leave out when it comes to gay storylines. I’ve been coming up with ideas but it takes time. We have to get it right and be able to get producers to fund them. I hear you though. A few of my faves are September Mornings (Prime), Front Cover, Elliot Loves, Theory of Love (Thai BL), Bad Buddy (Thai BL), etc. 😭
"Fire Island" is an amazing movie!! all the main characters are people of color, and it's a really feel-good romcom about queer asian americans based on pride & prejudice. i can't recommend it more.
Would love to hear your thoughts on the Showtime Show Fellow Travelers, specifically the relationship between Marcus and Frankie. It doesn't revolve around those characters and the show takes places from the 50s -80s with the characters dealing with McCarthyism/Lavender Scare/AIDS so it's not a happy go lucky show overall. But it's another show where 2 queer non-white characters fall in love.
I so loved the movie “The Half Of It” for having a lesbian storyline and WoCs as the main characters! albeit there is some comphet involved it was so beautifully done and made me tear up. “Saving Face” (2004) is another movie that I really love. Both movies are wlw. I find that there becomes a stark difference between queer representation for queer people and queer rep for straights… and it’s a very fine line
I ONLY write Black queer FANTASY romance stories (m/m, f/f). I do not expect to be huge in publishing. I fully anticipate the low GoodReads review scores from non-Black readers who “just don’t get it.” But I don’t care. I only want to write what I want to read. My stories are wholly de-centered from the white gaze. Anyone will be able to read them and enjoy them as long they’re cool with seeing Black & Brown queer ppl have a happy ending.
What are the names of you and your work so we can support? I'd love to positive review bomb to even out the playing field a bit.
@@lenan5913Thank you so much! I haven’t been published yet-BUT my strategy is for 2026-2027 to begin submitting my first four novels for publication. I know it’s a long con, but that’s how traditional publishing works. 😡
Right now, I’m cranking out novels and revising them to the best of my ability. You know we can’t just come out all messy. It’s gotta be the best of the best!
If / when you publish (whether you decide to go trad or indie published) then please come back here and let us know! I'll buy it and support it, and I'm sure many others here will do the same. Best of luck to you on your writing journey until then. ♡
i love this comment sm because im trying to do the same thing! i have two diverse novel ideas that i want to get published some day. it’s hard because im hard on myself when it comes to writing and i beat myself when they’re not perfect lmao but im learning to get over that and just keep writing because like you said, i want to write what i want to read. if you have any tips for writing a novel i would appreciate them pls 🙏🏾🙏🏾 i wish you the best of luck on your writing and i hope to read your novels one day!!
I'm not OP @siacentral2861 but as somebody who's also trying to write, I know how hard it can be, and I know that need for perfection. I've recently created my own step by step process to writing a book - I can't promise what I've found useful will be as useful to you and your process - but some things I've learnt lately have been:
- Let the core "theme" or ideas of what you're exploring through your story flow through characters and their outlooks on life (look up John Truby's four corner opposition; a lot of what I'll say is based on his "Anatomy Of Story" book).
- Make the main character(s) very deeply flawed, and demonstrate it by how they hurt at least one other character in their life.
-Give the main character(s) one core action that they are trying to do throughout the story. Give them something achievable.
-Decide on who would best oppose the main character on their flaw and on what they want to achieve, and make them the main antagonist.
-Give the world you set your characters in (whether that's some place on a literal other world, or, like, a workplace, or a home) a distinctive "character" and feel of its own.
-It could be useful to start from the end, where you want your characters to be, then set the beginning up for the growth to that. If this changes as you write, though, then don't feel tied to it.
-Perfection is personal. The closest to an objective "perfect" your story will be is when it's finished. Believe in yourself enough to commit some time to seeing it through every day (even 5-10min is better than nothing). I believe in you. ♡
If you do end up publishing, then come back here and tell us! I'd love to be able to buy your work when it's done.
the cop and her wife from only murders in the building are the only people who come to mind and they’re both black but they’re both side characters 😭
Netflix's Dear White People had Lionel and Michael as a couple. They also had characters like Kelsey and Brooke.
I'm in Atlanta. There used to be a bookstore in midtown called Brush strokes. When I was a lot younger I had gone into this bookstore and asked this exact question. Why don't I see more DVD's (this is how long ago this was) with black gay love stories.? I was told by the owner, per his words, "please don't take this the wrong way but Hollywood doesn't see value in your stories". I remember leaving there thinking but our stories matter as well. We are apart of the American experience. Not that I have a big problem with this but all of the gay quality movies and shows, the black character always has a white boyfriend, always. What is the threat with us being together? Moonlight doesn't count to me because it did not have an extensive love story, plot. I need a QUALITY black gay love story that's dated 1996 or so, Brooklyn New York, bubble goose coats and tims. I need the movie to have what would have been current music of the times, Mary J., Outkast, Wu Tang, Toni Braxton, etc., B Boy Blues was a good try but the music threw it off. Anyways, I'm saying all of this to say that I agree with you.
OMG!!! Where is the black Heartstoppers, Young Royals or Game Boys?!!!
Dana T.
I agree that there’s need to more Black Queer Representation. My issue with this topic there’s so many lgbt shows and movies that do center BLACK and Brown characters but get paid dust.
Of course Noah’s Arc, Moonlight and Pose are like the holy trinity of black gay entertainment.
But there’s platforms like
Tyson Plus
Triangle Series
Signal 23
Zeus Network’s-Bad Boys
AcconectionTV
HD Productions Network
SLAY Tv
Movies/Tv shows like
B B-Boy Blues
Noah Arc: Jumping the Broom
The Skinny etc
All of these platforms are ran by and for a Black Gay Audience. Some might say it’s “too niche” or the buget isnt high enough but it is SOMETHING. The content yall looking for is out there you just have to look for it😊
Thank you!!! I was searching through the comments wondering why no one was mentioning Noah's Arc..as well as classics like B-Boy Blues and The Skinny.
@@MrPuppyboy13 To be fair Noah’s Arc and The Skinny are over a decade old 🤣 we do need relevant/ current black and brown lgbt representation. So we can stop referencing Paris is Burning and DL Chronicles 🥴
Ain’t nobody gonna check any of them out 💀
@@bubbles4897mhmm i wonder why?!?
P Valley is screaming from the background.
Noah's Arc was SO amazing and way ahead of its time when it came to showing black/brown gay stories that did not totally focus on trauma or stereotypes and I would love to see an updated version of that show!
Thank you so much for this video! Watched it before submitting my video essay on Black Love for my film industries class, and one of the things I mentioned as well was how the narrative of trauma related love needed to be shifted 🫶🏽✨
The movie Hearts Beat Loud had a really sweet little love story with the daughter of Nick Offerman's character who's half black and other girl who's black.
yess i love this movie!!!
The best representation I’ve seen of trans ppl in shows centered in the present has to be Elle from Heartstopper. Then I realized ! She’s also POC and
(SPOILER!!!)
gets together with another POC :)
But of course they’re not the main characters
we need taoelle and taradarcy spinoffs 🙏🙏🙏
You're absolutely right - there's a huge lack in representation. B-Boy Blues (the movie) , The Skinny , and Noah's Arc are the only ones that come to mind that you didn't mention.
I recommend Rafiki- it’s a sapphic love story with 2 black main characters. Very good (but also a lot of trauma)
I am so glad you are talking about this. I see a lot of this discourse on TikTok but not so much on UA-cam. More power to you and all other POC queer UA-camrs out there
as a white woman watching a mostly POC show, or a show with a male gay plot for the first time was huge for me. I felt a disconnect to the characters therefore couldnt engage as much or had to put more brain power into doing it. I sat there thinking WTF almost every movie out there feels something like this to POCs probably. I am all for more and better representation and it makes me so sad that a lot of white/straight people look at these shows, get the feeling i had and put it away because "i'ts not for them", without thinking about all the people it is for and how enriching it is to watch unfamiliar storys. a show can not represent you and be good and worth watching (!) minorities know this, white masses need to get this more. Your white straight comfort shows aren't going anywhere. They just give u a feeling many more people deserve as well!
There's this Canadian Tv show called "Sort Of" that has one of the most "normal" portrayals of queer relationship, between a Brown Non-binary person and how they navigate the different situations they find themselves in. The show also potrays romance between the main character and various different POC's. This was honestly a breath of fresh for me as an NB person. I felt really seen. It's the only show I can think of with a good POC romance potrayal
Okay - yes it wasn’t great representation as it was totally an under thought side plot BUT there was a cute sapphic couple with WOC in The Imperfects. I would have loved to see it developed and stuff but it was cancelled too soon :(
its so hard esp for wlw community too to find Any black queer rep & esp that doesn’t surround traumatic experiences. i want a feel-good bipoc queer story😭
Me and my husband was just talking about this. Me and him are both black gay masculine males. That almost never gets representation unless it’s rooted in trauma, some toxic DL storyline or of course the stereotypical prison romance. They are rarely telling our true authentic everyday stories of black queer love. Atleast show the growing pains of it. But they constantly push in our face this interracial and often times, unrealistic love story coupled with a white savior narrative. The openly gay white love interest with the accepting parents swooping in to save the black gay guy.
I would die for a video about Queer coded villians PLEASEEEE
I just found you and I love you. Thank you for making this make sense. As a queer trans NB person, I see these fellow Trans ppl, fellow queer ppl, and I'm still like "where's me?" Really brought it home. Thank you.
the only trauma free poc queer media is tinder commercials lol, but fr jamal and ricky from pose are the only ones i can think of but they had trauma
thank you for touching on this topic!! cause black queer people truly need more representation!!
Bernie an Simone in Daisy Jones & The Six are black lesbian representation!! and their relationship is FEEL GOOD! it's not the main focus of the series (unfortunately) but I think the show is worth watching for their story (I love them)
I agree with everything you stated. We need more representation.
Some of the shows that have down a great job so far are Pose, Rap Sh!t, P-Valley and Twenties. I feel like Twenties in particular needs more people talking about it.
Talk about that talk. Thank God. This whole video needs to go viral viral. Thank you for speaking about this! THANK YOU!!
I just finished watching the show with love where there are a mexican and fillipino man in a relationship and I think they displayed them really well. (However there is a darker skinned latino who is gender fluid and they fall in love with a white man aswell so yeah basically supporting ur point 😭)
Name of show, please.
@@pauieeepau it’s ‘with love’
i’m not sure if you’ve read “The Oppositional Gaze” by bell hooks, but it’s a really great theory piece touching on intersectionality and how Black people (specifically Black women) interact with visual media based on representation
911 has two black lesbians that are married
a show i really loved featuring a poc lovestory is druck (especially season 6 which revolves around a black character)
it's a german show but you can find it with english subs on youtube (i'm not sure about other languages though)
season 6 is about fatou, a black teenager, her love interest is kieu my (so again a Black x Asian sapphic lovestory)
the whole show (up until season 6) is good but if you wanna watch it for the poc lovestory, i'd recommend only watching season 6
This is why I'm excited for Noahs Arc to get rebooted, It was so ahead of its time!
I fully agree we definitely need more POC and black queer stories on mainstream TV/media. That being said there are some that might interest you and others.
There's a studio called Signal23 and they make a lot of gay black love stories with various body types. However they're a small studio and it shows in the quality. They're also online only and can be fairly pornographic in a lot of their shows, but they do have censored versions of all their shows. And they all have actual plots and story lines. And now that I think of its probably less pornographic than Euphoria 😭😭😭 The only two I've watched were "About Him Seasons 1 & 3" and "About Justin"
Nexr if you're okay with reading subtitles I've been super into Thai BL's recently. BL in general just means "Boys Love" and they're popular all over Asia but Thailand currently produces the most and a lot of them are super cute. My current favorites are "Lovesick", "Love By Chance", "Bad Buddy", "Dark Blue Kiss" and a currently airing one "Cherry Magic! (2023)" There's also some good ones from China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. But as much as I love them for their cute and sometimes heartfelt or suspenseful stories there is still a major cultural disconnect since they're Thai and not black. Still great stories tho.
I’m glad you said it at the end. Part of the issue is us. When we have a good or great example we don’t watch them enough. And as far as “numbers that meant they should’ve continued” you have to also think about the budgets and also how streaming works.
Sooo glad you are doing UA-cam full time we get more of you and more tea too
Everything now broke my heart because she did Alison so badly.
We got Jordan and Marie from the Boys and THAT'S IT!!! 😭😭 And they got locked up in the end💀💀
Edit: I forgot these. Jim and Oluwande on Our Flag Means Death, Sabi and Wolf on Sort Of (great queer Pakistani show btw), Bottoms, The Bold Type.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you for making and posting this video I've shared it with all my friends so I don't have to argue about why I don't wanna watch two gay white boys falling in love YET again. same story different people but none of them are black I have to explain to them i have nothing to relate to. This video just made my year🖤🖤
This is a great video! Thank you laying everything out so clearly. I was thinking that Our Flag Means Death has a PoC/PoC love story with Oluwande Boodhari/Jim Jimenez. Oluwande and Jim are Black and Latine respectively. They are not the central characters of the show (that would be Stede Bonnet/Blackbeard), but Olu/Jim got a lot of screentime. There is definitely trauma and sadness in both of these characters stories though.
TOTAL DRAMA REBOOT has a POC lgbt love story!! Bowie, in particular, is a fan favorite. I love him so much, I wish the reboot got more attention but for some reason, IT STILL HAS NOT AIRED IN THE USA.... hmmm
While it isn't two POC, I think Red, White, & Royal Blue actually does a fantastic job with Alex and portraying his character and queerness. Don't know if I can speak for y'all, he actually has character depth and dreams and ambitions and desires that make him his own person and character, while also being intrinsically tied to his POCness in a way. His dad's a Latino immigrant, he's a brown guy, he wants to give others that representation in who's representing them in politics and I find that so cool and a very natural want. Of course it'd be fantastic if we got two POC characters in a couple, we really need to get on that, but they seem to be a well thought out and good example even if one is white.
I totally feel that. Right now im wokring on a couple books that im writing on Wattpad now. They're m/m f/f and just wanting to give myself and readers chances to see beautiful lgbtq+ poc love. 🥰🙌🏾
I'm so glad you said this! I've been thinking the same thing but thought that maybe I just wasn't watching enough to see queer poc relationships in media? I've been working on a TV script for my portfolio at uni because of this exact reason, and after watching this I just want to finish it even more now and get it out in the world 🙌🏾
Not black or brown unfortunately but surprisingly Asia has a lot of queer stories being told, especially Thailand, with a lot of recent ones being directed by queer people themselves.
As a black nonbinary person, Darren from heartbreak high is the only person giving me life rn. Also Sabi from HBO Max’s Sort Of
There's also Amaya and Janai from The Dragon Prince, they're not the main character but they're a sapphic couple where both are people of color, and I even wrote an essay recently about how their conflicts in season 4 can be an allegory to queer poc's relationship with cultural tradition, I really recommend!
Moonlight is crazy because it’s sooo good but then it felt like at the end the writers was afraid to make the older versions of the actors do any romantic scenes. It felt kind of sad.
As a blasian like the exact mix as in everything now (Nigerian and Filipino) there are a lot of blasian romance going on rn I feel like they understand yt/blk interracial storylines are tired and over done
Nah I feel it’s a copout tbh. If it’s not white people, it’s Asian people. And the Asian people are always super light or biracial. It’s tired.
one show that i can’t recommend enough if you want to watch more media like this is batwoman. specifically seasons 2 and 3, more so s3 though, the main love story of the show is between 2 black lesbians!! and even though it got cancelled after 3 seasons, the ship still ends on a good note that won’t leave you feeling sad or anything like that
I am so bloody fucking glad I found your video. I have noticed this issue for so long and for some reason I haven't found many people (at least that I can stand to watch) talk about it🙌🏿
AND FUCKING BONUS PROPS FOR MENTIONING THE TWINK ISSUE.
I love this conversation! Thank you for bringing it up. I'm exhausted with the trauma-based love stories for black people in general & absolutely for the queer community, and have been searching since the early 90s for a lil piece of love story lol. At least Noah's Arc had that one couple lol. Other than that, even UA-cam black queer webisodes are doing too much when it comes to abuse/struggle "love." I'll have to comb these comments, because I know somebody somewhere saw something positive 😅
6:40 is sooooo true. I've never ever seen a gay couple in media, with one for example being a bear/chubby. It's always just 2 Twinks
It’s not ideal, but on “Abbott Elementary” the interracial gay couple features an Black gay guy who is a bear.
But I know what you mean: the unapologetic lack of diverse body types (for men and women) is very much apparent😔
The media is definitely putting out the message that “only these types of bodies can find love”
🤦🏽♀️y is body type so important .can we just have good representation. No one cares if they both attractive. Realistically attractive gay men usually date other attractive gay men
Also, what about Noah's Arc? It was a show whose cast was primarily black queer men.
this is a great analysis, i want to recommend druck season six, it’s a sapphic story with a black lesbian main character and an asian love interest. it’s been a while since i’ve watched it but i think it ends happy and isn’t revolved around trauma
i realize this too & am currently working on a queer poc love story, but sadly they’re suffering