**This article contains spoilers for Pluribus**
More recent discussions on LGBTQIA+ representation in film have created distinct differences between how gay and lesbian relationships are depicted. This has led to conversations asking why gay men in popular media get to experience a happy ending, while lesbian women often end up with a tragic ending.
Shows such as Crave’s Heated Rivalry and Netflix’s Young Royals tell gay love stories with a happily ever after, while Showtime’s Yellowjackets and Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This end with lesbians dead or love unreciprocated.
Still, what happens when the story isn’t a love story? When the protagonist gets to go through a variety of unromantic experiences, but still gets to hold the identity of a queer person, specifically a lesbian? Apple TV’s Pluribus is a great example of this.
What is Pluribus?
Pluribus follows Carol Sturka, one of 12 people on the planet who isn’t affected by a DNA sequence that’s turned everyone else into part of a hive mind. This means Carol’s identity isn’t just that of a lesbian; it’s of someone who’s experienced alcoholism, grief, isolation, and so much more.
In Pluribus, Carol’s romantic relationships carry heavy weight in her development; the fact that they’re with women rather than men is only brought up a few times.
Her grief is instigated by the loss of her wife when the hive mind spreads, resulting in an emotional loss, relatable to all audiences who have experienced grief.
Carol’s Character
Carol is also an alcoholic, shown in the first episode by a breathalyzer in her car and her choice to consume alcohol while her wife drinks soda. This aspect of Carol’s life is completely independent of any romantic attraction she might experience, but it’s entangled in her relationships with both her wife and the hive mind.
Not all aspects of Carol’s independent life are negative, though. She was also a successful author of a “romantasy” book series, originally intended as a lesbian love story but later changed due to Carol’s feelings about being publicly out.
Later episodes in the series also reveal that Carol and her late wife had issues in their relationship beyond love, as exemplified by her wife’s lack of trust. Carol finds a motion sensor in the alcohol cabinet, put there as her wife didn’t trust her to not drink, and upon interrogation with the hive mind, it was revealed that her wife wasn’t a fan of her writing.
While Pluribus doesn’t make Carol’s queer identity her primary story, it still holds a momentum that makes her experience specific and relatable to lesbians. In Episode 4, the hive mind reveals to the audience that Carol’s mother sent her to conversion therapy when she was young.
This conversation follows a long-alluded-to discomfort Carol has with her lesbian identity. However, it reflects her situation as different from that of the rest of the world. With everyone she’s ever known as a part of the hive mind, she’s completely alone, reflecting her past traumas, which are specific to the queer experience.
Pluribus’ lesbian representation isn’t great because Carol’s character is separate from her lesbianism; it’s great because her queer identity is intertwined with her trauma and experiences without it being the focal lens of the show.
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