Queer media hasn’t had its moment in the sun for very long. The vast majority of queer media focuses on queer men, and the plot is entirely about their relationships.
While any progress is good progress, there’s so much more wanted in the media that we’re missing out on. Namely, lesbian relationships in media that have more than a background role or an unfinished relationship arc.
Unfinished lesbian relationships on TV
Within modern media, there’s a small trend in which TV shows allude to two of their female characters being together, ending in one of two ways. On the one hand, they never get together, and we’re stuck with a “queerbaiting” platonic relationship. On the other hand, we have 30 seconds of screen time at the very end of the show that leaves viewers with only crumbs of what could’ve been.
Supergirl
One of the mainstream media pairs that has tons of controversy for queerbaiting is Kara Zor-El and Lena Luther from the CW show Supergirl. These two women strike a very interesting and close-knit friendship in the show, leaving its watchers hoping for their relationship to blossom into more.
If “acts of service” weren’t on these girls’ Tinder profiles, they should be. The two are consistently going above and beyond for one another in ways that aren’t representative of a platonic pairing. Unfortunately, the two never end up together, and fans, including me, remain upset about it even with the show’s end.
The Legend of Korra
If anyone was picking up all the crumbs they could at the end of The Legend of Korra, it was me. After a four-season show, the main character, Korra, is seen in a tunnel of light holding hands and looking longingly at her “friend,” Asami. While the two have kissed in the comics, the show doesn’t give them their moment.
Having this unfinished, and frankly undercooked, relationship leaves the show in an interesting place, not allowing fans to truly enjoy the relationship between the two girls.
Korrasami is a well-known pairing now, but the show leaves much to be desired in their relationship and allows people to question whether it should be read as a romantic relationship.
Book Adaptations
On the side of confirmed queer women in books, many stories have been written about queer women and exist in your local bookstore. Movie or TV adaptations, though, are few and far between as of now and are deeply wanted by their consumers. Whether someone’s waiting on their favorite book to be recreated for live media or they’re grappling with changes to the plot of a favorite, we’re all waiting to see.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
There’s a very popular book that’s been awaiting a movie adaptation since 2022, when the rights were purchased by Netflix. This book is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and while a movie has apparently been in the works since 2023, there’s been no sign of it coming out.
While a light is, possibly, at the end of the tunnel, it begs the question of what if this movie never comes out? and what does that mean for other movies or TV shows featuring queer women? There’s a steady trend of shows highlighting lesbian relationships being canceled post-production, and it’s horribly disheartening for fans.
Readers get invested in the relationship forged between Evelyn and Celia, invested enough that the movie would be a hit and make plenty of money from production. This constant, long-standing waiting can reinforce to queer audiences that their stories could never make it out into the world.
bridgerton
Looking at a different perspective, Bridgerton has recently faced backlash for changing the plot of Julia Quinn’s book, When He Was Wicked, to make the character “Michael” into “Michaela” for the show.
The main complaint with this decision comes from the idea that a relationship between two women in this time is not period accurate, but rather one must think of when queer people began existing.
Many may think they “popped up” in 2020, but people in the LGBTQ+ community have been around forever. The decision to make Francesca Bridgerton gay may not be accurate to the book, but it provides representation that the books were missing. Bridgerton began this by creating a diverse cast of people, not allowing the cast to be only white people, so why not have a lesbian Bridgerton sister?
paving the way for queer representation in media
Even though there’s a laundry list of representations I’d love to see in media, I can safely say that I’m proud of how far queer media has come. With hit shows like Heated Rivalry, Sense8, and Heartstopper, a path is being paved for queer representation to be mainstream and fully normalized.
While it may not be everything I want to see, baby steps are still steps, and sooner or later, there will be room for queer representation everywhere.
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest!