Rant

Are We Real Yet? — An Honest Look at Bisexual Representation in TV

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Drawn by author

I often refer to my sexuality as the “invisible” one. Which is odd as bisexuals arguably make up more than half of the LGBT+ community. The issue is that for years there have been two options: you are gay or you are straight. And this ideology hasn’t gone away — depending on who my partner is, I am gay or I am straight.

As with all minority groups, representation in media is the first step to sloughing off our invisibility cloaks. But is bisexual representation really helping? Or is it just driving us further into the “pick a side” argument? I’ve chosen a few examples that I think highlight the strengths and weaknesses of bisexual representation in TV.

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Are We Boycotting Mulan 2020 for the Wrong Reasons?

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Screen grab from Mulan

Yes, and that’s a problem.

Disney’s release of Mulan 2020 was preceded by the headline news that the lead actress, Liu Yifei, had “tweeted” support of the Hong Kong police. Why is everyone so upset? Because the Hong Kong police have been aggressively stifling freedom of speech during protests for human rights. Why am I upset? Because the remake is a terrible film that I believe has worse connotations for human rights than Liu’s post on Weibo.

To understand the extent of why Mulan 2020 was a mistake, it’s first important to examine the 1998 film. It’s nearly impossible for a remake to exist without carrying baggage from the original and this film is no exception.

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