If there's any time in history we should be grateful a service like Netflix exists, it's now.
With many of us stuck at home, the ability to pass the time with thousands of hours of movies or TV shows is clutch.
Sure, their original programming is almost scientifically designed to appeal to everyone by hitting every data point in their analytics, but this leads to good things.
For instance, queer representation is at an all-time high thanks to this approach.
However, not everyone sees this as a plus.
That is a meme showing a scene from SpongeBob Squarepants where Patrick is about to shove a giant pumpkin into Spongebob through a funnel. However, it compares the scene to Netflix adding "an unnecessary gay character" to their series.
There are plenty of legitimate criticisms you can make about Netflix's characters.
Like this.
Could've said "We need less pandering and more well written minority characters" but naw you went this route
— Scott Frerichs 🏳️🌈🐯 (@KaiserNeko) May 5, 2020
But many just uncritically agreed with the initial tweet. Responses included statements that being gay was not normal or that it was unrealistic for them to be in certain time periods like homosexuality was created in a lab in 1960.
Probably the scariest ones were the people trying to reason that gay people shouldn't exist because without hetero relationships, the human race wouldn't continue. But that mentality misses the point that gay people exist too and deserve respect as much as anyone.
Luckily, many called out the tweet when it started going viral.
Netflix themselves stepped into the conversation to shut this down.
Diversity is not a negative.
Representation is really important in media. It helps marginalized groups to become accepted in society.
Just having a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other underrepresented sexuality or gender representation in a popular show makes the public more likely to accept them. The TV showWill & Grace popularized this idea, and it's sometimes called 'The Will & Grace Effect.'
Our society is heavily influenced by the streaming content we all consume.
So having the most recognizable service mainstreaming LGBTQ+ people will help many accept them and reduce the kind of fear and ignorance that results in homophobic and transphobic violence.
Other streaming services joined the comments to support LGBTQ+ representation. And honestly, we're not in danger of one dumb homophobic meme changing people's minds.
We're not far removed from the days when people of color on TV was controversial. While underrepresentation is still an issue, we've come a long way.
There's no reason to go backwards.
The book All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages is available here.
