It is Time to Improve Bisexual Representation in Storytelling
by AnnaRae Martin, Guest Editorial
Recently in media and art, there has been a discussion of representation. These discussions are often about how little representation there is outside of a cis-white male’s point of view. In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the representation of different points of view.
However, there have been various instances where these characters are harmful, even if it wasn’t the creator’s intent. One example of this comes from bisexual representation. With media, both physical and visual media, many harmful tropes come with a character being bisexual. Usually, if the character appears bisexual, the central harmful trope is that the character is evil and wielding their sexuality as a weapon. In recent years, there has been another dangerous trend that has emerged: the cheating bisexual.
This trope gets paired often with The Betrayer trope or the Depraved Bisexual; these two tropes in media subconsciously make the general viewing public distrust this character. You might be asking yourself, so? Straight characters do this too. Why is this important to know about this trope?
Well, let’s lay out this scenario for you. You are watching a television show, and a character appears onscreen. This character is finally someone that is like you in appearance and has the same sexuality as you. Unfortunately, this character is the villain.
So, you try and find a different character who has the same sexuality; the same problem as before: a character who is a villain and can’t be trusted. Imagine seeing multiple characters like this at a young age. This can cause damage for years to come. It is time to eliminate the cheating bisexuals trope in storytelling.
In the theatre world, the cheating bisexual trope has appeared in multiple different musicals and plays. One of the most clear-cut cases of this trope is in Rent through the character Maureen. While the character was progressive at the show’s premiere, it has become a relic of its time. There are even two whole songs about her inability to stay faithful in any relationship.
One of these songs is Tango: Maureen; her ex and current partner sing throughout the song that Maureen cannot remain faithful. The second song is Take Me or Leave Me, a duet between her and Joanne, her current partner. She owns up to the fact that she is a cheater. However, besides this and her activism, we fail to see anything else about this character. While most characters in the show have growth or a character arc, she doesn’t. It is hurtful to see one of the earliest examples of bi-representation on stage become a relic of its time.
Before I write about this next show, I must give a spoiler alert for anyone thinking of seeing the musical Jagged Little Pill. The show has become one of the most recent cases of the cheating bisexual trope in theatre; this is also in addition to the show’s creative team writing out the show’s only non-binary character and storyline.
Due to the musical being a jukebox musical of the Alanis Morissette album of the same name, the musical includes the song You Outta Know, which is about an ex-lover directing their pain at their former lover. So, it makes sense to have a cheating subplot in the show. However, it could happen between other characters in the musical rather than the show’s younger LGBTQ+ couple. This musical, which is supposed to be different and a voice for the oppressed, falls victim to one of the most harmful tropes in modern media.
Theatre isn’t the only place in art where there is the cheating Bisexual trope existence. Movies and television have multiple prime examples of this trope. One significant instance where this trope exists is the character of Catherine Tramell from Basic Instinct. She is shown throughout the film to have no remorse for her actions and wields her sexuality like a weapon. Even when the movie first premiered, there were protests about the killer being bisexual and the general negative portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters in the film. You would think that many creators would have learned their lesson from Basic Instinct. Unfortunately, it started a trend of bisexual characters being cheater, morally corrupt, or evil.
Another instance of this trope resides Antony Armstrong-Jones, also known as Tony, in The Crown. Out of all of the representation cases on this list, this one has the most harmful implications. According to the article The Trope of the Depraved Bisexual: An exploration and lukewarm celebration, in the show“Tony is portrayed as selfish and unconcerned about how his extramarital affairs (with both women and men) impact his wife; after an initial period of wooing her, he becomes distant and preoccupied with his own pleasure.”(Price, Devon).
Making Tony a villain is dangerous for several reasons; the main reason is how fictional this portrayal is, even though the show is based on a true story. In the same article, Decon Price brings up how, according to historians, Tony and his wife “appear to have enjoyed an open marriage for many years, after which they split amicably and remained friends.”(Price, Devon) As artists and scriptwriters, creators have a reasonability to portray the subject of their “based off a true story” as truthfully as possible, even if that means the material has less drama in it.
So, what can one person do about it?
First research. Don't ask any bisexual person to educate you, and just do the research yourself. While many are willing to point you to helpful resources, they are not required to do so. Seriously, it takes a simple google search, and you will find thousands of resources.
Another option would be supporting art and media that have a positive portrayal of bisexuals. In recent years there have multiple positive portrayals of what it means to be bisexual; this includes shows like Brooyln 99, ShadowHunters, Jane the Virgin, Owl House, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. (Seriously, try and get Getting Bi from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend out of your head. It’s impossible.) Many media companies and organizations make decisions on what material to continue producing based on the bottom dollar. By supporting projects, we will ensure that the next generation has more positive bisexual representation.
As this article comes to a close, it should be said that nobody is asking for bisexuals to be perfect or always the hero. These characters should be allowed to be as flawed as any other character. However, other flaws can be used besides being unfaithful to their partner or using their sexuality to corrupt the protagonist. One example of this would be the character of Bean from the series Disechmeant. The character is by no means perfect. However, it is her actions rather than her sexuality that make her a flawed heroine.
It should also be stated there has been an increase in representation. This is “according to GLAAD’s 2016-2017 Annual Report on LGBTQ Representation.”(Brown, Gillian). Unfortunately, it was still only thirty percent of all characters who are LGBTQ+ (GLAAD report.) In the future, let us hope that there are characters who are just two dimensional as other characters they share the screen and stage with.