Working with stereotypes, but as said, that is not per se negative.
So I’ve recently begun watching Orphan Black (holy….so. freaking. good.) and since I’m all caught up now, @Rainbow sent me a link to a conversation at SDCC before S2 began with Tatiana, Dylan (Paul), and Jordan (Felix). And Jordan began discussing people’s reaction to his portrayal of Felix as being “too gay” and being a cliche. And Jordan’s response was that we as a society don’t get to dictate what types of people we show. You can’t show only one type of of queer and not another because of fear of cliche. Sexuality is a spectrum, but so is personality going hand in hand with sexuality.
And this got me thinking….I’ve always had a problem with Archie being gay because, in my head, it would be very cliche and unoriginal: the bachelor in the sweater vests that everyone turns to for advice and is never seen being romantically attached. Of course he’s gay. And when I was listening to the Orphan Black conversation and heard Jordan say what I mentioned above, I began to realize that we (as a collective whole but speaking for myself in this moment) can’t dictate what “type” (bad word, I know…sorry) of queer to show. If we can show any type of heterosexual, from Regina’s sass in SB, to Snowing’s family-first orientation (and sometimes, a bit dull), to Emma’s love triangle and trying to be a mom and strong woman first and trying to figure out what her role is as daughter, mother, Savior…then we have to be able to demonstrate the many types of LGBT’s there are: which means going for the quiet ones like Archie, the flamboyant ones like Felix on Orphan Black, and the ones that you can pass on the street and “never know” because it’s not like LGBT people where a sign that says “hello, I am LGBT” anymore than heterosexuals wear a sign claiming their sexual preference.
So where am I going with all this? Well I guess, if we set aside the fear of cliche because cliche is still a representation of actual types of people out there in the vast world, what the bloody heck are A and E waiting for??
That’s the question that has now been circling my brain since I watched this SDCC conversation with the cast of Orphan Black.