So I think it’s pretty obvious by now that the reception to season 7 has been less than… good. The fan base has been shattered. People are upset, angry, and abandoning this series in droves (I’ve lost over 50 followers as I write this, just from people no longer wanting anythingto do with this show) and have been incredibly vocal as to the reason why.
They killed Adam.
After two weeks of receiving praise for the relationship that was revealed at San Diego Comic Con, fans discovered on Friday night that Adam’s existence would be short lived, further contributing to this popular “Bury Your Gays” trope.
And I’ve seen people confused at this outcry. They don’t understand why people are so upset at this tiny side character’s death. What’s the big deal, right? It’s war! There’s supposed to be casualties!
And to that kind of response I have to narrow my eyes and go:
“Oh…. maybe you understand the history of this.”
Because it is a history. A rich one. “Bury your gays” isn’t a trope in the same why that “Fake dating” is a trope. It’s not popular out of coincidence and I feel like many people are ignorant of that, which is FAIR! Because most voltron fans are young, most tumblr users are young, so I don’t expect you to be watching documentaries on LGBT+ cinema in between studying for your chemistry exams.
So that’s where I come in. Buckle in children as I take you on a journey on why the “Bury your gays” trope exists, and the harmful ramifications that it has had on the LGBT+ community since its inception.
I would like to add to this that Shiro wasn’t even explicitly confirmed gay in the show which is another huge problem.
And it’s not that they couldn’t have made it more explicit because they were worried about homophobic countries out there that they wouldn’t be able to show the series in and therefor lose money.
It could have been as simple as instead of making Shiro say “The Garrison doesn’t want me to go, neither does Adam” say “neither does my BOYFRIEND”.
Which can easily be changed in any dub.
So it does makes you wonder if Netflix and Dreamworks and whoever is also in charge ever really wanted to give us LGBT representation and confirm Shiro is gay. Since they never really committed to the LGBT rep they allowed them to do.
And yeah, maybe no company wants to make a political stand on the still controversial LGBT issue, but by choosing not to make a clear stand you’re also kinda making a stand.
And this is a tough situation to be in as a fan, because the show is amazing and deserves all the praise and the creative team is the best and they worked so hard and fought for us, and you want this show to succeed and make money, but DW also did a big disservice to the LGBT community. So as fans what do we do?
Every single review that came out about season 7 praises the show but all agree on the poor handling of the LGBT representation.
So I guess praise the show but respectfully criticize the way it handled their LGBT characters. Because that wasn’t right and everyone needs to know that.
