(no subject)

[podling]

I just still don't get why Willow is a lesbian rather than bi.

I mean, okay, yes, it's an internal thing, and you can't understand other peoples internal identifications, never mind a fictional persons, but still. It seems that in TV world there are no bisexuals.

Comments

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

I think that's been remarked on before... along with something of a furoré over Tara's death. Apparently (unknown to Whedon when he was writing it) the sympathetic-gay-character-who-dies is a major stereotype.

You could also argue that we've only seen a few years of their lives; people often take a long time to decide which bit of the non-closet room to go stand in.

[podling]

I've seen the question before too, but every so often it just pops up in my head. But you're right, that's a very good point. People change continuously, and the non-closet (cool phrase, yeah!!!) is a big room...

And really, what I say and who I am, and how I self identify... I suppose aren't really necessarily huge public issues. They can be (well, I mean, not for me, I'm not famous or fictional) but it's an individual thing. Sorry... babbling again. :)

[darkmattr.livejournal.com]

See, thats the one thing I never got, I can totally understand her falling for Tara. (I'm a big believer in not labeling sexuality anyhow.) But saying she is a lesbian seems to negate her relationship with Oz and to a lesser extent Xander.

[podling]

That's how I feel about it too... you read my mind, howiiiiiieee!

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

Although I wouldn't normally accuse Joss of going for the simpler answer, it may just be that having Willow be strictly lesbian was thought to be easier for the viewers (and certainly gave Oz something to be upset about).

I was thinking that she'd said something along the lines of "Lesbian, now" once, but it's possible that I'm just thinking of the one Christmasy episode where she said, "Still Jewish here," and mixing it with the oh-so-famous "Bored now."

She said it a few times

[yduras.livejournal.com]

She said "Gay, now" or the equivalent a couple of times, and the other characters mentioned it prominently as well.

I took it as the producers (or network) being converned that the audience would not accept Willow as gay (because of prior love interests) and thought that acknowledging the bi issue would confuse the poor stupid audience. If she's still capable of loving men, they reason, then how can her love of a woman be true love? (Networks, esp UPN, are often stuuupid about social issues)

Re: She said it a few times

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think on some level I sort of thought of it as her making a yes/no answer even though she's really a maybe. So since she's not straight, her answer is gay, even if it's tempered by a 'mostly' or a 'sort of.' In fact, it's really the same deal as any minority group--if you're a little bit different, you're officially all different.

Re: She said it a few times

[toratigris.livejournal.com]

This is an answer that makes sense to me (I've often wondered about this too, Podling).

However, IIRC, in one of the commentaries in the season 4 DVDs, something was said about her relationship with Oz really being platonic, even though they'd had sex -- that they loved each other in a non-romantic way, but mistook it for romance because boy/girl is the norm. They didn't say that in so many words, mind you, but that seemed like the implication.

The problem I have with that is that it seems like such a retcon, 'cause the way she talked and felt about Xander in Season 1 did not seem like someone who had a crush solely because it was expected of her, and she just hadn't realized yet that women were her thing. That just doesn't feel true when I watch Season 1. So I think it just makes more sense to let her be bi.

[metaphorge.livejournal.com]

There are still those that deny that we exist.

[podling]

They suck!!!

[phantom_wolfboy]

Unfortunately, they don't. If they did, they might change their minds. ;-P

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Well, I think that's true of pop culture in general: bisexual people are invisible.

it may also stem from the male fantasy that any "lesbian" will be attracted to "the right man," not to mention that "lesbians" in porn appear to have sex with both men and women.

[missbiscuit.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I love Willow, and I Love Joss,
but I've wondered that many times.

Ah well, we'll have to hide in the TV Closet until someone delivers our Bi-Champion. ;)