Tag: lexa deserved better

What TV Can Learn From ‘The 100’ Mess

Two years ago, journalist Mo Ryan gave voice and validation to an abused and heartbroken fandom.  

The response of the showrunner has, outside of a few unenlightening interviews, has been disappointing. Rothenberg live-tweeted the March 10 episode of the show as if thinkpieces and damning critiques were not still being churned out. In the limited array of interviews he did in conjunction with the March 3 episode, he has given little indication that he understands the depth of the sense of betrayal or the multitude of reasonable objections to the death story line. Since March 3, it has fallen to co-executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who wrote the episode, to engage with fans in any significant and meaningful way, but his compassionate and committed response has only highlighted Rothenberg’s abdication of responsibility.

What TV Can Learn From ‘The 100’ Mess

When I see people still not getting why the Lexa/Clexa fandom is still upset –

Imagine if T’Challa or Wonder Woman had been killed off in their respective films.  

After all the celebrating, the joy, the happiness of what these films represent to marginalised communities who never see a black or female lead superhero – imagine the anger and resentment and disappointment and heartbreak of losing that very important character within the space of an hour or two.  It’s over.  Done.  No sequel. 

Imagine all the little kids who look up to T’Challa, or Diana Prince, who finally got to dress up like a hero that looks like them.  Imagine their heartbreak. 

We’ve been watching for a while now, from Wonder Woman’s arrival to Black Panther – and the reaction from audiences and culture critics alike are positive, energetic validations of what these characters mean not only to them, but to society as a whole. They matter.   

‘Wakanda Forever!’ has been adopted, as has Wonder Woman’s cross-armed ‘boosh’ move.  People are happy and it’s good.  

For a few precious months, that was the Clexa fandom. They were happy, joyous, excited for this representation they never get to see.  Then she was killed and it was over.  

And it didn’t help that it was on purpose, that the one who did it had twisted this vulnerable audience for his own goals and got away with it.

For a short period of time, Lexa was the closest thing to a queer superhero we had seen (even after Xena, who wasn’t allowed to be ‘out’ at the time – Lexa explicitly was).  And she was killed off.  

Imagine someone doing that to Black Panther or Wonder Woman. 

Seems stupid, doesn’t it?  

We agree.  And it still hurts.

pr1deandj0y:

realshortfilm:

Today is the two year anniversary of Lexa’s death on the 100, a moment that was brutal for many of us in the LGBTQI community and also the inspiration for this film. It reflects my own experiences of the time, and I hope that it will resonate with many of you and your own experiences. 

A change is coming for those of us who do not feel properly represented in television today, but for now, I can only hope that this will help support you in the interim. 

Thank you for creating such a powerful piece! (This is really well done, Clexakru. If you get a moment, you should def watch!)

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

On a day when Clexas were remembering representation taken from them, Jason Rothenberg decided, for some reason, to tweet images from the upcoming season, at the same time.  A ‘random’ Saturday that just happened to be the second anniversary of Lexa’s death. It follows his return to regular tweeting – including blocking all Clexas who dare approach him. Doubtless, he doesn’t want anyone raining on what may very well be his last parade. Didn’t stop him raining on others (and, thus, encouraging his followers to do so as well). 

This one tweet in particular irked quite a few – after all, Bellamy is a character who participated in a massacre (that led the chain of events resulting in Lexa’s death), murdered two messengers in cold blood – and suffered no consequences, paid no penance.  Rothenberg calls him ‘valiant.’

Does he think this of himself after doing harm to others he paid no price for?  

Rothenberg couldn’t look the audience he deliberately misled, lied to and harmed, in the eye, couldn’t behave as a responsible adult who had hurt children, really, couldn’t apologise directly, honestly or work to show he actually cared, that it was all a mistake. 

One now can only think it never was.  He knew what he was doing when he used a vulnerable group of people to please himself.  His actions today were nothing short of spiteful.

Well, fuck you too, Jason.  

The 100 Biggest, Most Important Pop Culture Moments of the Last 10 Years: #81-100

leeshy-loo-squid-squad:

94) Lexa dies on The 100
Television shows have been pulling the “Bury Your Gays” trope for decades, but the outcry that met this particular character death actually brought about some change. In season three of The 100, Grounder leader Lexa was killed shortly after having sex with series protagonist Clarke. This was mostly because actress Alycia Debnam-Carey had left for a starring role on Fear the Walking Dead, but that didn’t change the fact that it was yet another example of a LGBT character being murdered shortly after finding love. Fan response was immediate and intense, tuning out of the show in protest, unfollowing the creators on Twitter en masse, and raising thousands of dollars for an LGBT suicide prevention organization. Their reaction led showrunner Jason Rothenberg to apologize in a post on Medium, and Lexa was later brought back in the season three finale, giving her and Clarke the reunion fans were hoping for.

93) The Lost finale
Lost was the first modern genre show that had the ability to turn almost anyone who watched it into a fan. People of every age, gender, race, and level of nerdiness could be heard talking together about about smoke monsters, time travel, and frozen donkey wheels over the course of its 2004-2010 broadcast. When the appropriately titled “The End” aired on May 23, 2010, people all over the world were rapt, waiting for the answers they’d been hoping for all along. That… didn’t happen. But the collective discourse about it—the frustration, the confusion, the anger, even enjoyment—was a singular moment in the expansion of nerd culture to the mainstream, and one not truly replicated until Game of Thrones.

This article’s take is lazy.  Lexa was killed off entirely because that is what Jroth wanted for his story. The constant insinuation that she was going to another show (which she had already gone to when filming series 2) doesn’t work: she might never have become a regular on the 100, but killing off the character was entirely about the story they wanted to tell. Via Javier Grillo Marxuach, we were told that the production/writing team knew and understood the Dead Lesbian Cliche – they just felt they were superior to it. They had many options for this character. They chose death.  

This article also insinuates that Lexa’s appearance in the series 3 finale was some sort of capitulation to the fans: we all know it wasn’t, it was filmed long before 3×07 aired.  

I don’t know anyone who believes Jason Rothenberg’s ‘apology’ as anything other than an excuse. He never truly acknowledged what he did or interacted with fans afterward, unlike Grillo Marxuach, who demonstrated what real leadership with a sense of responsibility looks like. 

The 100 Biggest, Most Important Pop Culture Moments of the Last 10 Years: #81-100

commanderlexaofthegrounders:

Personajes lésbicos y shows de la TV que han marcado pauta for Lesbian Visibility Day (via Lesbicanarias)

LEXA

There may be no such thing as our Heda. The 1OO got off to a good start, playing on the small screen the story based on the Kass Morgan novel series.

It got even better when it revealed that our protagonist, Clarke Griffin, is a bisexual girl. And her epic sapphic love story was shared with one of the best (if not the best) lesbian character on TV.

Lexa was the absolute and fabulous leader of Earth survivors of a land devastated by nuclear wars (which thanks to Trump we see less and less as science fiction and more as a possibility).

Clexa returned the hope and opened the doors to a world of wonderful possibilities where we could see ourselves reflected on the small screen and feel good about it.

Until the creator got the fumes to the head and destroyed everything.

Lexa inspired so much that her death triggered an impressive chain reaction of lesbian activism.

Until the creator got the fumes to the head and destroyed everything.