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#10: Bela Malhotra (TSLOCG)

For my final blog post covering the show The Sex Lives of College Girls, I will be writing about the fourth and final roommate of the group at Essex College, Bela Malhotra. The show was written by Mindy Kaling, and Bela's character is a clear self-insert of some sort of Kaling's into the show. She is a previously very sheltered young Indian woman with a post-high school pre-college "glow up", looking to kickstart a career in comedy. Bela is quirky, extroverted, loud, and very sex-positive, a trait she makes very clear at the beginning of the show. Being both Indian and a girl proves Bela is intersectional through the categories of race and gender.

Bela's relationship with her parents is an evident back-and-forth struggle as a result of her upbringing in an Indian household. Being so sheltered growing up has enabled Bela to feel like she needs to catch up, sexually, to her peers at Essex. She is often admiring the ripped, strong, hot men around campus and is always looking for someone new to connect with. Her sex-positivity is refreshing and I a glad that the show normalizes it without demonizing it. However, her parents have instilled very high expectations in Bela at college. She feels she has to lie to her about her academic path and has her roommates do the same to cover for her. Bela wants to pursue comedy, yet she tells her parents she is studying neuroscience, going so far as to drag her parents into a science course during parents weekend that she is not even registered for. Her parents strongly approve of this facade, and this is an example of the "model minority" complex in regard to stereotypes around race. A lot of Asian families in the media place high academic expectations on their children due to the model minority that Asians are smarter and should become more successful. This trope takes a toll on Bela when she eventually reveals what her true intentions are at Essex, and though her mother is reluctant but supportive, her father storms off and does not approve.

Season one opens with Bela's enthusiasm to be initiated into The Catullan, which is an exclusive comedy magazine at Essex that features talented writers and that many of Bela's comedy heroes are alums of. Bela is so excited to try and get in but the club presents all sorts of conflicts. First off, she is told by one of the members that she is not likely to get in, since they "already have" two women in the club, implying that anymore are not needed. Not to mention, both leaders of the club are male. Bela does eventually get in but feels pressure to sleep her way up to the top, performing oral sex on 5 guys to get their vote, showing how she felt she could only by relying on sex rather than her talents because of the male-heavy and flawed system. When she does get in, she is respected for a short time as a great writer, until one of the leaders gets her alone and sexually assaults her on two separate occasions. This is the only instance in the show that a character experiences SA, and it does a great job of displaying the struggles of questioning whether or not and how to tell somebody about it and seek out help. Due to the constant chaos that is The Catullan, Bela eventually resigns to start her own, girls-only, comedy magazine.

Bela is a great character who breaks stereotypes and perfectly displays the independence that a lot of girls pursue when they enter college. Though like all characters, she is a little reckless and careless at times, Bela is overall a hardworking, funny, and supportive friend and roommate. I really enjoy watching TSLOCG and writing about it, and I cannot wait for future episodes to come.

Thank you for reading my blog posts!

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#9: Whitney Chase (TSLOCG)

For the third installment of my The Sex Lives of College Girls blog posts, I will be taking a look at Whitney Chase. Although Whitney's conflicts often involve her privilege as a wealthy senator's daughter, she displays intersectionality in other ways that do not involve socioeconomic status. Whitney is a young black woman and therefore displays intersectionality through the categories of race and gender. As always, spoilers for the show are ahead.

A lot of Whitney's struggles throughout the show so far surround her sexual and romantic relationships. Her first relationship that we open her story of the show with involves Dalton, the assistant coach of the soccer team she is on at Essex. She was manipulated through the power imbalance to fall in love with Dalton and feels pressure to stay with him and believes that he will break off his marriage for her. The power dynamic also installs anxiety in Whitney, as her relationship could impact her position on the team that she worked very hard for, causing her to experience anxiety during games. For obvious reasons, we can see that Dalton is taking advantage of a young woman here, but one scene, in particular, demonstrates how he is also taking advantage of Whitney being black. Dalton is discovered to be a married man in an unhappy relationship with a white woman, but prior to this discovery, he and Whitney share a conversation during a heated moment. It is then that he tells her has a preference for black girls, in a way that makes her feel flattered at the moment but sounds more like fetishization looking back. Dalton not only took advantage of Whitney being freshly 18 but also fetishized her skin color. The show does a great job of putting us in Whitney's shows to show how potentially romantic this relationship is but then snaps us back to reality to make us remember that it is between an 18-year-old girl and a married man who is also her coach and that it is toxic and harmful. We see this when Whitney confides in her friend and teammate Willow, about the affair, and she obviously expresses concern for her, as she should. After all information about the affair is revealed and Dalton is fired, the team comforts Whitney in a beautiful moment displaying girls supporting girls.

As the show goes on, Whitney becomes interested in science when she picks up a biochemistry course, and a lot of her scenes in the show take place in that classroom or a lab. There are two instances with different characters that individually offend her in terms of both her gender and race. To begin with, one boy called Andrew, who sat near Whitney during the class, constantly would poke fun at Whitney for not being smart enough for the class. Pointing out his higher test grades, suggesting she was not serious enough for the class, and more, Andrew is obviously taking digs at the fact that Whitney is a girl with no prior science experience, just a little bit of hope and interest, and therefore it is impossible for her to succeed in the class. The two later are assigned to be lab partners, and Andrew continues his verbal attacks until they eventually build up enough tension to become sexually involved (because this show cannot introduce a male character without having one of the four roommates hook up with him).

Prior to this plot line with Andrew, Whitney experiences benevolent racism through her teacher's assistant. Whitney is one of the two black girls in the class, and her TA constantly referred to her by the other girl's name. Though he claimed not to mean any harm, this is still racist as it is a microaggression. When she kindly confronts him about it, reminding the TA of her name and keeping calm, he breaks down. After this interaction, Whitney's TA is seen crying at every instance that he sees her, out of guilt and embarrassment.

Whitney is the only black girl out of the four main characters. Even so, it does a great job of realistically presenting her struggles without nearing any harmful stereotypes or anything like that. After many experiences with men who take advantage of her or hurt her, Whitney starts season 2 by vowing to focus on herself, which I cannot wait to see unfold.

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#8: Kimberly Finkle (TSLOCG)

In continuation of my The Sex Lives of College Girls blog posts, here I will be discussing another one of the main roommates attending Essex College in the series, Kimberly Finkle. Kimberly is the only roommate that is a part of the lower class, therefore, she demonstrates intersectionality in the categories of gender and socioeconomic status. She comes to Essex on a scholarship, coming from a small town in which she was the brightest. She struggles to fit in among her wealthy and intelligent roommates, finding the courses at Essex to be much more challenging than she is used to. Her contrast from the other roommates is extremely evident, she is much more out of touch in terms of fashion and party life, things that the other girls have the financial privilege to experience. As always, spoilers are ahead for seasons one and two of TSLOCG.

She is the awkward and geeky one of the four due to her being raised in a much different environment. The show explores her struggles in identifying romantic partnerships and navigating a social life for really the first time ever. Kimberly is a girl who is launched into college and experiences a whole new world of party life, boys, and just being a young woman overall, and it takes her much longer to adapt than the other characters.

One notable trait of Kimberly is her budding interest in politics and activism that comes about in season two. She organizes a union rally on campus, is constantly preaching for fair treatment for everyone and aspires to always be learning more about the world. One could infer that this interest in helping the world and educating herself is a result of Kimberly's upbringing. She is aware more than any other character of the difficulties of being a part of the lower class and lends her experience to aid her political and social endeavors.

Lastly, a key plot point of the show occurs after Kimberly gets caught cheating on an exam and loses her scholarship. Seeing as her scholarship was the only thing financially allowing her to attend Essex, she now must find a new way to fund her college years. She ultimately stumbles upon a pamp

There are numerous other examples of Kimberly's socioeconomic status and gender playing into her struggles as a character, and the show makes a point to never overplay or exaggerate her conflicts. Kimberly continues to thrive at Essex and create a great college experience for herself, despite the challenges that her intersectionality may present her with.

For the next part of my series of The Sex Lives of College Girls blog posts, I will be covering the character called Kimberly Finkle. Kimberly is the only one out of the four roommates that is a member of the lower class, allowing her to demonstrate intersectionality through the categories of gender and socioeconomic status. Upon entering Essex College, Kimberly is noticeably the most different from the rest of the girls. She is more sheltered and awkward, but eager to learn and fit in. She does not have the same financial privileges her friends have to experience high fashion and party life, making her more visibly geeky and quirky than the other girls. She got into Essex on a scholarship, as she was one of the smartest kids in the small town she is from. She quickly learns after arriving in Essex that the courses are much harder than she is used to, and must adapt to this new environment in which almost everything is unfamiliar.

As I mentioned previously, Kimberly is written to obviously contrast with her roommates. She is awkward and does not know how to navigate friendships, relationships, new academic and work experiences, and more. She is judged by a lot of the characters for dressing the way she does and acting a certain way, and she is the butt of many jokes in the group. There is even a reoccurring joke poking fun at how Kimberly is able to hook up with hot guys despite her appearance and demeanor. At the very beginning of the show, her roommates do everything to make her feel comfortable, integrating her into their friend group and making her feel loved despite her differences. A lot of times, Kimberly experiences guilt for how her friends provide for her and feels very out of place. For instance, when Bela suggests that she should buy an expensive dress like it's nothing, or when Leighton fully pays for her meal on a fancy night out. Though her friends act out of courtesy, Kimberly struggles to accept these favors without them feeling like handouts.

One plot line that Kimberly trails down is her adventure into politics and a budding interest in activism. Coming from a lower-class family, Kimberly knows all too well the struggles of getting along in life, and makes many efforts to help out around campus. She organizes and leads a union rally, educates herself on societal and environmental issues, and always lends a helping hand to those who need it. Although Kimberly is the victim of many financially oriented struggles, her background allows her to put her experiences into use in helping others and spreading positive messages.

One of Kimberly's biggest conflicts comes about when she is caught cheating on an exam and her scholarship gets revoked. As a result, she must find an alternative method of funding her schooling, as prior to her punishment, she solely relied on her scholarship for support. Kimberly stumbles upon a pamphlet for egg donating, and after long consideration, decides to follow through with the procedure with full support from her roommates and best friends. I think this plot point is a crucial part of her story and perfectly represents her intersectionality. On one hand, this is an experience in which her socioeconomic status presents her with a problem, and her gender provides her with a solution. Although all goes well in the end, the process is very draining both physically and emotionally, and Kimberly's strength as a young woman independently making it for herself is evident.

I think the show does a great job of representing Kimberly's intersectionality without overplaying it. Just like Leighton and the others, her identities cease to define her and she continues to develop as a character aside from them over time. There are many more examples of how this is so that I hope to see continue in the rest of season two and future seasons to come.

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#7: Leighton Murray (TSLOCG)

For my final four blog posts, I will be covering the four main characters of The Sex Lives of College Girls, which has its second season currently airing on HBO Max. The show is very realistic when it comes to the college experience for girls, besides the almost constant rotation of sexual partners for each girl from the very beginning of their first semester at Essex College, which I find entertaining, nonetheless. The Sex Lives of College Girls, or TSLOCG, for short, follows four new roommates at a well-respected college in Vermont, navigating academics, romance, drama, and more. Each roommate is very unique and all four demonstrate intersectionality.

Leighton Murray is the last addition to the group of roommates, being assigned to the girls after her previous roommates requested for her to be removed from their group. Her character is introduced as the snarky, rich, white girl from New York, who is very particular about how she looks and who she surrounds herself with. It is revealed later on that Leighton is a closeted lesbian, who will eventually open up to loving her roommates and becoming more humble. Her sexuality solidifies her intersectionality as being both gay and a woman, and this identity will cause her to struggle with familial pressures and her dating life.

Leighton struggles to appease her familial standards and especially struggles to compare to her (straight) older brother Nico. She worries that her sexuality will tarnish her parent's expectation of her to be a golden, perfect child, on top of her already feeling subpar to how easily Nico impresses them. Season 2, spoiler alert, introduces her making the decision to come out to her family after finally coming out to her friends and the college campus. Ultimately, her father is accepting and loving, despite Leighton's anxiety that her coming out will only add stress to his life. Coming from a family that strongly values its reputation makes things very hard for Leighton.

The show does a great job of representing the struggle of being a part of the LGBTQ+ and not wanting to conform to stereotypes. Leighton is assigned to volunteer at the Women's Center on campus, which is full of other purposely stereotypical queer women to juxtapose with Leighton's femininity. When she gets romantically involved with another volunteer, Alicia, who is out as a lesbian, Leighton is not ready to make things public. Alicia is the poster girl for a stereotypical butch, or masc, lesbian. Leighton's attraction to her scares her, as she admits that she does not want to turn out like Alicia if she were to come out and make things exclusive. The two have an argument about how Leighton does not want to have to dress, act, or talk like a lesbian, and Alicia takes offense to this, leading to their split. Both characters are valid in their feelings, and their dynamic brings up a common dilemma many queer people deal with in avoidance of coming out. Leighton wants to continue dressing femme, join a sorority, and live her life as she currently is, and TSLOCG lets her continue to do those things. Sorority life is also another challenge for Leighton. Her sexuality internally makes her different from the typical sorority girls, and although it is never a plot point mentioned, her closeted sexuality made all aspects of her life much more difficult, including Greek life. Once she comes out, she feels much freer to be herself, even discovering that there are other queer girls in her sorority. I have not seen many other shows tackle how stereotypes in media can lead to self-esteem issues and pressure to act a certain way to fit in.

Overall, Leighton is one of many characters in this up-and-coming comedy and drama series that accurately displays intersectionality and real-life issues involving being a queer girl. I look forward to continuing to see her character branch out and find herself more as the show commences.

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#6: Enid (Wednesday)

The newest Addams Family adaption in the form of Netflix's Wednesday introduces a school of outcasts. As I did for my previous blog installment on Loki, this analysis is fictitious. I wanted to look at Enid Sinclair, Wednesday's polar opposite roommate. Spoilers ahead for the first season of the show. The school they attend, Nevermore, the school that they attend, hosts all types of "outcasts" who are looked down upon by the rest of the town as minorities not to be trusted, such as sirens, vampires, gorgons, psychics, and more. Enid Sinclair comes from a family of werewolves, marking her as a representation of intersectionality since she is an outcast, more specifically a werewolf, and also a young woman.

Enid faces familial pressures due to being the only girl out of her siblings and being the only one in her family who has yet to "wolf out". "Wolfing out" is a process comparable to puberty for humans, in which werewolves experience their first transformation into full wolves. Up until the very end of the first season, the closest Enid gets to wolfing out is her nails growing into claws when she gets worked up, unlike her brothers who vary in age, yet have all had this experience already. I found it interesting that the writers chose the claws to be the only werewolf aspect that Enid has until later in the season. This choice could be analysed as highlighting her femininity in a family of wolves made up of only boys, seeing as her nails are painted in colorful pastels. During Parents' Weekend at Nevermore, Enid and her mother engage in conflict as she pesters her daughter on her attempts to "wolf out". The only thing her mother cares to talk about is if Enid feels she is close to wolfing out yet. Mrs. Sinclair even goes as far as to suggest summer camps that specialize in encouraging young werewolves to hurry up the process.

Although I have been discussing Enid's werewolf identity as a race, this scene in particular could be discussed as potentially relating to sexuality and conversion camps, seeing as Enid is portrayed as the "other" among her other siblings. That, as well as the fact that the actors of the show have teased a relationship between Enid and Wednesday. Because of this, Enid's mother's urge for her to be normal, in her terms of what normal should be, is not too far of a reach for potentially being a message on sexuality and homophobic parents. The show does do a great job of discussing tensions between mother and daughter, both with Enid and her mother as well as with Wednesday and Morticia. Enid's difficulty with her mother would likely not exist if she weren't a girl, and she is constantly being compared to the men in her life. Their quarrels are comparable to how difficult it is to be a young girl with pressures from her mother, whether it be about what she wears, eats, how she's performing in school or extracurriculars, if she is polite or ladylike enough, or, if she has wolfed out yet. When Enid does eventually wolf out, it is on her own terms, rather than her mother's.

Overall, Enid being both a werewolf and a girl led to her struggles in appeasing her mother's expectations and catching up to her brothers' position as wolves. The tension between her and her mother would not likely have been a plot point if Enid were have been a boy, and her girlhood makes her susceptible to her mother's criticism. Overall, I look forward to seeing Enid explore her strengths as both a young girl and now wolfed-out werewolf in the future seasons of Wednesday.

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#5: Loki (MCU)

This blog post is going to take a more fictional, or I guess you could say mythological, turn. I want to look at the intersectionality of Loki Laufeyson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the only characters confirmed to be queer in the MCU. As confirmed by actor Tom Hiddleston, who portrays Loki on-screen, Loki is genderfluid and bisexual. Although, the character currently uses he/him pronouns, seeing as his identity was only confirmed after the release of his most recent appearance in the MCU. On top of his already intersectional identity, Loki can be considered a racial minority.

Loki was born a Frost Giant and is native to Jotunheim. As a baby, he was adopted by Odin and was raised as an Asgardian. His Asgardian upbringing is probably responsible for his comfort in his sexuality and identity. This isn't something as confirmed in the MCU, however, in the Marvel comics and in Norse mythology, Asgardian gods and the people of Asgard are very fluid and comfortable with their sexuality. Unlike the people of Earth or Midgard, as the Asgardians would refer to it as, Asgard does not have a social standard for gender expression and sexuality. Other Asgardian characters, such as Valkyrie, are also queer, and this is something that is normalized and celebrated in their culture. In Thor: Love and Thunder one could even argue that Thor himself, perhaps the buffest, masculine hero in the MCU, was somewhat queer-coded in a scene involving Star-Lord. Overall, it is safe to say Loki's identity as a bisexual, gender-fluid person has not caused him any self-esteem issues in Asgard because there is no stigma against it.

There is no doubt that Loki did evil things. I mean, he did literally attempt to rule Earth after unleashing an army of aliens onto New York. However, even before that, he was considered different from his adored brother Thor, and when he was revealed to be a Frost Giant, the way people viewed him drastically changed. Being a racial minority has caused Loki a lot of anguish and could arguably attribute to his villainized reputation. Pure-bred Asgardian Thor Odinson has been admired since he was a child, he was chosen to be King of Asgard over his brother. Loki is unwanted and misunderstood, he is rejected from Jotunheim and just does not compare to Thor. Even though he was confirmed to be queer eventually, Loki is a perfect example of how LGBTQIA+ audiences can relate to a character that embodies the "queer experience".

Loki does however mention a struggle to find the right person in a conversation with a variant of himself, Sylvie, in his Disney+ series titled Loki. The two reminisce on their past relationships, and it is in this scene that Loki is confirmed to be bisexual. He describes his experience with romance, but how it is never anything real. Considering he has pursued partners of different genders, one could theorize that it obviously was not his gender expression or sexuality that put off potential suitors, but maybe his race. This is not confirmed and is just a theory, but seeing as both Asgardians and humans alike judge Loki based on him being a Frost Giant, it would not be too far off to say that his romantic partners did the same. As Loki puts it simply, "Love is... something I have to have another drink to think about".

Although his intersectionality is not the direct source of Loki's problems during his time in the MCU, it does make for great representation and gives audiences a different perspective for why he is the way he is. Loki's identity offers room for fans to not only theorize but also relate and find solace in his character to be sort of a "comfort character". He is a very complexly written character with many more experiences and development to discuss outside of the topic of gender, race, and sexuality. I look forward to season 2 of Loki and seeing if the writers explore Loki's identity further. Loki is an iconic staple in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Comics, and his identity makes him a great example of queer representation in superhero movies.

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4: Jules (Euphoria)

Euphoria is a show known for expressing the storylines of each of its characters in depth throughout its theatrical, dramatized, episodes. Whether or not it does a good job in doing so is up for debate, however, it does do well in terms of representing different identities. Jules Vaughn is one of the few characters on the show that express intersectionality, being both trans and queer. Throughout the show, we see Jules as someone who is very fluid in her gender expression and sexuality, and her character as well as the rest of the show overall does not use labels explicitly. However, her experience as a trans woman and queer relationships go hand in hand to show the overlapping struggles of her intersectional identity.

Jules is introduced to the show as the new girl, and this trope fits her personality very well. She moves to a new town, and keeps herself mysterious, and is always on her toes, finding new people to meet and new things to do. However, her carefree nature does not overshadow the issues she faces, particularly in the first season (I will argue to my grave that the second season failed to give her character the attention she deserves). At the very beginning of the show, we see Jules strive for male validation, using hookup apps to appeal to men who would fetishize her transness and femininity. Jules' fluidity would be manipulated by the men she meets on the app, Nate's dad in particular, as they only see her as something taboo, and don't see her for the woman she is. When Nate begins his own fascination with Jules, he sees her as something otherworldly and doesn't really see her as equal to other girls like Maddy. It is unclear whether or not Jules is aware that she is being taken advantage of to fulfill the fantasies of the men she pursues, but we do know that she craves the attention she gets either way. This could be due to her traumatic childhood in which her mother was unaccepting of her transition, and therefore Jules seeks out (sometimes older) sexual partners to fill the hole. This plot point is mainly reliant on her gender expression, however, when tying in her sexuality, there is a lot to say about Jules' commitment issues and need for spontaneity.

Jules has an on again off again relationship with Rue, who, like Jules, never explicitly labels her sexuality. Jules' character experiences a lot of the same hypersexualization I discussed in my blog post about Darren from Heartbreak High. A lot of trans or gender non-conforming characters in media are oversexualized, and Jules is not an exception. It is because of this treatment of her character that she can never really settle down in a relationship with Rue, which causes a strain on their relationship. Being bottled up for so long has caused Jules to crave new things and new people constantly, which is something that scares Rue who only is interested in Jules. Neither perspective is better than the other, but it just shows how their different pasts, and different identities because of their pasts lead to different preferences for relationships.

On a more positive note, Jules' intersectional identity allows for a beautiful character who is unapologetically herself. She is happy with the fluidity of her gender and sexuality, and how they intertwine with each other. Jules is not tied down by any given label and even explores not conforming to any gender in the show's special episodes and second season, a great contrast to her struggle to achieve femininity in season one. Many people overlook Jules' special episode in between the two seasons, but I think it provides a great outlook on how identity is fluid and everchanging. In what I think is the most well-written scene of the season, Jules expresses to her therapist that she wants to feel, "as beautiful as the ocean". She is alive, and not bound to femininity or fragility or the male gaze.

What I really like about Euphoria is that it talks about the issues teens deal with regarding gender and sexuality, without explicitly putting labels on the characters, allowing anyone to relate to their experiences. Jules is one example of how anybody exploring their gender and sexuality can find solace in her character's journey.

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#3: Drea Torres (Do Revenge)

Do Revenge is a Netflix original film that came out earlier this year, and it is a perfect representation of female rage that follows two teenage girls getting revenge on people who have done them wrong. I could write an entire blog post about this film's amazing themes, plot twists, and deeper meanings, and how it could possibly live up to be the Heathers or Mean Girls of our generation, but instead, I'll focus on one of our two protagonists: Drea Torres.

The two main characters include Drea and Eleanor, played by Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke, respectively. These two characters contrast each other greatly, but both demonstrate intersectional identities. Eleanor is a queer woman, but she is white, unlike Drea who is a Latina woman of the lower class. Although Eleanor's sexuality is a huge marker in her character's storyline, I'd like to talk about Drea, whose consequences from "doing revenge" are made greater due to her economic status.

The setting of film takes place at a very established private school in a very wealthy area. All of the characters, except Drea, are exceptionally rich. The film makes even makes a spectacle of how ridiculously wealthy the characters are. Drea manages to get into the high school on a scholarship and will continue to use her intelligence as her main tool over her peers who rely on their financial power. She thrives off of her personality and social status, having made it with the popular group despite her thrifted fashion and their designer getup.

Eleanor and Drea team up to take down each other's enemies. Eleanor is getting revenge on Carissa, who outed her at a young age and made everyone view her as a predatory lesbian, meanwhile, Drea is seeking out revenge on her ex-boyfriend Max, who leaked her nudes. Messiness ensues, obviously, and (Spoiler Alert, sorry) Eleanor reveals that Drea was actually the one to start the rumor about her after Eleanor entrusted her and came out to her. Eleanor hatched a plan from the very beginning to ruin Drea's life, after telling her about the rumor "Carissa" made and Drea failed to remember her past self's, mistake. It's a messy plot twist and hard to explain, so just watch the movie, trust me.

So, with Eleanor taking on the villain role, she uses Drea's vulnerability as a Latina woman of the lower class, being raised only by her mother, against her. Eleanor knows that her coming from a wealthy white family would protect her from the consequences of her own revenge, whereas Drea would not face the same treatment. As the plot unfolds, Drea loses her scholarship to Yale, and Eleanor threatens to plant drugs on her poor, unsuspecting mother, to send her to jail and leave Drea helpless. The stakes are much higher for Drea, as we learn that Eleanor barely has to try to make it in with the popular girls, as she can rely on her economic status and reputation, and survive off of that alone. If Eleanor fails to successfully "do revenge", not much is lost. But, if Drea fails, she could face charges, lose academic opportunities, endanger her family, and more.

Even before the big plot twist where everything goes down, Drea's intersectionality plays a big role in her motivation to get revenge on Max. Following Max leaking the video of her, he uses the attention to rebrand his reputation as a male feminist, using his platform as the school's golden boy to advocate for women's rights and feminism. Max uses his privilege as a cis-gendered, straight, white, male to bring attention to issues that do not involve him, which greatly angers Drea who wants her voice to be heard.

For a film that's primary focus is not race and class, there is still a lot to take away from its plot in relation to these two topics. I would recommend watching the film for a deeper understanding of Drea's situation, but overall it does a great job of portraying privilege and how equal actions can result in unequal consequences for different types of people. Do Revenge is a thrilling dark comedy that targets all sorts of important issues in a format easy for audiences of teenagers and above to digest and enjoy.

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#2: Darren Rivers (Heartbreak High)

Heartbreak High is the 2022 Netflix reboot of the 90s Australian teen drama of the same name. The reboot stays true to the gritty and provocative nature of the original but features a much more diverse group of characters, many of which, similar to Glee, represent intersectional identities. For example, Quinni is an autistic lesbian, Amerie is a South Asian woman, Sasha, is a queer Asian woman, and Ca$h is (presumed) gay and asexual.

The character I will be looking at for this blog post is Darren Rivers, who is half-black, nonbinary, and queer. Heartbreak High is a show that references a lot of modern media and Gen Z internet lingo. The reboot makes a point to be very on par with the culture of the times. The archetypes of LGBTQ+ figures in modern pop culture clearly have a strong influence on Darren, causing the character to experience a lot of struggles related to adhering to the expectations of their identity.

A lot of times in media, we see queer characters, queer black characters, in particular, being oversexualized. This trend in media is something Darren is aware of, and they make attempts to remain consistent with that stereotype, unaware of its harm to their mental health. Darren makes comments about always being on the lookout for someone new to pursue and hook up with, and it is seen as a normal thing for them. However, they struggle to commit to their developing relationship with Ca$h, a character who is still exploring his sexuality and cannot express the same lust and desire that Darren represents. Ca$h values quality time and romance, which is something that Darren has never experienced before and they are not familiar with. Darren's reliance on being oversexualized in order to validate their identity results from modern media that normalizes hookup culture.

Darren is confident in his identity, which I consider to be very good representation considering how many media make their queer characters' identity crisis the main storyline or character arc. However, Darren's relationship with Ca$h is not as easy to accept as their identity was, and this goes to show how the media lacks a good representation of wholesome queer relationships, making hookup culture the standard. So when it comes down to relationships and romance, queer kids and characters like Darren get lost in their feelings, as the media they consume does not always accurately portray healthy queer relationships.

Being both nonbinary and queer grants Darren the freedom of existing without labels, and when Ca$h, a cis man questioning his sexuality, is looking for answers and confirmation about his identity and relationship with Darren, they become confused and frazzled as a result. Ca$h's confidence in his gender identity gives him the societal privilege to fall into a binary, which is something that does not align with Darren. Ca$h's character demonstrates throughout the show the privilege he has as a cisgendered white man, who falls into the societal norm since he appears just like everyone else. His exploration into his asexual identity is just as valid as a struggle, but not as visible as Darren's gender, race, and sexuality.

Darren's race does not play as big of a role in their intersectionality as their gender identity and sexuality, but there is some overlap. Their white father is much tougher on them, as he struggles to accept that his child is not the son he wants. On the other hand, Darren's black mother is more accepting of their gender identity, as she is more understanding of what their struggles may be, now being a minority as both black and nonbinary. Darren is also one of the very few black characters in their friend group. Although there are other queer and non-white friends of theirs, there is not a single other character who shares the same identity as Darren, which is a circumstance that would make it difficult for any person to feel related to in times of confusion.

Overall, Darren is one of the countless characters in Heartbreak High that demonstrate what an accurate intersectional identity looks like. This show does wonders for representation and acknowledges how the media fails to create fair and accurate portrayals of minorities a lot of the time. As a result, Heartbreak High does a good job of showing how real teenagers would respond to the expectations put on them by modern media and pop culture.

[cyrasblogproject2022]

#1: Santana Lopez (Glee)

The show Glee is known for overplaying stereotypes of marginalized groups, and whether or not it is making fun of itself is up for debate. There are so many characters that I could have chosen from this show, after all, as Will Schuester infamously stated, "You're all minorities, you're in the Glee Club". Various identities, including intersectional ones, are seen in the main cast and supporting characters and Santana Lopez, a queer Latina, is no exception.

Santana has a long-lasting relationship with Brittany S. Pierce, who is a white bisexual woman. Santana faces familial pressures to hide her sexuality from her grandmother, whose culture has closed her off from agreeing with her sexuality. Brittany never faces the same level of cultural pressure as someone who is also gay, but white at the same time. This causes a strain on their relationship, and eventually on towards marriage, as Santana struggles with the guilt of marrying a woman against her family's wishes, and whether or not to even invite her grandmother to the wedding. In one episode, after taunting her classmate Finn, a straight white male, continuously, he impulsively outs Santana as a lesbian to the entire school, not understanding the effects this would have on her relationship with her family. He apologizes in song to her later on, and we as the audience are expected to forgive him, despite him permanently damaging her life at home.

The men of color in the show are not presented with the same stereotypes that Santana is as a Latina. Santana is rumored to be Afro-Latina, since Naya Rivera, the actress who portrayed her was, but this was never confirmed. The incredibly toxic categorization of Latinas as sexual, angry, sassy beings is obvious in the way Santana's character is written. While her sexuality is written to display the reality of cultural differences affecting LGBTQIA+ people of color, the writing is extremely flawed in portraying Santana's ethnicity apart from stereotypical depictions. Those around her expect her to be witty and rude and are surprised when she shows any softness or tender emotions. The show even goes as far as to expand upon the trope of her being overly aggressive, having Santana being held back by friends when certain other characters would piss her off, exclaiming that she would have to "go all Lima Heights adjacent" on them. The show frames these outbursts to be funny BECAUSE Santana is Latina, and it is expected of her to be the hostile one. Prior to her discovery of her sexuality and her relationship with Brittany, the two girls were known for getting with a lot of the boys in school. Brittany portrayed the typical dumb blonde stereotype, and not many other characters noted her conquests with the other students. However, several plot points were made around Santana being involved with a lot of the schoolboys, and the writing really played into the promiscuous label of Latinas. I find it strange how the two girls had practically the same body count, but only Santana's character was written to reflect her sexual experiences. Santana was written as erotic and sexually persuasive most times, meanwhile, Brittany was just a girl who had sex. I only wish the show would have dipped more into her vulnerable side.

I will say that as the seasons went on, Santana's character became more fleshed out and strayed away from being the sexy Latina lesbian cheerleader archetype. She married Brittany in a touching double wedding episode where she and her grandmother made amends. She has real-life struggles after high school, trying to pursue her passion for acting, jumping from small commercials to Broadway. And after actor Cory Monteith's passing, in the tribute episode to his character, Finn, Santana sings a beautiful rendition of "If I Die Young", depicting her ability to forgive and care for others despite her solid exterior. Santana still had her moments of poorly written stereotypical cringe but became her own complex confident character towards the end of the show.

Santana Lopez is one of many characters on Glee that represents intersectionality, but I find her storyline to contain the most struggles relating to her identity. The show accurately portrays a lot of the issues Santana deals with pertaining to the correlation between her sexuality and her ethnicity, however, it does perpetuate hegemonic and harmful ideas. The actress who portrayed Santana Lopez for six seasons of Glee, Naya Rivera, passed in 2020. Her performance will remain memorable for her fan-favorite character and her impeccable representation of queer Latinas.