Queer Characters in Television and Movies!

In order to talk about the types of queer characters that we like to see in the TV and movie scene, we must understand the difference between liberation and assimilation, as well as incidental and queer-focused media. 

Rue and Jules from Euphoria are a great example of queer-focused
characters, because they are both main focuses of the show
and Jules is able to explore trans issues, but her trans-ness
is not her only identity trait, nor is it the premise of the show.

Assimilation is the idea that minority groups or communities can blend in and "become the same" as the majority group or community; in this case, queer people assimilating with straight and cis people. 
In this context, liberation is the idea of existing as our own people and not complying with the standards and expectations that our inherently heterosexual and cisgender society imposes on us, as queer people.
Queer characters that would be considered "assimilating" are usually there as a token queer person, or a character that is just added in the story to gain brownie-points with queer people.

There are three ways queer assimilation in digital media usually presents, "safe & stereotypical", "empathy encouraging", and "comic relief".

Theo from The Chilling Adventures
of Sabrina is a really awesome
queer-focused character. I love that
Theo's transition is shown but it's
not made to be his only addition
to the story. Theo is a valuable
character to the show's plot line,
whether he had transitioned or not. 

The first type of assimilating characters are usually created as a safe, stereotypical, and sentimental character, so as not to "upset" straight and cis people. An example of this would be including a white stereotypical, cis, gay man as a side character, instead of a trans, person of colour, activist main character. These characters are either meant to be a "palatable" way for conservative and "traditional" people to ease into seeing queer representation in the media, or to be bare-minimum representation to gain clout from actual queer people. Christian from Clueless is a perfect example of a "safe" gay character; he is a side-character and is not necessarily important to the overall plot and message of the movie, nor does he pose a threat to the plot or message.

Klaus from Umbrella Academy
has received mostly positive
feedback from queer people.
He is an essential character, and
it is not revealed that he is queer
until almost the end of the
season, he also has an androgynous
look to him that many queer
audiences find relatable,
but he does suffer a tragedy, and
his relationship was only touched
on during a flashback.

The second types of assimilating characters are characters that suffer some sort of extreme tragedy like their own death or the death of someone they love. These characters are meant to incite empathy from the audience or increase shock value, and in a way kind of give the message of "queer people just have sad lives..." Richie Tozier from the IT movies is an example of an "empathy encouraging" queer character. He suffers an extreme tragedy, that then forces him to confront his sexuality. We do get some history with this character, but he is the only surviving character to not get a happy ending, and is forced to end the movie as a sad, closeted queer person.

The last type of assimilating characters are the "comic relief" characters, who are often portrayed as overly stereotypical and flamboyantly queer, kind of giving the idea that it's "funny" to be gay or flamboyant, and the audience is meant to laugh at this gay person. Damian from Mean Girls is a great representation of the "comic relief" gay, where we are meant to laugh at him and his personality, instead of appreciating the various types of queer people that exist in the world. He is stereotypical and effeminate, and he also gets bullied in the movie for those same reasons. This sends the message that "it's funny to be queer," and "queer people should not be taken seriously."

Every character on Pose is truly 
revolutionary. We have trans and gay 
people of colour at the forefront of the 
show, and the show tackles issues
that are very real for trans and gay
people of the time, but even still
today. These characters are the 
epitome of queer-focused, and I 
wish that we had more of this.

Queer characters that would be considered "liberated" are usually created by and for queer people, and are also usually the focus (or one of the focuses) of the piece.

These characters are not just added into the story in order to appeal to more queer audiences, and often these characters are heavily researched, played by queer actors, or based off of a real story from a real queer person's life. This is why queer characters created by queer people are usually more accurate and better received by queer consumers.

Another axis of what makes certain queer characters great and others not so much, is the prominence. By this, I mean is the character incidental, (ie: the character is a side note, not important to the plot, or the parents of a protagonist) or is the character queer-focused (ie: the queer character is the lead, or there are a group of queer leads exploring queer issues)? 

Willow and Tara from Buffy the
Vampire Slayer have been praised
for their accuracy, especially for
showing the struggles of coming
out to friends, and showing the
fluiditiy of sexuality.

In my experience, queer-focused characters generally get the best feedback from actual queer people.

Many queer people feel starved for representation because historically, there hasn't been adequate representation for our community. When a piece of media has mediocre, incidental queer representation it often gets more praise than necessary, for even including a queer character at all. To me, this seems like they are doing the bare minimum and expecting to get good feedback from queer people. 

Todd from BoJack Horeman has beena great example
of asexual representation in media. During the series,
Todd's aversion to sex is touched on but never
explained until season 3, after which he comes out
to the other characters and continues to become
more comfortable with his asexuality. I think it's also
 important to point out that in this universe, where
animals and humans coexist, the writers of the show
decided to make Todd (a human) asexual, because
asexuality is often depicted in a non-human
manner, such as aliens or robots.

The reality is, if we as queer people elevate queer creators and stories, and stop overly praising mediocre queer representation, that is how we will change the media.

So what do queer people want to see? Most of us really just want queer characters to be accurately portrayed, with their own story lines, and their own queer issues. I, for one, would love to see more asexual representation, and I would also like to see more types of queer people in the media; there are not just gay, straight, and bisexual people, so the media needs to accurately represent that. Queer characters should be just as diverse as cisgender and heterosexual characters. We could also use a lot more happy queer stories! 
Queer people look like many different things, and it is important to show that on movies and TV, in order to normalize it and create a more tolerant and accepting environment for us all, but especially for young queer folks. Just like anybody else, queer people want to see themselves in the media that we watch, so it's really important for us to be able to see a trans girl on a major TV network, or an asexual character on a prominent steaming service, or a lesbian couple on one of the biggest and most iconic TV shows of our generation. We should continue to elevate queer creators and actors, so that we as queer people, get to see ourselves in the content that we watch.