Television Tropes and the Deranged Lesbian/Bisexual

Television has improved its portrayal of lesbians and bisexuals in leaps and bounds since they first began appearing on the air. Many of the first lesbian and bisexual characters in television were villains, deranged women preying on innocent, pure women. These characters also died very often, a problem that persists to this day. Even many of Disney's villains are queer-coded (like "The Little Mermaid's" Ursula, the sea witch). The Deranged lesbian/bisexual trope persists to this day. What are some examples from television?

Television's deranged lesbians/bisexuals

"Jane the Virgin" gives us a perfect example in Rose, also known as Sin Rostro, drug lord. Rose has a long long list of people she's killed. Rose is a schemer, at the beginning of the series being married to Emilio Solano, but sleeping with his daughter Luisa Solano. Her only redeeming quality seems to be her love for Luisa. She is willing to change her identity and lie to Luisa to stay near her.

The now off-air "Warehouse 13" gives us the bisexual Helena G. Wells. HG is a gender-bent version of the writer Herbert George Wells (of War of the Worlds fame). She is so distraught at the death of her daughter that she conspires to end the world. Helena eventually got a redemption arc.

Willow Rosenburg from the classic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" went mad when her lover, Tara Maclay, died. She pulled all the dark magic out of powerful books and went on a rampage, flaying a man alive. Revenge was not enough for her, and she, like Helena, decided to end the world, a fate only narrowly averted with the help of her best friend. Willow Rosenburg went to magical rehab and also got a redemption arc.

Evony Fleurette Marquise, leader of the Dark fae on "Lost Girl" is always depicted as deprived. She's manipulative, and she uses her supernatural talents to steal the talents of artists and musicians. She does eventually become a more sympathetic character but she can never truly be seen as good.

Why does this happen?

So what does it mean that there are so many lesbian and bisexual characters that are deprived? Why does this happen? Back in the 1930s, films adopted the Hays Code. The Hays Code was a set of rules governing what you could put in a film. These rules were moral. One of the rules was that "perverse topics" could not be discussed. They got around this by punishing "perverse" characters. Have a homosexual character in your film? The homosexual is evil, so we know that homosexuality is bad. For good measure, the character will die too.

But why should these patterns persist to this day? Are we unable to break from what we've done before? Is it so difficult to give lesbian and bisexual characters a happy ending? Is it so difficult to NOT make them evil?

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be evil lesbian and bisexual characters, but the pattern is disturbing. People internalize what they see on tv, especially people who are already biased.We need more lesbian and bisexual heroes. Let's hope that with time, the trope fades.