Analysis Of ' Connor Manning 's ' Black Mirror '

The representation of the LGBT community in the film industry has long been a topic of much debate. In her article, “It Ain’t Easy Being Bisexual on TV,” Amy Zimmerman addresses this topic with specific interest on bisexual representation. By appealing to the logic of her audience, using an informal tone, and referring to relatable content, Zimmerman constructs an argument which persuades readers of The Daily Beast that the film industry is unfairly and inaccurately representing bisexuals. However, her argument holds little influence over those who are not movie fans or The Daily Beast readers.

LGBT representation is a touchy subject, and Amy is one of the few brave enough to explore the topic. However, she left more than a few holes in her argument, biting off more than she could chew. Her position on the misrepresentation of bisexuals in TV was ineffective at persuading her audience, because of her lack of concrete evidence, misdirection of audiences, and contradictory statements.

The uprising of gay and lesbian entertainment in shows such as “Will & Grace,” Showtime series “Queer As Folk” and “The L Word,” has overthrown the former cookie cutter husband and wife TV series. Gay and lesbian affairs in the media emerged quickly after the coming out of Ellen Degeneres in her hit sitcom, “Ellen.” The comedian now has her own daytime talk show, achieving mainstream popularity for obvious reasons: she’s funny, down-to-earth, and openly gay. In earlier decades homosexuality was previously limited to a closet of taboos, where no one knew about it, and no one admitted to it. Primetime programming would never house a show in which gay men and lesbian women openly discussed their sex lives and sexual preferences, nor a show that based its entire plotline on gay and lesbian couples.

Instead of being the sexually deviant bisexual character that is usually portrayed on television shows, she is the realistic monogamous, relationship-oriented bisexual who holds all of her relationships to very high importance. This progressive take on a bisexual character has only allowed for Grey’s Anatomy to open its audience’s eyes to a whole new take on queer characters. The fans and critics on After Ellen held an interview with one of the writers of Callie’s bisexual storyline and their response was that, “The story line offered both the drama Grey’s is known for and — despite some marginally exploitative threesome talk — a truthfulness network television has rarely achieved when it comes to lesbian relationship” (AFTER ELLEN Behind). Not only that, but Callie Torres’ character has given LGBTQ-identifying people a flicker of hope for a character on TV to actually understand their struggles and accurately depict their lives. With positive audience reception to Callie’s character, the progression of her bisexual identity only added more to the shows overall relevant and real depiction of a queer persons

In the hit television show “Black Mirror”, there are many scientific wonders exhibited that most see as science fiction. The odd reality of such, however, is that it is not fiction and most definitely not far away. In the episode “Arkangel”, we see an implant injected in children so that their parent(s) can monitor them. This implant can track the child's locations, heart rate, contents in blood stream, vision (and even filter it), and overall health. But is something like that really so far off?

Bisexual. Gay. Lesbian. These are all words that in today’s society are becoming more and more common to hear. Although just a few years ago hearing these words might have shocked some and angered many, they are becoming a part of today’s norm. People are broadening their views on sexuality and the possibilities open to them. Being bisexual, gay, or lesbian is slowly becoming accepted. On television a few years ago, a comedic sitcom Ellen attempted to make gays even more accepted by casting the main character as a gay woman. Sadly, Ellen failed because viewers weren’t ready for gays to be seen in a comfortable TV setting. The idea was too new and the show was before

The book “Black Like Me” presented a lot of interesting topics about racial diversity in the United States during the 1960’s. Howard Griffin embarked on a journey that no other man in this time would dare do. H decided to leave his privileged life as a white man behind and travel to the South and live as a black man, to really understand the pressures that they dealt with and to see things from a different perspective. The only real way to do so was to become a black man. He began taking medication that would darken his skin and the transformation that he made was incredible.

Amy Zimmerman's position on the difficulties of bisexuality on TV presents an intriguing argument. However, Her use of pathos and ethos were rendered ineffective because of her select choice of audience and use of real-life examples.

This homodomesticity, which can be seen in shows like Modern Family, has become the way to play to the masses. This issue then puts bisexuality and transgender identity at fault because they are never portrayed in a domestic light. Therefore, these heteronormative fans react just as Erica Hahn did with Callie in season 5 when she said, “you can’t ‘kind of’ be a lesbian” (Rhimes, Season 5 Episode 7). This is

Throughout the article Zimmerman uses television shows such as House of Cards and Game of Thrones to show examples of how media portrays bisexual men. Zimmerman found that in both shows the bisexual actors were muscular men with toned abs, and that these characters were limited in their roles. Zimmerman

“My sense is that American character lives not in one place or the other, but in the gaps between the places, and in our struggle to be together in our differences,” (Anna Deavere Smith). Anna Deavere Smith in her play, Fires in the Mirror, takes two different cultural communities and interviews their standpoint of the conflict at hand. The underlying racism present in this community is soon brewed into a pandemonium once the death of both a Black and Jewish individual take place. Fires in the Mirror is a social drama that presents a breach as several Jewish males accidentally kill a young Black boy in a car accident. Due to this incident, it causes a crisis within the community as a Jewish man is later murdered by Black males to pursue revenge for the cause of this breach. With a social drama following the guideline to find a redressive action to limit the spread of the breach, Smith in her interviews portrays that this community fails to do so. Because of this, the reintegration becomes an irreparable breach between the two. Consequently, due to the social clash between the Black and Jewish communities, the city of Crown Heights becomes socially segregated. Individuals interviewed in this play are heavily indulged in looking at what segregates them from one another that it leads to individuals pointing fault or playing victim, which inevitably will never lead to a resolution to this social crisis.

If a respectable mother is exclusive of her sexuality, gender non-conforming lesbian mothers already exist as illegitimate parents. The heterosexual matrix instils the notion that gender non-conformity marks sexuality – more specifically, non-heterosexuality. Female bodies stand antithetical to masculinity (Moody 2011). The subtleties of Stef and Nic’s masculinity mark their lesbianism in contrast to Lena and Jules femme because without the slight masculinity, Lena and Jules’ “lesbianism disappears, or, more accurately, never appears in the first place” (Martin 1996). This is perhaps why the characters all lean toward femininity. While the productions allow room for lesbianism, it is what Roseanne Kennedy refers to as an “absent presence” (Suk Gersen 2009, 513).

After watching the San Junipero episode of “Black Mirror”, it was clear there were many obvious similarities between “Black Mirror” and “Children of the New World.” Both works take place in a future universe, and involve many impressive technological improvements. One story from Weinstein's “Children of the New World” which can easily be paralleled with the observed episode of “Black Mirror” is “Migration.” In Migration, the main character and his wife Ann’s relationship is far from perfect, yet advanced technologies seems to be responsible for a major distraction from their marriage. The two have mixed thoughts, as Ann is on board with their virtual love lives, yet the main character is more uninterested in a virtual love life. In the San

Though we've seen more minority-race and LGB (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual) characters in recent years than in the last decade, most have been given back burner plots or used to prop others. Hopefully, Ainsworth being a popular actress and Kristina being the child of two major figures in GH history will mean the story of our first (possibly) bisexual female will gain the traction and attention it deserves (even though the last we saw on 4/27, she was going out with a guy. *Rolls eyes* They better not get chicken). It's been written extremely well so far, with detailed discussion about sexual development and usage of important terminology, such as "polysexual" and "queer" (3/23). When Parker visits Kristina, she argues that Kristina subconsciously fixated on her as opposed to another woman because she was essentially inaccessible--Parker is both married and her professor. The odds of them really being together were next to none; no realities to deal with (3/25). I said, "Ooh, psychology. Thoughtful." It appears that this isn't just about the sensationalism and drama of a hidden secret, and that the writers actually want to teach us something. Ainsworth superbly captures the fear, confusion and frequent deflection that comes with the journey of sexual identity. I was a crying mess with the suspension confrontation; she was using her entire body to emote, down to the point of visibly

Since I am open about being bisexual, my family, close friends, and my work are on board with it. When my girlfriend and I go to a club or a party, men usually ask if they “can watch” (Orndorff, 1999). It really rubs me the wrong way because it’s a constant question that we get, and very annoying might I add. Just because we are two women in a relationship doesn’t mean that we are in a relationship to satisfy every man’s dream of seeing two women being intimate. There are many stereotypes that people have of bisexuals. One stereotype that is placed on bisexuals is that “every bisexual person feels the need to be involved with both a man and a woman, or that they will have sex with anyone who is available to them (Orndorff, 1999). Lesbians, too, even have stereotypes about bisexuals. “Some lesbians believe, that bisexual women are not serious about any relationship they have with a woman, because (they believe) bisexual women would place more importance on any relationship with a man.” (Orndorff, 1999). Bottom line is that bisexuals do not conform to these stereotypes, only a handful do (Question 5).