The casting for any visual media is significant to the impact and credibility of the entertainment. My opinion on casting actors for queer roles is they must have at least one queer actor within the show. It’s like actors ie Tom Holland playing American characters though he himself is British, no one takes issue with that so I believe there’s no issue with a queer character being played by a straight person, as long as there is still representation from queer actors within the material. I firmly stand by this belief, on one condition. The straight person must be positively representing queer people and not making fun of them through their acting of the character. Additionally, something I’ve seen in many movies is trans people, typically white men playing trans women. This is NOT ok as it tends to encourage transphobia by making fun of trans people and displaying that trans people are only trans for personal gain and aren’t really trans in their day-to-day life. This is UTTERLY UNACCEPTABLE and UNTRUE, the harshness from this and harm stirred up by cis actors playing trans characters is contrasted by trans characters being played by trans actors as it shows transphobic people trans people are always trans and don’t “put it on” for the camera. 

In summary queer people can be portrayed by straight counterparts with the expectation that queer representation is still incorporated into the visual entertainment. Trans people however are only truly given representation, without malicious intent or mockery, if trans characters are played by those a part of the trans community! 

Thanks for taking the time to read about my opinion on the matter!! 😊

-Byeeeeeeee (Kennedy the menace they/them) >:))))

First of all “queer characters in media,” I know, it’s not exactly the flashiest title. If you manage to think up a catchier name let me know! 

With my “admirable” talent for unoriginal, bland, and wordy titles out of the way. Let’s approach conversation that’s both relevant to our topic and, hopefully, engaging.

The existence and portrayal of queer characters in media is highly important! (As with any minority having representation). As a queer person myself I’m blogging about LGBTQ+ characters and actors, (I can’t promise that I will not also be mentioning queer celebrities who aren’t actors) on the basis of my ability to relate to them. 

I have to admit I’m BAFFLED, we are already this far into this post and I haven’t told you about a single queer character! That changes IMMEDIATELY!!

 

Have you ever watched Brooklyn-99, or at least heard of it? Fan-freaking-tastic, then you may know Rosa Diaz, the badass detective from Brooklyn-99. 

Rosa happens to be an excellent example of bisexual representation, the show displays her in relationships with both women and men, not dismissing her identity in the slightest without making her whole character design revolve around her sexuality.

Another example of a well written queer character is Kai Bartley, a neuroscientist, side character, and love interest in Grey’s Anatomy. Dr. Bartley has a huge impact in being the first nonbinary character to appear in the 18th season of Grey’s Anatomy. Now I do want to acknowledge the fact that there are other LGBTQ+ characters featured on this show, however, out of the few episodes I’ve seen of Grey’s Anatomy, one of them included Kai, so that’s is the character I’ve chosen.

Now, before going into depth by mentioning more characters I’d like to compare these two. A similarity between them is they both are represented by actors who identify with the labels their characters do. Rosa Diaz or Stephanie Beatriz is a bisexual woman. Kai Bartley or

E. R. Fightmaster is a nonbinary actor. This is important as casting queer actors in shows with queer characters is favorable to casting their straight or cis counterparts. Another similarity that brings me to my next point is casual representation, or in these cases the lack there of. Both Rosa and Dr. Bartley mention and explain their identity, which is not the case for all characters shown in media. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to have characters that hold the viewers hand and walk viewers through the idea of other identities and how struggles like coming out take a toll on queer people. 

This is not to say that characters who are simply themselves without explanation, also known as casual representation, aren’t also completely valid. For example, Luz and Amity from the Owl House are an adorable couple and neither of them at any point in the series give an explanation about their sexualities, they are women in a romantic relationship together and no one questions them about their identities.  

Another couple in the Owl house is Raine and Eda, Raine is nonbinary yet never has to mention their pronouns a single time, everyone simply reads the room and addresses them with their proper pronouns. With all these examples, no one explains their gender identity or sexual orientation.  

I know this post has been a bit all over the place and I apologize for this, however I would like to thank you for reading this! 

One last thing before I go, I wanted to let you know that I WILL be mentioning the importance of casting appropriate actors for their roles, or at least my take on the matter.

Thanks for reading! >:)

-Byeeeeeeee (Kennedy the menace they/them) >:))))

Say hello to my first blog reflection post!! Are you excited??? Cause I am!

This post is a reflection on my first few pieces of work in Maker (which is essentially an ADST class) and how they represent who I am as a PLP learner!

The evidence I will be including is:

My digital selfie, laptop Memoji, and user manual.

The first thing I  turned in, in Maker, was my digital selfie. ↙️

The goal of this assignment was to learn and display my understanding of taking photos and using the Apple Pencil to enhance a photo, while explaining a quality that I posses as a learner. 

I believe myself to be a team player and a person who encourages everyone to be heard and participate. I represented this by creating a human pyramid with two of my friends. If I were to remake this, I would change the drawings to be more relevant to team building and supporting those around me! On the other hand I would 100% keep the human pyramid.🤣😂👍 

This is my Memoji! 

Wondering what a Memoji is?

I know I’d be wondering! The goal of this project was to display our understandings and ability with using keynote and to represent our aspects of our personality though “stickers” we created to go on our “iPad”. 

We didn’t need to make 14 stickers, though my enthusiasm forced me to make 14!!!! I displayed my family, athleticism, hedgehog, love of anime, but most importantly my clumsiness and weirdnesssss!!!!!! ✨

I believe this was a great piece of work, I had fun making it and I’m proud of it!

The pictures below are parts of my user manual! Specifically screen shots of it as I had trouble with uploading the document in any other way :(. This project was a description of you and a user manual describing you and how you operate! I enjoyed this project as I really got to personalize it and have fun with it!!

The goal was to display your learnings on using pages and creating an authentic piece of work that represents you as a person!

I believe that this work is something to be proud of and I feel proud in this moment posting it on my blog.

 

Thanks for reading my first review/ actual blog post! If you’ve found anything interesting (or you’re my friends/ family) though I know it’s likely the latter, I implore you to check out more posts I make!

-Kennedy the MENACE!!! 🙂 (they/them)

Hi there,

Thanks for checking out my project blog ☺️

This is my all about me post, if you are here by accident, sorry this isn’t what your looking for but I hope you’ll stick around! If you’re here on purpose thanks, I appreciate it!!

My name’s Kennedy, I’m a nonbinary student graduating in 2027. You can expect to read posts about and reflecting on all of my major projects. Depending on the parameters concerning what I’m allowed to write about in this blog you may also discover random posts about current events! (And other interests I have such as sports and reading).

You may notice that I reference nerdy things like DND or anime, this is because I, if you weren’t already aware, am a HUGE nerd. You may also find that I get very invested and am quite passionate when it comes to things I care about. I expect that everything I post here, like the project reflections, I will be largely invested in.

Just to add and go farther into detail about the possibility of personal interest posts, if I am able, I will likely make posts on topics relating to the LGBTQIA+ community, such as queer history and development, the importance of using language positively, and biases. I also may give updates on both positive and negative queer news, whatever’s going on  for those in the community around the world.

Another thing I love, but not necessarily something I’ll post about, are sports and generally being active! For example, I am a soccer player and my position is center back. I’ve played defense for nearly all the years I’ve been playing, thats around 7 years! 

By the way, another vital piece of information to share with you is I am the proud pet owner of a cute little hedgehog named Quilbur! If I get the chance to share a picture of him, or write of him, I promise I will!!!!!!!!!!!!

This a project I made in keynote to further display my personality! I encourage you to check it out!

If you’ve made it to this point thanks again for taking the time to read this, and I hope you’ll stick around to read more of my future posts.

I can’t wait to share my projects with the world!!!

– Kennedy the Menace^tm (they/them)