FX's Pose and the Importance of Representation in Media
The category is: Queer Representation Realness! For those of you who don’t know, FX’s ‘Pose’ is television’s shining beacon of hope in all of its groundbreaking and inclusive glory. The show centers around New York City’s ballroom culture in the 1980s, as well as the people who frequented these balls. Ballroom existed as a safe place for the queer community where, at the time, such safe places were not around every corner. After becoming an Emmy-nominated show, those who have yet to see the series may wonder: what exactly makes ‘Pose’ so unique? It’s not as if we don’t already have plenty of shows starring queer and transgender people, right? Oh wait--we don’t. Representation of queer and transgender people of color in ‘Pose’ is important because it presents them as normal people with normal problems, and allows for their further integration into society.
‘Pose’ focuses on its characters’ experiences as members of the queer community and racial minorities. The show does what queer people of color like myself have been begging the media to do: it puts an honest and diverse queer narrative at the front and center of television. In its content, ‘Pose’ seeks to portray its characters as people with struggles just like the rest of straight, white America, sending the message “We are people too!” In only two seasons, ‘Pose’ has normalized a number of things the media considers “touchy,” including transgender relationships and relationships between people with HIV/AIDS. Take the characters of Angel and Lil’ Papi; here we have Angel, a transgender woman of color, in a relationship with a cis-heterosexual man. Their relationship is significant because at no point do they question Lil’ Papi’s sexuality, nor do they allow his character to fetishize Angel for being trans. Their relationship is simply a relationship between a man and a woman, and that is important because transgender men and women (of color especially) are being killed at an alarming rate. According to USA Today, “Twelve transgender persons, all black women, have died violently in 2019”. In recent news, a black man by the name of Reese killed himself after being publicly shamed by his own community for having a transgender partner. In introducing the relationship between Angel and Papi, ‘Pose’ has sought to dissolve this notion that relationships featuring a trans-person are any different than relationships between a cis-male and cis-woman.
Now we have the characters of Ricky and Pray Tell, whose relationship is an example of how many gay men live today: HIV-positive and joyful. Despite the countless resources HIV-positive individuals have to subdue the virus, the gay community continues to look down on positive individuals. This behavior forces those afflicted with the virus to go into hiding and stop living their lives in the way they want to. In ‘Pose,’ however, many of the characters pursue jovial and fulfilling relationships, despite being HIV positive, and existing in a time when the virus was still a mystery. I cannot stress the importance of a show that is true to the idea of inclusivity, and doesn’t shy away from discussing what most people try to brush under the rug. Imagine, for example, when you saw that first superhero that resembles you. Or that first character from a movie that shares the same name as you. For queer and transgender people of color, the characters in ‘Pose’ are like our superheroes. We are finally being seen and glorified in ways we’ve never been.
For queer and transgender people of color, the characters in ‘Pose’ are like our superheroes.
With that, I implore you: watch the show if you haven’t. Even as a gay man of color myself, the show has helped bridge a gap between my trans brothers and sisters and me. Queer culture nowadays likes to exclude trans men and women from praise while glorifying the gay white man for doing the bare minimum. Meanwhile, the contributions trans men and women have made for the queer community are boundless, and yet go seemingly unrecognized. For example, ‘Pose’ trans actress Angelica Ross is an entrepreneur who founded Transtech, a company that seeks to empower the queer community economically, but specifically trans people. Although it is not this essay’s intent to alienate, it is in acknowledging the already existing divide within the queer community that we can move forward. If you consider yourself an ally of the queer community, or even a member of the LGBTQ+ community, then understanding the experiences of the marginalized groups within these communities is essential. The racist views this very country was founded on, allows for whiteness of any form to exist in spaces with a certain privilege, and this does not exclude the queer community. It is through this foundation that whiteness has been the standard of beauty and representation for many years. There have been, and continue to be, excellent white queer activists, yet it is partly because of their whiteness that they have been able to make strides for the queer community, but mainly for the white queer community. Their whiteness has created space for white queers, and inadvertently left out queer people of color, let alone trans men and women of color, meaning that the little space made for white queers in media in no way implies that space welcomes trans people. When we have shows like ‘Pose’ we are making room for the entire queer community by praising the most disrespected member of said community. Trans men and women have weathered the storm head-on for too long, and ‘Pose’, being the success it is, should only be the start of the praise and representation they deserve.
By Cedeem Gumbs
llustrations done in collaboration with the New Media Artspace at Baruch College. The New Media Artspace is a teaching exhibition space in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Baruch College, CUNY. Housed in the Newman Library, the New Media Artspace showcases curated experimental media and interdisciplinary artworks by international artists, students, alumni, and faculty. Special thanks to docent Stephanie Jones for creating artwork for this piece.
Check the New Media Artspace out at http://www.newmediartspace.info/