Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160418145853/@comment-5106672-20160418170409

I've already expressed my satisfaction with the episode in the episode discussion thread, but I'll expand a few points and make new ones here.


 * Mulan. What purpose did Mulan have in this season if not to have an LGBT storyline? Well, she forwarded the plots of two episodes and showed pivotal in the backstory and character development of Merida. Just because a character is LGBT, it doesn't mean they necessarily have to give her a romantic storyline to underline that part. Mulan is a warrior. She also happen to be a lesbian. That's it: we've seen warrior!Mulan, who also happens to be a lesbian.


 * Dorothy. The Wizard Of Oz is a classic film in its own right, but it has always have a special cult status within the LGBT community due to its themes of finding a better, kinder place for oneself, escaping from social constraints (which was an even much bigger issue back in the day) and acceptance of the “different”. Judy Garland herself, who portrayed Dorothy in the movie, was one of the earliest gay icons of the last century. Also, in the show Dorothy risked admittance to an asylum until a family member accepted her. In-universe that was not due to her sexual orientation, but rather because of talking of things ”outside the box”, of this wonderous realm different from Kansas. Reading between the lines, that's a metaphor for the discrimination and, often, oppression many LGBT people face from society and even their family for not comforming (beside admittance to mental illness facility having been real for LGBT people in history), and showcases how important family support is for a person – in any case, but especially when they face social stigma. All in all, Dorothy being an LGBT character pays hommage to the huge important the world of Oz has had for the LGBT community and touched some important themes many LGBT people can relate to.


 * Red. First off, Little Red Riding Hood as a fairy tale is totally about sexual awakening and the discover of sexuality: the little girl grows up and finds herself sexually desirable (by the wolf) and attracted to the world of sexuality (taking the path deep into the forest instead of the known one). In that respect, Ruby finding out she is bisexual is totally consistent with the main themes of the LRRH fairy tale and is, in fact, just a twist on that. Also, we had it coming: nowhere was it stated that she was straight, and in the previous episode she was in she expressed the desire to find "others like herself", which brings us to the wolf metaphor.


 * I think Red's character was written very cleverly in this episode using the werewolf as a metaphor to touch some delicate LGBT themes. In-universe, they avoided the “Omg, I like a woman, what now?” cliché, but rendered it with something that's totally in character for her: she has always been struggling with self-doubt and self-acceptance about being a werewolf, which is what made her popular and relatable with many LGBT viewers (that I know of, at least). In fact, no one flinched at her being in love with a woman (not even the Munchkins, who didn't experienced the 21st century mentality like Snow did) so they did not portray her facing homophobia, but still managed to not downwash the insecurities LGBT people often have to face in their everyday life. Red was unsure and nervous because she didn't know how Dorothy, whom she liked, would take her being a werewolf. She basically had to come out as a werewolf and face the reaction of someone about whose opinion she cared – something that, in the real world, many LGBT people have to do. That made the storyline all the more relatable and was actually a Brothers Grimm-level of writing: using fairy tale metaphors to discuss everyday life subjects in a subtle way.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with how they treated the LGBT couple: it fits the source material and showed a great deal of care for the details. Being part of the LGBT community myself, I wouldn't have wanted an LGBT couple carelessly thrown in just for representation without much insight or relevance to the plot or character development. But they took this storyline and had it mean something, which is great.

Then again, was the love story itself rushed? Well, so are all the love stories of side characters, but what can you do in an hour when you also have to keep track of a convoluted overall plot?