Thursday, March 10, 2016

Jason Rothenberg shamed the LGBT community

That's right, I sure as HELL said it. Jason Rothenberg shamed us. Plain and simple.

SPOILER: This blogpost is about 'The 100', episode 7 of season 3. Stop reading now, if you've managed to stay out of the know and want to remain there.

So, last week, beloved gay character Lexa was killed off just minutes after her relationship with Clarke Griffin became cannon. The Clexa shippers were on cloud nine for just minutes before it was all tragically over, and we completely lost our cool. As we should!

clexa kiss
At last, Clarke and Lexa had their moment
I feel stupid that I fell for it - and several other people have already made similar statements, including one of my favorite writers, Heather Anne Hogan over at Autostraddle.

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a segment of "Friday I'm In Love" where I was singing Jason Rothenberg praises and saying the he - unlike other show runners - was not afraid of giving us the story we craved.

In this case, I was comparing him to Shonda Rhimes, who right now seems like the biggest LGBT ally as far as show runners go. I mean, she might kill characters left and right, but at least she's not killing off the LGBT characters the moment they're happy (yeah, I know both Callie and Arizona have almost died, but really, who on Grey's Anatomy haven't had at least one near-death experience?).

Anyway, Jason was different. Jason virtually had us eating out of the palm of his hand with his "I know you've been cheated out of the big and bold love stories in the past, but I'm here to end that".

He was like the evil queen in Snow White. Holding a big, juicy (and sexy as Hell) Clexa apple in front of us, and promising us that unlike all those other lesbian apples of the past - those we knew would surely end up with death and heartbreak - this would most certainly be different.

Did we trust him at first? Oh HELL no. We've heard that song and dance routine a million times before, and it's so very used that it has its own name: Queerbating.

swanqueen ouat
Yeah, Once Upon A Time, I'm looking at you
ouat regina mills sassy

But this was something different and Jason Rothenberg knew - he fucking knew - that we'd been burned in the past, so he gave us that big, bold and sexy storyline of two badass girls in charge and in love. And then we trusted him and started singing his praises.

So you see, while I absolutely hate the fact that we lost an amazing character and a beautiful love story, it's the fact that he lied and deceived us, so that we'd trust him. Jason Rothenberg shamed us!

Asked us to trust him when he presented the beautiful Clexa apple that we all knew seemed to good to be true, but then he started this whole "Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around"-routine, and we fell for it.

We ate the apple and it was a laced with a poison worse than anything we've ever had in the past. And now we're angry, sad and we want revenge.

Jason Rothenberg's Wikipedia profile has been altered in many different (and to be fair, pretty nasty) ways and his Twitter followers tumbled down within 24-hours:

Jason Rothenberg twitter fall
We don't trust you and won't support you

Good thing is, we're equally good at showing love, so in the same 24 hours, Alycia Debenham-Carey's Twitter count climbed:

Alycia Debenham-Carey twitter climb
We love you and we'll support you
Even the shippers of the heterosexual ship, Bellarke [they ship the female lead Clarke Griffin - aka the LGBT survivor - with the male lead] were out offering support to the Clexa shippers. And this after a pretty nasty shipping war the past few months. They should be rejoicing right now, but even they could see that we had been rudely and crudely dupped.

Oh, and it doesn't end here, because in all his wisdom, Jason Rothenberg was obviously very aware of this potential backlash. That's why he made sure to tip Clexa shippers to watch the filming of the season 3 finale, which sent a slew of behind-the-scenes images of Clarke and Lexa out on the world wide lesbian-loving web before season 3 even aired.

Pretty damn smart, since most Clexa shippers - and expecially Lexa fans - want nothing more to do with Jason Rothenberg's creation, but obviously, we all need to know how this dead character can still be in the season finale.
clexa s3e7
Doesn't this just take your breath away?

Meanwhile, Fear The Walking Dead is set up to have the most awesome season 2 premiere of any show, since the Alycia Debenham-Carey (Lexa) fans are migrating towards her other show.

Also, in one of the healthiest and most productive coping mechanisms, the fanbase created a new character for Fear The Walking Dead - which has been renamed Queer The Walking Dead - where Eliza Taylor will play Elyza Lex and be the romantic interest for Alycia Debenham-Carey's character on this show, named Alicia Clark. 
qtwd - queer the walking dead
I would love to watch that show!

The new shipping name for these two is Lexark. Oh yeah, there are story boards, comics and fanfiction written already. And the Lexa-gate of The 100 isn't even a week old yet. It is truly beautiful.

Anyway, I just needed to vent... We shall overcome, people! Stick together and fight for what is right, then they cannot ignore us - and when ratings drop, they never do.

Much love,
- GayGirl

No comments: