David Wald - Tumblr Posts
So yesterday I watched the Sk8 VA panel on twitch, and I wanted to highlight a very interesting point that David Wald (the VA for Ad*m) brought up about representation in media.
Basically, he said that the type of representation they're going for, while not explicit, is definitely there and presented in such a way that LGBT people can identify with it in a healthy way (well, unhealthy in the case of Ad*m, but I digress). We get it, it's there explicitly and intentionally for us, and if the straights want to stick their fingers in their ears and go "la la la" that's fine, who cares, they'll get a fun shonen romp thats well animated, directed, and acted.
But by going with this more subtextual, subtle route, he said that the media becomes more accessible and digestible to young people who might be in denial about their sexuality or gender identity. That by presenting representation in this way, you catch an audience of people who might be questioning themselves and would actively tune out as soon as things become explicit.
That moment was just... So powerful to me, and at that point it just... clicked. That's because I was that questioning gay kid growing up with no formative media to fall on, desperately trying to force myself into relationships with girls to feel normal because I thought it was weird to be gay with no one and nothing telling me it was alright. And I was the same kid who would feel guilty, embarrassed, and dissociative whenever I did see gay media representation and would tune it out immediately, not wanting other people to think I was gay just for watching it.
In all reality, I know we won't get an explicit, canon confession for either of the main ships (Although Jonah and Daman are two seconds from giving me a god damned heart attack and I love it). It is a bit disappointing, and healthy, canonical representation should be something we continue moving towards and pushing studios to allow, but the intent for good representation is there.
And what blows me away is that the VAs are actively playing with the ambiguity, the thing traditionally used to bait the queer community, to let us have those moments of representation, knowing that we won't have been baited through the reveal of an 11th hour straight pairing that invalidates the subtext. Not all representation needs to be explicit as long as there aren't canon contradictions to it.
And to David's point, if even one LGBT+ person who's in denial or is questioning looks at this show and feels a bit more normal and at ease with who they are because of it, even if they don't realize it then and there, then mission fucking accomplished