Voltron fandom, we need to talk.
All 'yous' in this post are general and aimed at the fandom, not at any one person. This got long. Feel free to skip to the TL;DR at the end, but I wanted to make a few points about various kid's shows that have aired in the recent past and how this builds to Voltron.
The AMERICAN version of Steven Universe has way more rep NOW.
Steven Universe is a huge, huge show. It’s internationally acclaimed and the creators have, relatively speaking, a lot more autonomy with their decisions at this point because the show is big enough to do well no matter what.
Do you know what else still happens with Steven Universe? The episodes shown in other countries get. edited. Yes even in Europe. Yes, even in the UK.
http://www.dorkly.com/post/81306/steven-universe-censorship
SU has been censored worldwide for a variety of reasons, violence and sexual jokes being some of the biggest, but LGBT+ content more so than anything else.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2016/jan/12/steven-universe-censorship-cartoon-networks-lgbtq
CN UK straight up deleted scenes from SU because, and I quote, it made the parents watching ‘more comfortable’.
I can't find the link right now, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember plenty of discussion on the dash back around ~2015-16~ with Rebecca Sugar talking about how difficult it was to sneak LGBT+ into SU because of conservative networks.
Do you know WHY SU is 'allowed' to air LGBT+ content now? Because it started small, it started slow, and the fans stuck with it until it was big enough to be more explicit.
But is this just one anomaly among networks? Surely other shows have 'gotten away' with LGBT+ content?
Let's look at Adventure Time.
https://www.autostraddle.com/adventure-time-censored-for-exploring-lesbian-subtext-112941/
Marceline and Princess Bubblegum have had SO. MUCH. SUBTEXT. On screen. If you don't want to click that link up there, I'll summarise; they put up a video all but stating these two were a couple, then rapidly pulled it down again, hinting at fear of reprisal.
I've heard plenty of people in the fandom complaining that Shiro was only confirmed LGBT as 'word of God' and how 'that's not good enough'.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/adventure-time-actor-confirms-princess-bubblegum-and-marceli?utm_term=.vyoenWelbD#.giop6RpZzM
“And I said, 'Are they going to do it on the show at all, or can we say anything about it in the book?" And he's like, 'I don't know about the book, but in some countries where the show airs, it's sort of illegal.' So that's why they're not putting it in the show.
That's when the Ice King (OK fine, Tom Kenny) chimes in: “It was illegal here until 2013, for god’s sake!” ”
It is straight up illegal in some countries for LGBT+ to be shown positively on TV. Networks literally cannot air this content. If they can't air their content, they cannot make money. As much as you may dislike this bottom line, here's another one; IF THEY DON'T MAKE MONEY, THEY CANNOT CONTINUE TO MAKE PROGRESSIVE CONTENT.
The Bubbline nonsense was circa 2014, also on CN. Maybe because people supported their slow attempt at representation, CN was later able to bring us SU. If these creators and companies give us the maximum amount of rep they are able to and we BOYCOTT THE SHOW because it 'ISN'T ENOUGH', homophobic content controllers will use the declining viewership as a REASON to take a big step back in featuring LGBT+ content.
Now personally, I don't agree with any of this. I HATE the fact that countries around the world declare me and my friends illegal, immoral and delete my content. I DESPISE the fact that only money making content continues. But if you want to change that, don't scream at the creators who TRY to give you rep. Scream at the networks. Scream at the countries. Support the SHIT out of their content so that they don't HAVE to rely on homophobic markets.
So we've talked a lot about CN. Let's move on to Nickelodeon and Legend of Korra.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/creators-of-the-legend-of-korra-explain-the-shows-not-c-1611119124
Legend of Korra suffered massively from censorship of all kinds. It was dark, gritty and too 'real' to be a kid's show. Nick relegated it to online streaming because of the violence. Maybe because of the LGBT+ finale, but that's never been explicitly confirmed.
LoK ended in 2014. The very same 2014 that saw Bubbline 'too risky' for a children's TV show.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/12/korra-series-finale-recap-gay-asami
LoK ends in perhaps one of the most iconic LGBT moments in children's media to date. And do you know what that moment was? It wasn't a kiss. It wasn't 'explicitly stated' and it was damn well confirmed by 'word of God' afterwards.
http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/105916338157/korrasami-is-canon-you-can-celebrate-it-embrace
Please read every word of that blog post. The point most important for this rant being;
“We approached the network and while they were supportive there was a limit to how far we could go with it, as just about every article I read accurately deduced. “
There was a limit. LoK went as far as the network allowed it to, despite being 'streamed media', despite being 'aimed at older fans'. LoK remained firmly in the slot of 'kid's media' and had to conform to the rules.
LoK changed the landscape of 'allowed' LGBT+ moments in kid's TV. Maybe SU took that as a jumping off point and ran with it. And still. Gets. Censored. LoK and SU are both outright BANNED in Kenya to this day.
Ok so how about the most massive conglomerates in media?
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/01/11/exclusive-anti-lgbt-group-didnt-even-watch-tv-show-before-trying-to-get-it-cancelled/
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/11/08/disney-channel-axes-childrens-show-andi-mack-across-africa-and-middle-east-due-to-gay-storyline
You can argue all you want about how things 'should' be. And from the tumblr bubble, maybe it feels like LGBT+ content rules and would make so much money! But in the real world, we're still a minority. Groups like Onemillionmoms still petition and protest the slightest hint of 'unsavoury' ideas in children's media. In the real world, if something isn't going to make a company money, it doesn't get made. In the real world, if we want MORE of a certain type of content, we damn well have to support the content we already have.
I'm not saying don't be critical. By all means, go ahead and point out everything wrong with the rep we have. But point it out to the NETWORK. And then please, for the love of everything, SUPPORT the content we want to see and show them we will pay them even MORE if they fix the things we want fixing! Because a boycott will get the content cancelled. The networks have plenty more 'safe' content they can count on making them money.
I've seen people go off on how the announcement at SDCC was 'queerbaiting'. The announcement at SDCC was GROUNDBREAKING. They announced, straight up, that a character was LGBT. No hinting, no maybes, no beating around the bush. This character is LGBT. Period.
They announced this BEFORE THE SHOW AIRED. You argue that this was 'queerbaiting to get more viewers'. I argue that this was one hell of a gamble at losing the target audience for the show. Homophobic parents will not allow their children to watch a show with an LGBT+ main character. They stood to lose a TON of viewers from that announcement.
LoK may have had an LGBT+ ending. But it sure as hell wasn't announced BEFORE THE SHOW AIRED.
TLDR; you have every right to be angry that the show wasn't more LGBT+. You need to tell this to the NETWORKS, not berate the creators that are trying to get LGBT+ content in there. You need to support the hell out of shows with LGBT+ content until they no longer need to rely on funding from homophobic countries.
