Carina Adly Mackenzie Defending Poor Queer Representation In “Roswell, New Mexico” Is Hilarious!
I could tell the so-called queer representation (specifically the bisexual kind) in Roswell, New Mexico was going to be problematic when the show’s promo content was made available. Now, eleven episodes in, certain fans are sharing their disappointment and seeing creator Carina Adly Mackenzie trying to justify her writing is hilarious. She has LGBT writers working on this show, y’all!
I’m waiting for the day when showrunners realize they can’t continue to queerbait the audience or expect praise when writing content which does nothing for positive queer representation in media. In my previous post about poor bisexual representation in Roswell, New Mexico, you could tell it was very obvious how Mackenzie was expecting praise by changing the sexualities of characters from the original source material.
And while I’m all for writers changing certain aspects of characters to tell something interesting, Mackenzie and her team did nothing of substance after making these changes. Right now (eleven episodes in), because of Roswell, New Mexico, Mackenzie is nothing more than another showrunner who exploited the queerness of characters in hopes for brownie points.
Instead of understanding where certain fans are coming from, Mackenzie has taken to Twitter to justify her writing.
She even tweeted (in my opinion) the “I have gay friends” card when trying to make fans understand how bisexuality works.
I mean, that’s what we all need, right? Mackenzie teaching (primarily) queer fans about bisexuality.
She is all about such teaching moments, ignoring how society, in general, reacts to bisexual relationships depending on when M/M, W/W or M/W are involved as a couple.
Furthermore, I don’t understand her idea of creating drama to tell how messy humans can be in life. I’m all for well-written drama and angst. It is one of the reasons I’m enjoying the Queliot and Qualice mess occurring in The Magicians.
However, what Mackenzie has been able to do, as of yet, includes promoting a bisexual stereotype (which feeds into biphobia even in the LGBTQ+ community), and using a WOC as nothing more than a bed warmer for a bisexual male character. Her so-called love triangle also involves a disabled gay character who happens to be best friends with the WOC.
Again, I’m all for messy drama, but seeing Mackenzie go about it in such a poor manner disappoints me. If you look at her writing, it becomes clear how she decided to use two queer male characters to attract a queer audience.
The premiere of Roswell, New Mexico featured a kiss between Michael and Alex (their ship is called Malex). The show was, rightfully at that time, praised for it. But in hindsight, in my opinion, such a decision was made to attract queer viewers, and now the same viewers are being told they are expecting too much or expecting the wrong things.
Sound like they are watching the show for the wrong reasons, right? Sigh!
I can’t understand why Mackenzie decided to risk being known as a showrunner who did nothing for positive queer representation on TV. Her status as such a showrunner will be cemented in fandom if Roswell, New Mexico isn’t greenlit for a second season.
And even if she waves her magical writing wand to fix certain things, the fandom is still going to remember how she exploited the queerness of certain characters for the sake of cheap drama.
What do you think of the queer representation in Roswell, New Mexico? Let us know.
Author: Farid-ul-Haq
Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.
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She made a big deal about having two queer main characters meaning that the gay romance would never be relegated to a background/short lived. The bisexual character has options and gets to ‘prove’ his bisexuality by getting with the best friend of his former lover. What happens to the gay man in that scenario? There are no other ‘main’ characters that are queer, ergo, he’s left out. Either he gets to pine or be self-sacrificial and have to give his blessing on his ex & best friend’s relationship. Or have one of those meaningless background romances with a guest star, that Carina is so against.
The Magicians is even worse with that. Quentin is bi, yet the one onscreen sexual situation involving Eliot, also involved a woman (Margo). The Fillory thing started with a kiss between Eliot and Quentin, quickly switched to Quentin being with a woman. Quentin and Eliot’s relationship in Fillory was even described as ‘friendship’ by the writers. None of it is good rep. It’s all about wanted to be patted on the back for doing the bare minimum of acknowledging the existence of different sexualities.
Yes, the queer rep in Roswell New Mexico has disappointed me.
I can’t fault The Magicians too much (it def isn’t the best well-written queer rep on TV), cos as far as I can remember, the creators didn’t promote the queer rep as being different/wonderful as Carina did even before Roswell NM premiered and using an M/M to attract viewers from the beginning. But yes, The Magicians has major issues, too, especially after what the show is currently doing with the Queliot and Qualice storylines, but even then, I see myself enjoying it, maybe cos The Magicians writers aren’t trying to justify it (poor queer rep writing) as Carina seems to be doing.
I think The Magicians is a better written show with some really great characters, which makes it easier to forgive. The whole thing is just really tiring.
Roswell is poorly plotted, badly written and nonsensical at times.The cast is literally the only thing I like about it. When the creator spends the entire aftermath of episodes having to explain things that either weren’t shown due to episodes looking like they were edited by Edward Scissorhands, or definitely weren’t shown/inferred by the acting, then you’re a shitty writer.
Thank god for Schitt’s Creek is all I can say.
Schitt’s Creek is everything!!!!!
I’ve been disappointed in the decision to do a pointless, character assassinating love triangle with a white man and two POC who happen to be dear friends. That’s such a soap opera cliche. It also feels baity in that she used the promise of queer relationships to lure people into the tent and instead delivers hetero ones galore while putting the gay relationship on the backburner very early on. I think she has tried to play both sides against the middle and it’s a big misfire.
This is one of the most biphobic articles I’ve ever read in my whole life and you should absolutely be ashamed of yourself.
Do consider rereading the article and looking at where certain fans are coming from and why Carina continues to be defensive (she used LGBT writers and consulted advocacy groups, after all, and should be more open to listening when the queer rep she wants to deliver isn’t sticking), and other shows with positive bisexual/queer rep (Schitt’s Creek, Boomerang (by the amazing Lena Waithe), and even Legend of Korra), before throwing the word ‘Biphobic’ around. Thanks!
What’s biphobic about it? Pointing out that a heterosexual relationship between a bisexual male and a woman, isn’t representation? That simply saying the word ‘bisexual’ isn’t representation? That having a wishy-washy bisexual who is seemingly bouncing between a man and a woman, isn’t representation? That we have 99.9% of television dominated by heterosexual relationships, and adding to it, whilst claiming to be repping the LGBTQ community, isn’t representation? I’ve actually seen people trying to claim that a bisexual male in a relationship with a woman, is in a queer relationship, when, no, he’s absolutely not. He’s in a heteronormative relationship. That he’s open to being with a guy in the same way, doesn’t magically transfer the very real and painful struggle of actually being in a visibly, queer relationship.