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1media/sense8.jpg2017-03-30T12:32:23-07:00Delaney P Murray9b039227cb2ae1a7bb9ff5b9487c241b5b6fd4bb1649511image_header2017-04-24T12:04:10-07:00Delaney P Murray9b039227cb2ae1a7bb9ff5b9487c241b5b6fd4bb
Show runtime: 1 season, 2015-current
Shown on: Netflix
Creators: Creators Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, Main Writer J. Michael Straczynski
Queer characters: Nomi Marks (Jamie Clayton), Amanita (Freema Agyeman), Lito Rodriguez (Miguel Angel Silvestre), Hernando (Alfonso Herrera)
Sexualities: Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski are both are trans women and are both currently married to women. Jamie Claytonis is a trans woman playing a trans female character.
Show Description: (from IMDB) A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order.
Queer Summary: The first time Nomi is shown onscreen, she's taking a hormone shot. The second time, she and Amanita are having sex, which is explicitly shown onscreen. They then go to the San Francisco Pride Festival, and Nomi reflects on a time earlier in their relationship when Amanita defended her from a transphobic Pride-goer. Later, Nomi is hospitalized due to her psychic abilities, and her family visits her and refers to her by her male name. Lito deflects female attention in the first few episodes until it is revealed that he is gay and dating Hernando. However, he is closeted due to his role as a action movie actor in conservative Mexico. In a later episode, he comes out as gay, but is swiftly rejected by his community and even kicked out his apartment because of his sexuality. However, his mother openly accepts him and Hernando in the same episode.
Creator Comments: Lana Wachowski has commented that all the "sensates" (main eight characters) are pansexual. Jamie Clayton has said that she was interested in the show because of the opportunity to play a role written for a trans actress, and also because of Nomi's fully fleshed out story. It has also been rumored that the existence of a trans female character within the series is based on the Wachowski sisters' own transitions.
Analysis: The characters in same-sex relationships are shown to have the healthiest and most stable relationships of the whole series. Queer characters are shown in different cultures and circumstances (Lito is closeted due to his sexuality and the conservative culture of Mexico, while Nomi, although prone to transphobia from her family, is out and living in liberal San Francisco) Queer characters are also explicitly given time to develop. One relationship is not only interracial but also features a trans woman. All the main characters engage in some sort of same-sex experimentation. However, there is also sexualization and fetishization of queer couples and queer sex (Lito's female roommate is frequently shown filming or pleasuring herself to Lito and Hernando having sex, and one of the pictures she takes of them having sex eventually outs them. There are also frequent, long orgy scenes with all eight main characters). Also, Nomi is hospitalized against her will and tortured at one point, and her family refuses to help her because of her gender identity, continuing the trope of mistreating and even torturing transgender characters.
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12017-03-27T15:56:00-07:00Delaney P Murray9b039227cb2ae1a7bb9ff5b9487c241b5b6fd4bbQueer Content with Queer CreatorsDelaney P Murray10vispath2017-04-24T10:50:02-07:00Delaney P Murray9b039227cb2ae1a7bb9ff5b9487c241b5b6fd4bb