Lexa In 'The 100': A Character Analysis

In The 100 the character Lexa is the Commander of the twelve clans who for the first time ever in their history is trying to create peace. Her people, known as grounders, live in a world of war and death, but through a coalition Lexa is attempting to bring a new era of partnership to her people. Clarke, the representative for the new thirteenth clan of people from the sky, is Lexa's love interest and seen by some as her biggest distraction from her larger plans. Lexa and Clarke's main adversary is Lexa's mentor and father figure, Titus, who disapproves of Lexa and Clarke's relationship (Justin Davis 2016). In the end he attempts to kill Clarke by shooting her and Lexa who comes to Clarke's aid is shot by one of the stray bullets. This scene occurred directly after Lexa and Clarke had sex for the first time and truly expressed their feelings for one another (Ryan 2016; Dennis 2016). (The 100, The CW 2016)

In both scenarios, these characters illustrated a specific type of flaunting, which that they present their romantic homosexuality as the most vital element of their lives. When characters are

scripted to turn their attention away from all other aspects and to focus on their relationship they are unable to cover. The reason they are no longer able to cover stems from the idea that they are placing their sexuality above all else and are associating their very purpose with their sexuality. Through their actions Delphine and Lexa "flaunt" their belief that they are equal and their stories can be the main story and are worthy of such a display (Yoshino 2006: 107). This "flaunting" is what in turn kills them because it sends the message that being "out" without covering is acceptable and right, when society continually illustrates that it should not be viewed as such (Yoshino 2006. The deaths of Delphine and Lexa are just two examples of how "flaunting" homosexuality on screen puts queer women at risk and reinforces the idea that we must cover in order to survive.
The final show to explore is the Canadian Si-Fi show Lost Girl about Bo Dennis the Bisexual Succubus who learns of her powers and is introduced to the world of the Fe, beings with power who live among humans in secret.

Due to lack of cannon bisexual characters who actually use the word bisexual to describe themselves, Bo's bisexuality is an important step in LGBTQ representation. Moreover, despite how sexual her story is, she lives off sexual energy, her desire to be with female characters in addition to male characters is not overly sexualized. One of Bo's main love interests is Dr. Lauren Lewis who is a human doctor for the Fe. Lauren and Bo are actually one of the few queer lady couples to have a canonically happy ending when the series ended, however their journey to that point was ripe with the same issues caused by covering and tropes. (Lost Girl, Showcase

2015)
Lauren introduction into the world of the Fe occurs because she saves some Fe elders but her girlfriend, Nadia, falls into an unexplainable coma and the leader tell Lauren if she works for them she can use all their resources to save Nadia. However, the audience comes to learn that the Fe leader to keep Lauren in servitude cursed Nadia. When Bo and Lauren cure Nadia a dark monster that wants to kill Bo and Lauren almost immediately possesses her. In order for Lauren and Bo to survive, Bo must kill Nadia. In this situation Nadia embodies the idea of killing the self who is too queer both in her desire to die due to being possess and Lauren and Bo's need to kill her to physically survive. This is not where Bo and Lauren's problems stop, several times throughout the series they break up because they know they cannot have a "happily ever after". Lauren also believes that Bo cannot give her what she needs and scarifies their love for Bo to be happy. Both of these characters "flaunt" there queer identities and therefore pay the price of being apart, in danger of dying, and sad throughout the series. It is only after almost everyone they love, including the death of Tamsin, another canonically queer woman, during the childbirth conceived of rape, that they decided to be together. The audience never sees them live out their happy-ending. (Lost Girl, Showcase 2015)
Just as covering is the act that prevents flaunting, But Not Too Gay is the trope that helps prevent Bury Your Gay and just as covering does not actually save people from being read or treated differently, But Not Too Gay does not save queer women from dying. As illustrated in the four shows analyzed the characters who died were the female characters who did not fall under the "But Not Too Gay" trope, such as Wendy, or the characters who defied the trope and began to flaunt, such as Lexa or Delphine. However, these are not real people but characters who are written by people to act this way further illustrating that it is society that dictates what constitutes covering or flaunting, therefore becoming the gatekeepers of acceptable displays of homosexuality and the judges of who lives and who should die. Autostraddle illustrates that the "Bury Your Gay" trope is very much alive with their article, "All 153 Lesbian and Bisexual Characters on TV and how they died". This list began with sixty-five female identified characters and grew as more people contributed to their lost characters. This extensive list highlights how common the use of this trope is on TV, since the late nineteen seventies and further exemplifies how pervasive the idea of the tragic homosexual life is due to its use as a storyline to create representation. According to TVTropes.com the "Bury Your Gay" trope is simply scripting the idea that " gay characters just aren't allowed happy endings" (TVTropes.com). The reason why this trope is problematic is not because gay people do not and should not die it is that " the problem is the tendency that gay characters are killed off far more often than straight characters, or when they're killed off because they are gay" (TV Tropes). As we saw with Wendy, Delphine and Lexa, not to name the other 150 dead women, they all died in part due to their on screen homosexuality; Wendy, as part of a revenge tactic against her cheating wife, Delphine as punishment for her loyalty to her girlfriend, and Lexa for attempting to protect her lover. Each of these women might have survived if they were straight male characters, as they seem to be the only characters not at risk of dying even in shows that boast that no one is safe (Ryan 2016), such as The 100 and Orphan Black. Furthermore, their deaths are more significant due to the lack of representation. For example, TVTropes.com states, "regardless of the overall death toll of a show, the death of a gay character has a different emotional weight, as there are unlikely to be many other gay characters in the piece of media" (TVTropes.com).