Director makes trailer showing why the world needs LGBT superheroes
LONDON -- The Twitterverse has spoken. Last week #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend trended on Twitter, just weeks after #GiveElsaAGirlfriend trended. Both called for greater LGBT representation in Hollywood.
One director heard these cries and decided to take matters into his own hands, producing a trailer to show what better LGBT representation could look like.
Mike Buonaiuto has produced a trailer video calling on studios like Marvel and DC to include LGBT characters in their films, and to give "LGBT kids a hero they can look up to."
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"Iceman, Mystique and Catwoman are LGBT in the comic books, but appear as straight on screen," the video says. "So, we imagined a story where all superheroes could be portrayed accurately."
"Growing up I used to love characters like Iceman, Mystique and Catwoman, but never realised they were originally written as LGBT in the comic books and therefore affectively stripped of their sexuality when they hit the big screen," Buonaiuto told Mashable.
"It's such a shame because when I was 'coming out' as, having positive icons and role models of LGBT people in mass media would have be a huge confidence boost to myself and millions of others who look up to characters such as superheroes," he continued.
Recent figures taken from GLAAD's 2016 Studio Responsibility Index show that only 17.5% of 126 major studio films released in 2015 contained characters who identified as LGBT. Furthermore, only eight of the 22 films to include LGBT characters passed GLAAD's Vito Russo Test, which examines the way LGBT characters are portrayed in films.
Buonaiuto says it's time for studios to accurately portray superheroes' sexuality on screen.
The video will be delivered to Marvel and DC studios in a "physical package" complete with website analytics to demonstrate the size of the audience, according to Buonaiuto.
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Topics Comic-Con Comics LGBTQ Marvel Social Good
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more. Rachel is the author of two non-fiction books, both published by Penguin Random House. Her second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now.
