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<\/a>The 100 — “Thirteen” — Pictured: Alycia Debnam-Carey as Lexa — Credit: Liane Hentscher\/The CW- All Rights Reserved<\/p><\/div>\n
Let me first start out by saying, I\u2019m so sorry you are getting many, many negative reactions from fans. I\u2019ve heard rumors that several have gone completely over the line in what they\u2019ve said or done. That\u2019s unacceptable and for that I\u2019m sorry. I am not advocating for those people. I do not approve of their actions. But I\u2019m going to try to speak for the rest of us who feel generally hurt or upset by what happened in episode 307.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m guessing a lot of this reaction surprised you. Most of us knew, or at least had to strongly assume, that Lexa had to die. We all know Alycia Debnam-Carey is a regular on another TV show. I was even spoiled by Twitter before I watched 307 and knew she was going to die well-before I started watching the episode (I watched a day later, on Friday). And no, I didn\u2019t stupidly sign onto Twitter that day, like an idiot, and then get mad at the massive amounts of spoilers – Twitter actually emailed me a \u201cpopular\u201d tweet and I saw the spoiler in the email snippet, without ever even clicking in. Bummer, for sure, but I think that\u2019s why my perspective might surprise you. I wasn\u2019t mad when I got that spoiler via email. I was upset, sure, but I wasn\u2019t hurt or angry (at anything other than dumb Twitter emails). So, it\u2019s really important to note here, it\u2019s not that she died, it\u2019s 100% how she died.<\/p>\n
The unfortunate truth is that there is a long, long history of lesbians dying in TV shows. I\u2019m sure you know this, but maybe you don\u2019t. What you probably don\u2019t know is that there\u2019s an infographi<\/a>c of lesbian representation in television that\u00a0has to include how many lesbians were killed. There’s another infographic<\/a> that shows all the lesbian\/bi characters ever on television and in the center is “All Lesbians go to Heaven.”\u00a0We do that because it\u2019s just too common to ignore. It happens all the time.<\/p>\n Tara Maclay played by Amber Bensen on Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/p><\/div>\n There\u2019s also one notable lesbian who died in a very similar way that Lexa did. I\u2019m sure you know this, but maybe you don\u2019t. Tara was killed in season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em> by a stray bullet. Her death resulted in creating \u201cBad Willow,\u201d because Willow loved Tara more than anything else. And many of us grew up watching Buffy and Willow and Tara\u2019s relationship was the first fully developed relationship between two women on network television. It holds a special place in the hearts of many LGBTQ individuals because of its alignment with our early adulthood. And therefore Tara\u2019s death was as heartbreaking to us as it was to Willow. The fact that it happens immediately after the two reconcile (and consummate their reconciliation), made it hurt all that much more.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a whole long, mostly unpleasant history of lesbians on television. This is where I\u2019m pretty sure you don\u2019t know this. I\u2019m reminded of an interview Heather Hogan<\/a> did with the creator of the short-lived US version of Skins, Bryan Elsley. In it, she asked Bryan\u00a0if he was aware that it\u2019s common in US popular culture for lesbians to sleep with or even end up with a man. In his answer, he made it very clear that he had no idea that was a thing, or a \u201ctrope.\u201d\u00a0I can imagine Heather Hogan interviewing you and asking the same thing and you may give a similar answer, maybe you won\u2019t.<\/p>\n The sad fact is that lesbians in pop culture often die because of their lesbianism. And to me, that\u2019s how<\/em> Lexa died and it\u2019s the how<\/em> that is upsetting. She had just consummated her love for Clarke and we can assume that it was her love for Clarke that brought her to that doorway. Or, in other words, her lesbianism is the reason she was struck by a stray bullet. I know this sounds reductionist because Lexa, as a character, was obviously so much more, but this is just how it feels. Our collective history tells us this is why she died.<\/p>\n<\/a>