“We March With Pride” Representation in Netflix’s Sense8

Today’s post is coming at you super late: mostly because I needed Monday to watch a little bit more of today’s show for discussion. I apologize for the delay: this has just not been my week. But as the saying goes, better late than never.

Today’s TV show is completely new to me. I’m only four episodes into Netflix’s Sense8, and there’s already been enough representation to fill a blog post. This is the kind of content I can really get excited about! Sense8 is aimed at a bit of an older audience, and is a far more mature and explicit show than we’ve discussed before. However, since I’m speaking about young adults, not just teenagers, it fits the bill wonderfully.

That said: today’s post is basically spoiler-free! Everything I’ll be talking about occurs in the first four episodes (and most of it occurs in the first two). Today, we’ll meet Nomi, Lito, Amanita, and Hernando, and talk about the show’s astounding representation of gay men, gay women, and transgender women.

Crash Course: Sense8 follows eight people from around the world whose minds and subconscious are innately connected. These people (called “Sensates”) can transport and ‘visit’ each other, and are tasked in protecting each other. The show was developed by the creators of the Matrix, so explaining it in a couple sentences is nearly impossible.

Today, I’m not going to go in-depth with a cast of characters, as we’re really just focusing on a few of them and I don’t want to get sidetracked by all the other Sensates.

First, let’s talk about Nomi Marks, played by the amazing actress Jamie Clayton. Nomi is a hacktivist and a blogger, as well as being one of the Sensates with seven other people. Nomi is also transgender, and in the first few episodes of the show, her character arc is not driven merely by her gender identity, but her identity as a transgender woman is a significant and vital part in her story. Let’s dive into it.

Nomi, in the first episode, is established as being in a loving relationship with her girlfriend, Amanita (and they are seriously the cutest). As I mentioned earlier, Sense8 is a more explicit show than anything else we’ve discussed on the blog. It’s got a fanbase made up of many young adults in their early 20s, and as Netflix can be more explicit in their programming, we’re treated to a sex scene in the first episode between Nomi and Amanita celebrating Pride.

Nomi encounters transphobia from a group of people at a Pride event, and Amanita steps to her defence immediately to talk the harassers down. This is a really grounded and realistic approach as it shows that even the gay community can experience transphobia within the community. It doesn’t portray the gay community as a perfect haven, but reveals that even they can have further prejudices.

As the show continues into episode two, Nomi is revealed to have a brain abnormality (due to the whole Sensate thing where seven other people essentially live in her brain) and is caught in the hospital, forbidden to leave, as the doctors want to operate on her brain. While there, she is visited by her mother, who refuses to believe her daughter’s identity as transgender. She misgenders Nomi, calling her “him” and referring to her as her birth name (otherwise known as a ‘dead name’), Michael.

It’s so frustrating and heart-wrenching to watch, because as the viewer, we’ve already come to love Nomi and we know Nomi is a woman. The way Nomi is presented to the viewer presents her as a woman first, and a trans woman second. She’s a trans woman, yes, but still a woman regardless, and the pacing of the show really presents this beautifully to the audience. Watching Nomi deal with Amanita’s love and support, as she promises to Nomi to get her out of the hospital even if she has to destroy it, and contrasting it to her transphobic mother, presents a balance to the reality of the life of a young trans woman.

The coolest part about what Sense8 does for its representation, is that Nomi is played by a transgender actress, rather than giving her role to a cisgender (definition: someone whose gender identity matches their sex at birth) woman. It’s wonderful to see a trans woman play a trans woman (similarly to Laverne Cox playing Sophia on Orange is the New Black), because you can truly feel and understand their characters on a deeper level as you know they may have been through some of these struggles and experiences and are bringing their life stories to the table.

Luckily, Nomi is saved from the hospital and the looming lobotomy thanks to Amanita and the help of one of her fellow Senseates (Will to the rescue!), and is back to helping out her Sensate brain-buddies with the help of her blogging and hacking skills. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Nomi, Amanita, and their relationship: I’ll be back with a bit more on Friday.

Next, let’s talk about Hernando and Lito. Lito Rodriguez, played by Miguel Silvestre, is an actor and another one of the Sensate brain-buddies. Lito is presented as a straight man, and is seen being flirtatious with his co-star, Daniela. It is then revealed quite quickly to the audience that Lito is gay, and is using Daniela to hide his sexuality from the public.

This creates a contrast between Nomi and Lito: Nomi is relatively out and proud, while Lito attempts to hide his sexuality for the purpose of his career. However, it doesn’t take too long for Daniela to figure it out. She shows up drunk to his apartment and walks right into his room, greeted by a very naked Hernando tucked into Lito’s bed. Hint: this is Lito’s boyfriend.

Daniela later agrees to be Lito’s “beard” (meaning she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend for the sake of publicity), and the three of them begin what looks like a wonderful friendship. Seeing Lito’s panic at the possibility of someone finding out his sexuality, and then seeing Daniela become an integral part of his life and of Hernando and Lito’s relationship. The show doesn’t play the idea of the beard off for laughs, but uses the plot to further Lito’s character development. The representation here is the fear of a closeted gay man, which highlights the consequences Lito feels he may have if he comes out: his status as a heartthrob may be at risk. This is upsetting and unfortunate, but it just goes to show that not everyone is accepting and not every culture or country creates a safe place to be out.

Like Nomi, Hernando’s private life is an oasis, accepted like any heterosexual relationships, and displays a balance btween happiness and acceptance and difficulty. I’m admittedly not too far into the show, so I don’t quite know what’s next for these characters. But just from the first handful of episodes, I am already entranced and so ready to follow along on their journeys. Sense8 has set their LGBT (everything but the “B”) representation up wonderfully to make the characters’ journeys not solely about their sexualities, but about how their sexualities intertwine with their normal lives.

On Friday, we’ll explore Tumblr and their thoughts on the show. We’ll examine demographics, fan interpretations, and thoughts in general on the LGBT rep of the show.