The New Alarming Trend In TV

Does TV turn off fans by doing this? *SPOILERS* follow for various shows

In the TV season of 2015-2016, the alarming trope of 'Bury Your Gays' has become more obvious as ever.

Now that this TV season begins to wind down, we can look back over the last year and take note of how this trope has become ever prominent. The LGBT fandoms around the world have seen serious problems with how all their favourite queer characters are being bumped off their respective shows. Now with television, the Angel of Death is always hovering above a show, ready to strike and break the hearts of fans around the world.

Queer representation has always been weak on television.

So the constant killing of these characters is a serious problem for all fandoms who just want to see themselves represented on TV, without knowing they will probably die in the next few episodes

Lets go through some recent examples on prominent shows of the last few years:

1. Lexa (The 100, The CW) - Date of Death: March 3rd 2016

The CW

Lexa (left) has been one of the most high profile examples of this trope this year. Just after consummating her relationship with the main character, Clark Griffin (right), Lexa was shot in the stomach by her confidant Titus and passes away. Fans of the show were outraged at this strong character dying in such a simple and often used way.

2. Camilla Marks-Whiteman (Naomi Campbell) and Mimi Whitman (Marissa Tomei) - Date of Death: April 6th 2016 (Empire, Fox)

Fox

Whist not being the nicest pair on the show (conning the Lyon family out their company), the couples bizarre exit from the show showed how LGBT characters are typically portrayed as 'crazy'. Instead of revealing how she was using her, Camilla (pictured) poisons Mimi and then is forced to drink the poison herself by an angry Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard).

3. Denise (Merritt Weaver) - Date of Death: March 20th 2016 (The Walking Dead, AMC)

AMC

Denise was a very nice person. She was just becoming an important part of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) group whilst they tried to survive a zombie apocalypse. Whilst her girlfriend Tara (Alanna Masterson) is away, Denise leaves the community for the first time and ends up being shot through the eye with an arrow. This death is particularly prominent as it takes from the comic book but replaces a straight, male character with her instead.

4. Delphine Cormier (Évelyne Brochu) - Date of Death: June 20th 2015 (Orphan Black, Space/BBC America)

Space/BBC America

Whilst not necessarily confirmed dead, Delphine was shot in the finale of the 3rd season by an unknown person just after reconciling with her ex Cosima (Tatiana Maslany). Another example of a strong, queer, female character shot down before her time.

5. Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day) - Date of Death: May 6th 2015 (Supernatural, The CW)

The CW

Charlie was murdered after a violent fight with Eldon Styne (David Hoflin) where her final confrontation was never even seen, instead just cutting to the main characters discovering her body. Supernatural has always had a problem with female characters, being a predominately male driven show and this death is seemingly done for pure shock value and to drive a male character's storyline.

6. Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) - Date of Death: October 8th 2015 (Arrow, The CW)

The CW

Sara had a secret identity as the Black Canary, a vigilante crime fighter, and in the season 3 premiere meets her death after she is shot by arrows by a mind-controlled Thea Queen (Willa Holland). Her death was done to further her sister, Laurel's (Katie Cassidy), character development. She was later resurrected the following season but for a whole year was believed gone.

7. Naomi Campbell (Lily Loveless) - Date of Death: July 8th 2013 (Skins, E4)

E4

3 years after the 2nd generation of Skins finished, a select few were bought back for a final series of the drama, including Naomi. But it was soon revealed she had cancer and her last few months were spent distant from her friend Effy Stonem (Kaya Scoledario) and far apart from girlfriend Emily Fitch (Kathryn Prescott). A sad demise for a character who ended her original series run so happy.

8. Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) - Date of Death: May 7th 2002 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The WB)

The WB

This was the big death that first saw fandom freaking out over the 'Bury Your Gays' trope. Just after having sex with Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Tara is shot by a stray bullet and dies in her arms. A writer on the show said this moment was to further Willow's development, which can be seen as an example of a character being created just to further another's development.