“Down, down, down the road, down the witches road,” has been stuck in our heads since Sept. 18 when the Marvel TV show Agatha All Along came out. The song however, is not the only thing that has stuck with viewers, given the overwhelmingly positive queer representation.
The Marvel Show, Agatha All Along has been revolutionary for the queer community. It featured both the first lesbian kiss in Marvel cinematic history and also featured countless LGBTQ+ individuals. This is monumental for several reasons, as it improves the perception of queer people across the country and it can make LGBTQ+ individuals feel seen.
While there have been nine confirmed lesbians in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the kiss between Agatha Harkness, the main character, and Rio Videl was the first lesbian kiss in the MCU.
According to UCLA, around 5.5% of adults identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States, which is over 13.9 million adults.
Marvel including the relationship and kiss between Harkness and Videl allows younger generations to feel comfortable with their identity. It also highlights both the good and bad parts of being queer through the dynamic of their relationship.
Historically, the LGBTQ+ community has been largely discriminated against, with many individuals being targeted by hate crimes.
One notable hate crime against the LGBTQ+ community happened in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew Sheppard was beaten and left for dead because of his sexuality. While the two men who did this were imprisoned, many in the town praised them.
To this day, there are thousands of hate crimes, or crimes motivated by social prejudices, against the community per year. According to the Human Rights Council, there were 1,947 hate crimes in the United States in 2022.
As Marvel is a largely watched platform, having a lesbian kiss means that it is helping prevent these hate crimes because it is helping to show that the queer community are individuals, and further humanizing them.
Oxford Academic writes that humanizing individuals that previously have been historically dehumanized can prevent prejudice motivated actions such as hate crimes. With the show, Harkness and Videl’s relationship showcases the humanity that everyone has, regardless of gender or sexuality.
In an article by Phillip M. Ayoub with the University College London, he writes that having LGBTQ+ representation in the media helps positively shift the public opinion of the community. This makes people who identify with the LGBTQ+ community more likely to feel comfortable with expressing their sexuality or gender and means that negative perception of queer people will go down.
Historically, the LGBTQ+ community has been one of the least represented in the media. With major corporations like Marvel incorporating queer people into their movies and TV shows, the community is finally getting the representation that they have been fighting for for decades.
