AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
The adventure zone1/23/2024 The representation of queer characters in TAZ shows that podcasts are not just a platform for LGBTQ+ creators to educate their audience they can also act as a participatory storytelling medium in which creators can be educated in gender and sexuality by their audience. By tracking the introduction and development of queer representation in TAZ podcast episodes-both the game episodes and the meta-episodes bookending each season-the McElroys' education and integration of this new information into narratives is demonstrable. Since then, they have consistently introduced more queer characters and, in their latest season, have also introduced nonbinary characters. After engaging with their audience and learning why this was upsetting, they changed the story to reverse the trope unburying their gays by bringing the characters back to life. As four self-proclaimed 'straight, cis, white dudes', the family initially performed their characters by reflecting what they had seen in mainstream fiction. The McElroy family's popular actual-play podcast The Adventure Zone (TAZ) initially portrayed queer characters in the 'bury your gays' trope by killing off a canon lesbian couple in their first season. Even though the percentage of queer representation in mainstream media has improved, a viewer could be forgiven for thinking that, overall, popular culture does not think highly of the LGBTQ+ community for continuing to perpetuate these narrative arcs. This trope is called 'bury your gays' and it has done much to discredit and delegitimise representation. In addition to her role as Chief Marketing Officer for the popular dice-maker Dice Envy, Iyengar has quickly built a reputation and fanbase due to her fantastic storytelling and rapport with players.In contemporary mainstream media there is a tendency to represent LGBTQ+ characters stereotypically, or even kill them off. The McElroys are also developing an animated adaptation of the series for NBC's Peacock streaming service, although they haven't provided a new update on that project in over a year.Īabria Iyengar has quickly become a premiere GM on various "actual play" podcasts and shows, having run a mini-campaign for Critical Role and Dropout's Dimension 20 in the last year. In addition to the podcast, First Second Books has also adapted The Adventure Zone's Balance storyline into a series of graphic novels, all of which have appeared on the New York Times' best-seller list. To date, The Adventure Zone has had four seasons, with the most recent season launching earlier this year. After "Balance" was completed, the McElroys took turns acting as Game Master and used several alternate game systems. The Adventure Zone picked up in popularity and was spun out into its own podcast series, with the inaugural Balance arc lasting 69 episodes over three years. The Adventure Zone is one of the many podcasts produced by the McElroy brothers and initially started in 2014 as a special Dungeons & Dragons one-shot released as part of My Brother, My Brother, and Me, the signature podcast for the McElroy family.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |