I’ve just binge-watched the available Riverdale episodes on Netflix and it’s a pretty unequivocal thumbs up from me so far. There’s a dark, gothic undercurrent bubbling beneath the surface and the characters are interesting, fresh and engaging. Music is incorporated in a manner which makes me think of Julee Cruise in Twin Peaks with the dreamy, electronic pop from Josie and The Pussycats and introspective acoustic ballads from Archie. The set is lush and colourful with strange old houses and graveyards, dark institutions, a river which holds a multitude of secrets and characters who all seem to be hiding something. This televised take on the Archie comics holds plenty of promise and I’m excited to see where the story goes. A number of issues such as white privilege, misogyny and slut shaming are all packaged up in the dialogue in a slick, entertaining package.
BUT. I want to talk about the kissing.
NOTE: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SEASON 1
BUT. I want to talk about the kissing.
NOTE: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SEASON 1
First, that kiss between Betty and Veronica requires some context that I hope the show will deliver at some juncture. Where the Archie comics seem to tease at a three-way polyamorous relationship between Betty, Veronica and Archie, Riverdale has created the backstory for Archie and Veronica and for Betty and Archie respectively. It’s given us a friendship between Betty and Veronica and a kiss played for some kind of sensational impact to help the girls through their cheerleader trials.
If the kiss was simply a stunt and no more than that, it sits uncomfortably with me. With queer women and non-binary sexualities in general still significantly lacking representation in mainstream television, using a same sex kiss as a shock tactic makes little sense. The show itself seems to acknowledge that, as Cheryl Blossom remarks that using lesbian kisses for effect is passé. When that kind of statement is combined with comments about sexuality being fluid, I wonder if the show isn’t establishing a framework for exploring non-binary sexuality.
I’m tentatively hopeful that the kiss was a more than a marketing ploy to pull viewers in with the promise of progressive queerness which it never actually delivers. Women making out for the benefit of the male gaze is a pretty tired and outdated trope. What would be far more interesting is if the moment was staged right at the beginning of the series to deliberately make viewers think about romantic potential for the show’s main characters in a non-binary way. It made me wonder about Veronica’s unnamed (and ungendered) former love interest and saw possible romantic potential in relationships between women in the show in a way I usually expect to find refuge for in fanfic as opposed to the show itself. If Riverdale actually does go on to explore future same sex relationships for either Veronica, Betty or both, it would be a great step towards breaking down binary notions of sexuality which are continually enforced by mainstream television. With shows like How to Get Away With Murder and Crazy-Ex Girlfriend finally doing a decent job with bisexuality, I’m all here for a show like Riverdale joining the list as opposed to being another ‘could have done better’ disappointment.
The second kiss which made me nervous is the kiss between Jughead and Betty. This has cast uncertainty around whether or not the show is going to explore Jughead’s asexuality, a comic canon feature of the character who is asexual. One kiss isn’t at this stage isn't definitive proof this important character feature is going to be ignored and I can extrapolate about as much from it with respect to the intention of the writers as I can from the kiss between Betty and Veronica, without resorting to serious hypothesising and speculation. Nevertheless, I can fully see why fans might be worrying about ace erasure. I will be keeping everything crossed that the show is planning a storyline where a character negotiates asexual identity in a way which hasn't been attempted on television to date, giving visibility to a vastly underrepresented group of people.
I’m tentatively hopeful that the kiss was a more than a marketing ploy to pull viewers in with the promise of progressive queerness which it never actually delivers. Women making out for the benefit of the male gaze is a pretty tired and outdated trope. What would be far more interesting is if the moment was staged right at the beginning of the series to deliberately make viewers think about romantic potential for the show’s main characters in a non-binary way. It made me wonder about Veronica’s unnamed (and ungendered) former love interest and saw possible romantic potential in relationships between women in the show in a way I usually expect to find refuge for in fanfic as opposed to the show itself. If Riverdale actually does go on to explore future same sex relationships for either Veronica, Betty or both, it would be a great step towards breaking down binary notions of sexuality which are continually enforced by mainstream television. With shows like How to Get Away With Murder and Crazy-Ex Girlfriend finally doing a decent job with bisexuality, I’m all here for a show like Riverdale joining the list as opposed to being another ‘could have done better’ disappointment.
The second kiss which made me nervous is the kiss between Jughead and Betty. This has cast uncertainty around whether or not the show is going to explore Jughead’s asexuality, a comic canon feature of the character who is asexual. One kiss isn’t at this stage isn't definitive proof this important character feature is going to be ignored and I can extrapolate about as much from it with respect to the intention of the writers as I can from the kiss between Betty and Veronica, without resorting to serious hypothesising and speculation. Nevertheless, I can fully see why fans might be worrying about ace erasure. I will be keeping everything crossed that the show is planning a storyline where a character negotiates asexual identity in a way which hasn't been attempted on television to date, giving visibility to a vastly underrepresented group of people.
I've given shows the benefit of the doubt before and I have been disappointed, but I'm going to take an optimistic approach here as the first season hasn't concluded and Riverdale seems to be consciously self-aware of issues of diversity and representation. It's on those grounds that I'm reserving judgment for the moment. The addition of a self-confident gay man to the group of friends is welcome, but white gay men on television are probably the most represented group in terms of LGBT exposure and even with jokes about the overused gay best friend trope, I think the introduction of Kevin is a relatively safe option.
With an element of trepidation around the way the show is going to go on to explore queerness and marginalised sexualities, I plan to continue watching the series to see how these facets of the characters and complex sexualities play out.
With an element of trepidation around the way the show is going to go on to explore queerness and marginalised sexualities, I plan to continue watching the series to see how these facets of the characters and complex sexualities play out.