I’m a big fan of queer culture. One of my favorite shows that I bonded with my brother and friend over is Sense8 on Netflix. The show features a gay relationship between two latino men and has a queer relationship between a trans woman and a cis-woman. The show is science fiction and is about 8 people who are born into a “cluster” and are connected to one another across the world. They’re able to communicate with one another and experience their emotions. The show is incredibly diverse and is written and directed by the Wachowski sisters who also directed the matrix. (One of the characters also coincidentally has the same name as me, which makes me love it even more.)
My brother and I were such big fans of the show that we binge watched season one and season two together. We would invite our friends and we would make a little event out of it. We engaged in discussion and frequently texted about the show and the characters. When it was cancelled because of the high-production cost for each episode, we were devastated. Oftentimes, we were relating the very human experiences of the characters to our own lives. Their struggles with sexuality, with gender, with class, with relationships and family were things that we care deeply about in our own lives. Our conversations were initiated and mediated by the show, but they often veered into realms of relating the show to our day-to-day lives and interpreting it for deeper meaning. Lilly Wachowski was actually forcibly outed as trans in between production of season one and two, which led her to step back as a director for season two, because she felt she needed time away from public scrutiny. Our interest in the show included understanding the context and lives of the people who made the show and who created the stories that we were consuming so adamantly. We’re still all very bitter that Netflix cancelled the show, although they did end up agreeing to fund a 2-hour finale because of push back from fans.
