Alright, that’s it.
Dishonor.
Dishonor on your whole family!
(Make a note of this.)
Dishonor on you!
Dishonor on your cow!
Dishonor!
Seriously, Netflix. How could you do this to I Am Not Okay with This? I’m not even going to try and make excuses for you like, “Well, it would’ve cost too much and the return would’ve not been enough.” That’s straight up bullshit and you know it. This show had fans and if Twitter is any indication, there’s plenty of them out there who are as angry as me.
And why, you ask?
Because I Am Not Okay with This was fun, heartfelt, and the queer superpowered show I’ve always wanted. When have we seen a heroine like Sydney? Never, that’s where! A young woman who lost her father to what she assumed was because of the powers that she also holds inside of herself. A young woman who developed feelings for her best friend and in the end saw them being returned. A young woman who was happy, angry, sad, and a whole range of emotions that young women aren’t allowed to express in the media we consume.
Sydney was queer representation that we still desperately need in 2020. And with Marvel and DC, the major studios behind superhero movies, sleeping on actually giving us queer superheroes, I Am Not Okay with This acted as that representation. And no Marvel, including a queer man during therapy doesn’t count and you know it. I’ll be a little easier on DC because of the Harley Quinn animated series. But the fact remains that both studios have NEVER given queer characters the time of day.
But I Am Not Okay with This did. And I’ll forever be mad, disappointed, and disheartened that the service who pats itself on the back for being diverse could cancel a show with a queer lead, an interracial relationship on the cusp of starting, and the ability to make side characters (no matter how small) interesting. That’s why their reversal and cancellation of this show hurts so much.
The potential to be something great was there.
Hell, it was great already and it could’ve gotten better!
But Netflix decided to sideline queer representation again and dash our hopes that we’d be getting the stories we deserve, need, and want in our lives. And for that, I won’t forget, I won’t forgive, and I will remember. We could’ve had something great, but unfortunately with I Am Not Okay with This, we’ll never know what could’ve been, the stories the show-runners were dying to tell, and what was next for Sydney and Dina.
