Another Dead Lesbian and the Question of Representation

Nina Sosanya in Last Tango in Halifax

Warning: Last Tango in Halifax spoilers.

My mission on this blog is to mention, support, and promote things I like. I usually don’t mention things I don’t like. Today is an exception. I want to talk about something I don’t like: the kill-the-lesbian trope.

This subject is fresh on my mind because Kate McKenzie was killed off on Last Tango in Halifax in episode 4 of season 3, but I could have written about the topic once a month since the birth of the blog and still have plenty of subject matter.

When I recapped the episode in which Kate died, I did it as a straight report on the story as writer Sally Wainwright wrote it. It’s her story, her creation. She can write it as she wants. (I took to heart a tweet from Shonda Rhimes about fans who think they can tell her how to write her stories.)

I don’t want to tell Sally Wainwright how to write a good story. She knows. She’s written wonderful female characters in Scott & Bailey, in Happy Valley, and in Last Tango in Halifax. I thank her for all of them.

I think this character is part of a larger discussion about media in general and LBGT / woman of color representation in particular.

Kate’s death means that a story about this lesbian couple – one of them a woman of color – is over. There will be no married life struggles, no child raising drama, no representation of two brilliant successful lesbians living a normal life in modern day Britain.

Kate’s death means that a woman of color in a leading role as a lesbian is gone. Her presence in this story, not just as a lesbian but as a woman of color, was significant to many people and to society as a whole. The number 1 search term that brings people to this blog is “Nina Sosanya.” The number 1 post on this blog week after week is about Nina Sosanya. This says to me that she represents something to a majority of people interested in Last Tango.

Kate’s death means that Celia – played by Anne Reid – doesn’t have to grapple with her homophobia, her racism. Kate is gone and with her an important and much needed character arc for Celia.

Kate’s death means that Caroline – played by Sarah Lancashire – will live without love from now on, will grieve for what she’s lost from now on.

Interviews, Quotes, and Comments

Sally Wainwright

Sally Wainwright’s first interview after the episode was with Diva Magazine. When asked why she killed off Kate she said,

It was a really massive decision. And it just felt it wasn’t as… [long pause]. It didn’t give the series as much emotional impact as we normally like to give the audience. I suppose that’s why we made that decision. But I am sad, and I’m really aware that I’ve upset a lot of people.

Later, she was asked why Kate and not John (played by Tony Gardner)? Her answer,

The narrative was that Caroline and Celia had fallen out so badly with Celia not going to the wedding. They weren’t going to speak to each other ever again. Narratively, nothing can ever bring this mother and daughter back together again. And then of course when there’s this huge, massive catastrophe in the family, people do rally round. People do get back together. So it was a narrative decision. It was more about the relationship between Celia and Caroline, and what that gave us.

Celia and Caroline fight regularly and viciously. And make up. That’s been part of their narrative all along. I find it hard to believe that someone had to die for them to make up.

When asked if Caroline would meet another woman, Sally Wainwright answered,

No. And she’s not going to meet another man either.

Nina Sosanya

Nina Sosanya’s first interview after Kate’s death was with Cultbox. When asked for her reaction when she heard about Kate’s death she said,

I was warned before I read the script – which was kind of them – and my honest initial reaction was ‘oh that’s a good idea!’, because the drama is great, but then slowly it dawned on me that I wouldn’t be in it anymore! So that was a bit of a slow burn, but it was off for me because from an outside opinion I could completely see why that’s a great story turn.

But it was quite devastating to have to say goodbye to that relationship, particularly with Sarah, because you build up a working relationship that’s quite unique. It was really sad.

Nina didn’t know at the start of series 3 that she was going to be off the show is how I read that. Assuming she really is off the show. In episode 4 – the funeral episode – she was there as she appeared in Caroline’s grieving visualizations. She may be around for a while in Caroline’s imagination.

When asked about playing Kate as a ghost she said,

Yes, that’s quite an interesting thing to play, because you’re not really playing the character anymore, you playing it as imagined by someone else. So that was a challenge, it was quite good really.

 And would she work with Sally Wainwright again? Yes, definitely!

Lady Parts

A powerful post on Lady Parts deserves a reading. It’s titled Lesbian Lives Matter. Read the entire post, please. Here’s a bit of particular interest.

There is great division in the lesbian fan community right now. Some people are very angry from years of disappointments and have banned the show, much like they did with “The L Word,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Chicago Fire” and countless other shows that let us down. Some do not want to bite the hand that feeds us and are worried that the show might be canceled and Caroline might never get another chance at happiness.

Well, I don’t want the show canceled, but I do want this to be a teaching moment, for Wainwright and everyone who follows her. I want us to scream loud enough, I want them to hear, and I want to finally earn their respect. Lesbian lives matter. Queer lives matter. Stories on television matter. They give voice to those who are struggling to be heard, and they give a face and a familiarity to the Other.

I Want to Have Them Here

A Tumblr blog called “I Want to Have Them Here” posted an piece called In Memory of Kate McKenzie.  They suggest an action that would be an example of what Lady Parts called a teaching moment.

. . . it wouldn’t be right to let this wonderful couple and all that they represent, simply fade away without their significance being recognised therefore we are proposing a highly visible demonstration of our gratitude for the gift that is Kate & Caroline and our appreciation of the two sublime actresses who portrayed them so skilfully and honestly.

We are co-opting the phenomenon of Lovers’ Locks, a symbol of everlasting love. It says a lot about how we would have preferred the script to have gone as well as a warm embodiment of our feelings for the characters and their relationship as lesbians.

The suggestion is to put lover’s locks in a fence near the Red Production offices at in Salford in England. (The address is in the article.) I think this is a quiet, gentle act that could build into news that many writers and producers would notice and think about.

After Ellen

The final quote comes from a piece on After Ellen by Elaine Atwell. Elaine is mad as hell and doesn’t want to take it any more, as are many fans who are fatigued by the kill-the-lesbian trope. Here’s a quote:

. . . writers, producers, and showrunners have no qualms at all about taking our faith and our love and our loyalty and shoving it right back in our faces. Sure, they love us when we offer nothing but praise. They collect the GLAAD awards like Greek gods courting temple sacrifices. They eagerly repeat the stories of how their characters gave real life people the courage to come out. They pat themselves on the back so hard and so often it’s a wonder they’re not all in a constant state of cramp. But when we dare to object, when we express fatigue or frustration with being force-fed the same tired cliches again and again, then the same queer women who formed a vital part of their fan base become a nuisance. When we complain, they call us shrill. And when we try to sneak the characters under our T-shirts and spirit them away to the worlds of Tumblr or fan fiction, places we know we can at least keep them safe, they call us crazy.

What is the kill-the-lesbian Trope?

There’s a wiki called TV Tropes. It has a page called Bury Your Gays. This page, with it’s links to other similar pages, is an education in the frequency with which the trope is used to kill off gay characters. Read and get educated. A quote (emphasis mine):

Please note that sometimes gay characters die in fiction because in fiction sometimes people die (this is particularly true of soldiers at war, where Sitch Sexuality and Anyone Can Die are both common tropes); this isn’t an if-then correlation, and it’s not always meant to “teach us something” or indicative of some prejudice on the part of the creator – particularly if it was written after 1960. The problem isn’t when gay characters are killed off: the problem is when gay characters are killed off far more often than straight characters, or when they’re killed off because they are gay.

Under that are examples from anime, comic books, fan works, film, literature, TV, music, theater, video games, web comics, web original, and western animation. Open and look at all of them. If you’ve heard of this trope before but never really seen it documented, open and look at all the examples. An educational moment.

In the TV section alone, examples come from Chicago Fire, True Blood, Will and Grace, Ally McBeal, The Andromeda Strain, Battlestar Gallactica, Bramwell, Cold Case, Damages, Dark Angel, Dirty Sexy Money, Foyle’s War, Hex, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, House, Lost, The Sopranos, Supernatural, Veronica Mars, Warehouse 13, Boardwalk Empire, The Tudors, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hemlock Grove, The Killing, American Horror Story and more and more. Now Last Tango in Halifax can be added to the ever growing list.

The Issue of Representation

Pop culture and representations of society and its multitude of individuals in our media matter. LBGT representation, women’s representation, men’s representation, the representation of the handicapped, the disabled, the old, the representation of people of color, the representation of races, religions, belief systems: it all matters.

Television, film, YouTube, advertising, media of any kind teaches us who we are. Teaches us what our culture believes we are. Teaches us what we can and cannot be.

Taking the route of killing off yet another gay character teaches us that gay people are expendable and not worth keeping around. It’s a plot device that needs to be examined by every creative person who writes for TV, film or any other medium. It matters how LGBT characters are handled in the media. Representation matters.

Why Are We So Attached to Kate?

Update: 8/20/2015: Why do we mourn so angrily when our favorite characters are killed off? Here’s a fascinating article at The Mary Sue called The Psychology of Fandom: Why We Get Attached to Fictional Characters that explains what’s happening in our brains and thoughts when a favorite character departs suddenly.

25 thoughts on “Another Dead Lesbian and the Question of Representation”

  1. Excellent summary.
    I´m surprised that there was even an article in The Guardian about this phenomenon.

    I think I´m not the only one who got a bit angry when they read Sally´s interview,the reason why she killed Kate.Unfortunatley was it the reason we all suspected it to be.
    Hurray,the homophobic old moron has won,doesn´t have to think about her attitude,doesn´t have to give in and that lesbian goes back into the closet where she´ll probably stay for the rest of the show.No,wait a moment.She is living with aghost now – a gay ghost.That´s unique.

    Guess Sally didn´t get much sleep since last Sunday and she´ll already regret her decision.Maybe Caroline will wake up one morning and the shower is running 😉

    The idea with the love locks is wonderful.

    1. PS:I´m at least a bit relieved that Sally doesn´t turn Caroline straight again.But on the other hand we don´t know what´s planned for S4…

  2. Thank you for your great article. I had read all the referenced articles, but seeing them all together was great. LTiH E3-4 has been so disturbing to me. SW has definitely run off the rails. Sure it is her story but there is no rhyme or reason to the answers she gave on DIVA to explain her reasoning. Forgive my ramble. I am an old one too!

    1. Nicole Schrader

      That´s true.I also got the idea when I read the interview that she doesn´t relly know how to explain her decision.That the fixture of C&C´s realationship is just a lame excuse because the fans want answers from her.All her answers sound like she already regrets her decision and has to deal with it now.

  3. The Sosanyatorium Speaks

    Sally Wainwright’s explanation is bewildering. I am glad so many people are kicking back and making their voices heard.

    I just hope that Nina will go on to bigger and better things as she totally deserves to.

      1. The Sosanyatorium Speaks

        I’ve had a surge in followers on my blog over the last week. I think people are really sitting up and taking notice of her and surely this will translate to a lead role.

  4. Thanks for writing this piece. I’ve been an admirer of Sally Wainwright for a very long time and I think this storyline and her response to it are just so beneath her gifts as a writer. There were countless options to initiate a reconciliation between Celia and Caroline; if someone had to die, why not William? Edward Ashely seems to have moved on anyway. There could have been an amazing story in Caroline and Kate trying to raise a baby after just losing their. That’s just one. Misguided in the extreme.

    1. Thank you for your comments regarding another route that could of been taken instead of killing off Kate; which hence ended the relationship of Kate and Caroline. My first time to watch the Last Tango in Halifax was March 2021 on Netflix. I truly, truly fell in love with the show until Kate was killed. I found it difficult to watch after Kate was killed. The relationship between Kate and Caroline is in my opinion the most interesting part of the show. Without Kate and Caroline and their relationship from beginning to their wedding, the show would have been very boring. As I repeatedly watched the show, I found myself fast forwarding to parts with K & C. Kate and Caroline was the twist the show needed to hold my interest. As an African American gay female, mother and a former principal of a public school, I so loved the way Caroline was cast and her beautiful relationship with a teacher in her school, Kate. It just saddens me that we do not get to see what is truly one of our realities in our world today; gay bi-racial female professional couples falling in love, deciding to raise a bi-racial child and living out their happily ever after.

  5. Sally really made a BAD decision in killing off Kate.
    I thoroughly enjoyed reading your postings – you speak for a lot of people who have been so disappointed and REALLY pissed off at that unthinking decision. Such a wonderful story left untold. There were at least 10 other ways to reconcile Celia and Caroline other than killing a beloved favorite.Such a pity.I feel at the end of S3 everyone was left with what they loved the most – Celia with Alan, Gillian with Robbie, Raff with Ellie, William with his books, Lawrence with Angus, John with his alcohol, Gary with his millions, Greg with a Daughter……Caroline was the only one who had to let go and say goodbye.It was heartbreaking that she didn’t get to have he love story. If you notice, Caroline is always there for everyone else, but hardly anyone is there for her. I wish all the best for Nina Sonsanya and I still love Sarah Lancashire. I’ll look forward to Happy Valley S2 to get my Sarah fix! Thanks for your insights! Best Regards!

  6. I think I am still in some abyss thinking that maybe SW will start series 4 with

    1.Caroline waking up all just being a bad dream and Kate is actually in hospital but will be ok.

    2. Kate is in a coma and Caroline is telling her everything that is going on in their lives, then she wakes up and everything is happiness

    Someone needs to maybe bring me into reality, but I have hope with these characters! or with Sally Wainwright, which I still think is brilliant, but sometimes makes the wrong choice.

  7. It would definitely help SW redeem herself if she would write something for Sarah and Nina together. Perhaps a series titled Lesbian Tango in Halifax

  8. I’m thoroughly disappointed, sad and depressed about kate dying. I also think it was so predictable. too easy. and what a cop out saying it for the story between celia and caroline. when babies are born all manner of relationships change. caroline and Gillian are step sisters, and the baby would have been celia’s step granddaughter. it would have been a good opportunity to delve into non-blood family relationships. and the story was doing well! there didn’t need to be a drastic killing off of a main character. I’m just so sad about this, and I won’t be watching anymore of the series. way to go, Sally Wainright.

  9. I feel completely ripped off! I am so disappointed that SW couldn’t allow those of us who needed Kate and Carolyn to follow through with their beautiful life together to do just that. Why did you do this? Did Nina want to leave the series? I know from other British shows that British stars often don’t usually stay with shows for any length of time.

    I can’t imagine who will come to Carolyn to “save the day.” I needed their love story. I cherished every episode. As with one of the people who replied above, I was hoping she was more seriously hurt and would recover, but the picture by episode 4 shows the family around Carolyn at a funeral. I don’t think I will continue to watch the show. I loved them together, so much.

  10. I too agree that the baby’s arrival would have been the perfect opportunity for a reconciliation between Celia and Caroline. The person not wanting to talk was Caroline, not Celia. Caroline is ultimately a reasonable person, though hot headed at times. She would not have continued not to speak to Celia because it would have been so bad for her family– her sons, Kate, and everyone living in the house and even the extended family. Kate, WIlliam and Gillian all would have been able to talk sense into Caroline, for the family’s sake. Also, though, isn’t Kate and Caroline’s daughter Celia’s grandchild, not a step grandchild?

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