Halt and Catch Fire's Trailblazing Queer Representation
It was always people for Joe, and he ultimately found them at the end of a long, painful, yet illuminating quest for self-discovery outside of one, confident constant - his bisexuality.

Eri is arrested for murder. At that time, he was with his girlfriend, Rita, an orphan who makes a living from singing, and who supports Eri financially. Rita has waited faithfully for Eri’s release for seven years and she even picks him up when he gets out of prison. Eri meets Ayu for the first time when he helps her to replace her car tyre. Eri changes his name to Heru Damanik and starts to see Ayu, a wealthy widow with one child, and he eventually marries her.
It was always people for Joe, and he ultimately found them at the end of a long, painful, yet illuminating quest for self-discovery outside of one, confident constant - his bisexuality.
The “gay best friend”, an age-old trope, has been done in countless films and television series. Ranging from one-note (Sex and the City's Stanford and Mario) to nuanced (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Tituss), the gay best friend exists to support and advise the main protagonist, with their conflicts swept to the side.
You can’t talk to my grandpa about The Sopranos. You can’t talk to him about The Godfather either. Merely by bringing up the subject, you’d be treated to a lecture on how movies and TV want you to believe that all Italians are criminals and mobsters. He won’t watch any of it, in protest.
A family drama is woven with quiet yet powerful forces of words and nature.
In a post-Gamergate media landscape, it's ambitious to have a film confront the harsh reactions to women in gaming from a comedic lens.
Intergenerational friendships and community can be so powerful, and this was a great example.