Space Sweepers (2021)

While film and TV still have a long way to go when it comes to LGBT representation, there are so many more opportunities for LGBT people to see themselves onscreen than there were even a few years ago. Best of all, some of the best LGBT films and shows are available online for free or on popular streaming services that you might already be subscribed to. Here are some of my top picks for films and TV shows with positive LGBT representation, sorted by where you can find them. (Note: This list is accurate as of June 2021, but streaming libraries change frequently.)

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Must-Watch LGBT Movies Online Recommendations

From Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to Octavia Butler's groundbreaking works of Afrofuturism, women have always been pioneers when it comes to science fiction. Of course, you probably wouldn't know that from looking at cinema's biggest sci-fi hits. But despite Hollywood's ongoing bias toward stories by and about men, women are integral to many science fiction films, ranging from classic blockbusters like Star Wars to critically-acclaimed dramas like Children of Men. This Women's History Month, I wanted to celebrate these iconic characters (and the women who play them) for bringing so much to my favorite genre. In no particular order, here are 10 amazing women in science fiction films.

Guillermo del Toro’s robot-versus-monster slugfest delivers everything I want from a kaiju film: stunning visual effects, epic fights, and just the right amount of camp. Pacific Rim also boasts a diverse international cast and breaks from the strain of American exceptionalism that often runs through apocalyptic stories. While one of the film’s protagonists is a white man, Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) shares a mech and the spotlight with Mako Mori, played by Japanese actor Rinko Kikuchi. Mako’s character arc follows the underdog-to-hero trajectory that’s often reserved for men. Despite her relative inexperience, she proves that she can hold her own against Raleigh and deserves to fight kaiju alongside him. Mako gets some truly badass moments during combat (two words: chain sword), but she also brings a surprising amount of emotional gravitas to what might otherwise be a one-note action film. From her tragic backstory to her accurate portrayal of PTSD to her touching relationship with her adoptive father Stacker (Idris Elba), Kikuchi’s performance ensures that the audience never forgets the human cost of disaster.

Pacific Rim is available on Hulu.

Space Sweepers takes place in an all-too-plausible future where the Earth has been rendered almost uninhabitable by pollution and climate change. Those who can afford to have fled to space, with the wealthiest living in luxury on a colony owned by the UTS corporation. A Mars colonization effort is also underway, spearheaded by UTS’s founder and CEO, James Sullivan (Richard Armitage). The less fortunate survive by fighting over space debris to sell as scrap metal.

The premise requires a healthy dose of exposition, and the first 20 minutes of the film occasionally drag as a result. It helps that an exhilarating chase-sequence and stunning shots of the colony’s artificial biosphere break up the rounds of info-dumping. Eventually, the film focuses on the ragtag crew of a scavenging ship called Victory, led by the hard-drinking and unscrupulous Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri). Her crew includes Tae-ho (Song Joong-ki), a jaded ex-soldier who defected from UTS’s private military; Tiger Park (Jin Seon-kyu), an engineer and former drug kingpin who narrowly escaped execution on Earth; and Bubs, a former military robot in the process of forging her own identity. The plot takes off when Tae-ho discovers a stowaway on board the Victory: an adorable young girl named Kot-nim (Park Ye-rin) who may or may not be a dangerous android in disguise. What ensues is both a surprisingly heartfelt tale of found family and a scathing indictment of classism.