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[A Part of It All]

It was announced that "The Prom" was going to be adapted into a young adult novel. I was excited for this novel, since "The Prom" has become my favorite musical of this year.

However, the books author Saundra Mitchell has changed the character Alyssa Greene's sexuality from lesbian to pansexual in the novel. Many fans of "The Prom", like myself, have called out this hateful action and labeled it as a very dangerous one and I would like to discuss it on here. Sexuality is not fluid and by changing a characters sexuality, there is an implication that it is.

They are also calling this action lesbian erasure. Is this a case of that?

Is this a hateful action? <<edited by BWW staff>>? Why are fans going so crazy over this?

[haterobics]

Well, the character isn't lesbian in the book and then decides to identify as pansexual, as I understand it. The character in the musical is lesbian. The character in the book is pansexual. And the character in the Netflix movie will be... whatever they decide, but someone who still wants to take a same-sex date to the prom?

As for people going crazy over things online, that's sort of just what people do now?

[henrikegerman]

I doubt anyone writing a pansexual character hates Lesbians.  
How can any love story about two women hope to "erase" Lesbianism? Lesbian may not define the sexual identity of any woman in love with another woman, but it still characterizes the relationship. 

What do you mean by sexuality not being fluid? Do you mean pansexuality doesn't exist? 

Or do you mean that sexuality of a fictional character is fixed at first portrayal and should never be altered at all?

I'm not unsympathetic but i am failing to understand the objection, let alone the claims of erasure and hatefulness.

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Well, she's still portraying a female/female romantic relationship in the novel. And while I don't have stats in front of me, Pansexual people probably have less representation than Lesbian women in media and literature. This creates more of a learning opportunity for young people to be discussing various types of sexuality within the context of this novel (and a novel allows more nuance and backstory than a stage musical). To me, that's a great thing.

Once again, it sounds like people are bored and looking to create chaos out of nothing...

Is Alyssa specified as a POC with white parents in the novel? When Ariana's casting was rumored, there was some mind-numbing internet rioting about how it was "racist," because the Broadway actress happens to be a POC (even though there's no script reference to the character's ethnicity).

[A Part of It All]

To many, Alyssa Greene is a canon lesbian POC. 

I agree pan rep is important, but many fans are calling for the creation of a new character so that there is no lesbian rep lost in the adaptation. 

[NievesG]

Why was the title of the post erased?

 

Anyway, to the topic, I don't think it is erasure so much as what Ermengarde wrote. YA novels, typically coming of age stories or coming out novels, tend to paint with broad brushes. Perhaps Mitchell is trying to explore different sexualities in the novel to present to her audience? Whether I find this disingenuous or not, I won't comment on here.

[haterobics]

A Part of It All said: "To many, Alyssa Greene is a canon lesbian POC.

I agree pan rep is important, but many fans are calling for the creation of a new character so that there is no lesbian rep lost in the adaptation."

Many can't decide what is canon. A female writer with a wife and kids is seemingly not the enemy. Plus, the novel is "inspired" by The Prom, not her turning the script into a novel with as little tweaking as possible.

[DoTheDood]

A Part of It All said: "Many fans of "The Prom", like myself, have called out this hateful action and labeled it as a very dangerous one and I would like to discuss it on here. Sexuality is not fluid and by changing a characters sexuality, there is an implication that it is."

How is it dangerous? I get if this was a real person who wanted to be labeled as a lesbian, this outrage would make sense, but this is a character. Whether she is gay or pan doesn't effect the story of her having to come out, she still have to come out of the closet. Also I have no idea what you mean by sexuality is not fluid or that this could have implications. Like... it really can be fluid and idk how changing a character like this would change anything? It's not like this means when people rewrite a book about a gay person, they are going to make them straight. I have no idea what else you mean by implications there.

A Part of It All said: "Is this a hateful action? <<edited by BWW staff>>? Why are fans going so crazy over this?"

Also that middle part, yikes

[haterobics]

NievesG said: "Why was the title of the post erased?"

The BWW software always hates quotes in titles.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

If the dialogue/stage directions don't specify it, it ain't canon for subsidiary works/productions.

These children should manage their aggression by volunteering for a presidential campaign. And they should be grateful they're even getting a YA novel inspired by a show that underperformed at the box office, closed early, and lost millions and millions of dollars.

[Broadway61004]

A Part of It All said: "To many, Alyssa Greene is a canon lesbian POC.

I agree pan rep is important, but many fans are calling for the creation of a new character so that there is no lesbian rep lost in the adaptation."

Given that the main character is still a lesbian and is the focal point of the whole story, I don't think there's going to be lesbian representation lost. Changes always happen when things are adapted from one medium to another. That's why they're called adaptations, not carbon copies. Shows are pretty much locked in from the time they open, so these adaptations are a chance for people to re-examine the characters and situations. And it's not like they're turning her into a straight woman. They're clearly still exploring the subject of sexuality and are now throwing in another facet of it to represent. I'd hardly say that's dangerous to any type of representation.

[LuPita2]

Sexuality is not fluid and by changing a characters sexuality, there is an implication that it is.

Um, of course it is, who told you that?  People need to bitch about everything these days, outrage culture is amusing for those of us who can still take a joke and don't need to go on social media to share every tiny feeling. Ridiculous. 

[Kad]

Does Alyssa even explicitly call herself a lesbian in the show? 

This sounds like the work of some kids on Tumblr. 

[greensgreens]

The exact story of The Prom played out in my real life just over 20 years ago, only with a tragic ending. I would've given anything for this fairytale to have been available during that time to at least lift my spirits and prove all of humanity wasn't against me (just think how low my therapy bills would be today!). This issue affects any kid with an alternative sexuality during a time when they're first discovering themselves. It doesn't matter so much the specifics and if it could help create a tale more relatable to today's youth then I'm game. I remember many who began fluid before defining themselves - many of my peers were bisexual and later came out as gay when they began to further discover themselves. Who's to say the character may not originally define as pansexual and then further define themselves later in the events of The Prom 2: Alyssa's Revenge?

[A Part of It All]

I guess that makes sense. More rep for others who don't have it as often isn't really a bad thing.

I should have thought this out more before just following others. Thank you all for your responses. 

I hope the novel is good!