‘The Sandman’ Kept a Disturbing Lesbian Plot—and Is Better for It
The landscape for lesbian-adjacent television is a bit strange right now. For every prestige series like Yellowjackets, there is a canceled cheesy romp like First Kill. A more satisfying balance between serious dramas and easy-to-watch guilty pleasures hasn’t particularly been achieved yet, even if lesbian representation has increased on both cable and streaming in recent years.
GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV report for the 2021-2022 season reports that lesbian characters make up 40 percent of LGBTQ+ characters on shows currently broadcasting. However, whether these characters are written to be more than just walking stereotypes depends on who you ask. Seriously, think of the lesbian characters you see on TV currently, then think about if they are given any storylines besides those involving their sexuality. Can you think of any that don’t?
That brings us to Netflix’s recently released series, The Sandman. Adapting the Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg comics of the same name, it largely tells the story of Dream (Tom Sturridge), a powerful being attempting to restore his full powers after a lengthy absence. When it arrived on Netflix on Aug. 5, it was met with mostly positive reviews based on its faithfulness to its source material.