TV

"First elimination" is bad, but to her credit it can be said that she normalizes proud love

One would have hoped that "First Elimination," Netflix's new supernatural series, would take advantage of the LGBT novel at its center in favor of more advanced and better work, but it is a superficial and not very successful work. The TV

Ofri Atrachi

21/06/2022

Tuesday, 21 June 2022, 00:00 Updated: 00:04

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Trailer for the series "First Elimination" (Netflix)

"First Elimination" tells the love story between a vampire and a scion and a lineage of vampire hunters.

The series is not particularly original, thousands of teen series are based on the Shakespearean play "Romeo and Juliet", and even the formula of an affair between a supernatural creature and a creature hunter wears wearily ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Young Wolf" and more).

The only thing that sets "First Assassination" apart is that this time it's an affair between two girls.

The series (based on a short story by Victoria Schwab, who also created the series) deals with the relationship between Juliet (Sarah Catherine Hawke), a vampire girl whose family urges her to kill a human for the first time, and Cleopatra (Imani Lewis), or Cal for short, a daughter For a family of monster hunters who want to prove themselves and kill their first monster.

The two put their eyes on each other, and choose each other as ideal goals - but find themselves falling in love.

This is a superficial and not very successful series.

The creators of the series, it seems, do not believe in Scouting's ability to draw conclusions or understand images, and insist on spoon-feeding the audience.

The episodes themselves are accompanied by narration by the two main characters, who push aside any attempt at subtext.

The exposition also comes in a completely fulfilled way in the form of unnatural dialogues.

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Excess explanations.

"First Assassination" (Photo: Brian Douglas / Netflix)

Any image or metaphor that arises during the series is quickly killed by an excess of explanations.

For example, to create a mirror image between the two main characters, we hear them say the exact same sentences.

In addition, to explain to the viewer how much Cal wants to prove herself, she paints on herself the tattoo that symbolizes the killing of a monster.

Other unsuccessful images are the comparison between the vampire's physical changes to sexual maturation, and the comparison between the first elimination and having sex.

But despite its mediocrity, "First Elimination" has a place in the evolution of LGBT representation. That many LGBT characters receive in movies and series.

We are no longer in the age of movies like "Brokeback Mountain," or "The Danish Girl," in which LGBT characters have to endure or die in agony to gain screen time. They can also love, rejoice, kiss, and just be. Obviously, they still run into difficulties. Some are still related to sexual identity or gender, but they do not end there, they are much more than that.

Prominent in such works is another recently released Netflix series, which is the beautiful "Breathtaking".

"First Elimination" is flawed in everything that has made "Breathtaking" so successful.

She is devoid of delicacy or emotional intelligence, with placid writing and one-dimensional characters.

However, one successful aspect of the new vampire series is its attempt to completely normalize the LGBT relationship.

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The challenges are not related to sexual orientation.

"First liquidation" (Photo: Netflix)

In "First Elimination," Juliet and Cal face many challenges, but they are not related to being in a proud relationship, but follow their opposing backgrounds.

The company in the series accepts the sexual identity of the main characters and does not treat it for a moment as abnormal or different.

While this representation fails to save the series from its mediocrity, it is worth a reference.

Choosing this kind of representation has become increasingly popular in recent years, with more examples in series like the particularly successful "Shi-Re and Princesses of Power," or the great "Our Flag Means Death."

True, this is not yet the case.

Most members of the gay community still experience many difficulties, but thought produces reality, right?

And perhaps this is the next step in the representation of LGBT people - a normalization of proud love on screen. Treating it as legitimate is just as legitimate as its heteronormative counterpart.

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