In the past few years, representations of queer characters in film and TV have undergone some major shifts. Noticeably, there has been an increase in films and shows which portray queer utopias or queer happiness. These portrayals are comforting and allow for a more rounded exploration of the joy of queerness, despite the prejudices queer people face. 

In 2023, Casey McQuiston’s Red, White and Royal Blue was adapted for the screen by Matthew Lopez. The film occurs in a semi-parallel world, where the son of the female US President and the prince of England fall in love. Though the world within which these characters exist is certainly not perfect – being queer is not presented as easy, especially for those in the public eye – it allows for a happy and hopeful conclusion for queer people. A democrat-adjacent party wins the American election, the British Royal family does little to inhibit the queer relationship, and the two men are largely accepted by the public in their partnership.

“Happy endings such as that of Red, White and Royal Blue bring hope and joy, whilst also reminding us of the general impossibility of this kind of ending in our own lives.”

But media that allows for happier endings for queer characters inevitably introduces the bittersweet contrast between the world of the film and the less welcoming world we live in. Happy endings such as that of Red, White and Royal Blue bring hope and joy, whilst also reminding us of the general impossibility of this kind of ending in our own lives.

Owen Harris (director) and Charlie Brooker (writer) extend this idea with a literal focus on a queer utopia in Black Mirror’s “San Junipero”. Unlike the majority of dystopian settings across the Black Mirror series, “San Junipero” imagines a simulated world in which technology allows for a utopic setting, in which sexuality, race and disability have much less impact than they do within our real-life society. Yet it is primarily the people, rather than the technology, who take centre stage. 

In this episode, elderly people can upload their consciousness to San Junipero, a beach resort town. The plot follows an interracial, queer love story between Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) within the world of San Junipero. The episode contrasts this technological dreamworld with the reality of Kelly and Yorkie’s lives outside of San Junipero. Outside of this alternate reality, Yorkie is a quadriplegic who is only able to communicate via a mechanical box. Kelly has lost both her husband and her daughter, neither of whom entered San Junipero.

After developing feelings for each other in San Junipero, Kelly visits Yorkie and learns that she wishes to die and live in San Junipero permanently. However, in a stark contrast to the freedom that the simulated reality of San Junipero allows, Yorkie’s parents refuse to authorise this. Kelly offers to marry Yorkie instead and is able to authorise the euthanasia. The episode’s ending reflects the tightrope it walks between reality and the simulated fantasy of San Junipero. Kelly, whose daughter and husband have already died without entering San Junipero, initially decides she will not enter with Yorkie. However, the final scene shows her change of mind, as they eventually reunite after both their deaths. 

“Queer acceptance can only be achieved in a place beyond time, beyond life and beyond reality.”

The episode, though more positive than most Black Mirror plotlines, contains an important reminder of the gap between reality and fantasy. In the episode “San Junipero”, queer acceptance can only be achieved in a place beyond time, beyond life and beyond reality. By paralleling our own world with a simulation in which race, disability and sexuality matter little, the show reminds us of just how much these facets matter within our own societies, and indeed, within the real lives of Kelly and Yorkie. 

Even in the utopic San Junipero, experience is determined by memory – the memories of those who have entered it. Whilst San Junipero is a place undeniably tied to death, its atmosphere is determined by the living memories of those who inhabit it. Their inhabiting of younger bodies is effectively a taking on of parts; there is an underlying understanding that this is a fictional and allusive world. The episode, whilst hopeful in its ending, echoes the bittersweet reminders of utopic queer media. Perhaps complete queer acceptance is possible only within a simulation.