Is Bi The Way mostly obsolete nowadays?

So, Bi The Way is any bisexual character that isn't evil or crazy and their bisexuality isn't treated as a huge deal. Basically a normal bisexual character. But I feel that's pretty much the norm these days? Or maybe I am not consuming enough media.

Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 6th 2022 at 11:24:56 AM

See No Bisexuals on why being bisexual at all is a thing.

This is what's called a Trope in Aggregate, where a trope becomes evident when looking at fiction as a whole, as opposed to individual works. Fiction hasn't always acknowledged the existent of bisexuals. Bisexuals were usually treated as repressed gays, straight people who experimented, or sexual deviants. Bi The Way was trope worthy because it broke this pattern. Nowadays, bisexuals are more visible in fiction, so No Bisexuals is less of a thing, but it's still present to a degree. A recent season of Shameless (US) had Tony, a guy who'd had relationships with several women, suddenly decide he was gay.

Straight Gay is a similar situation. It was pretty off-the-wall at the time to have an LGBT character be “normal”.

Edited by Synchronicity on Mar 23rd 2020 at 3:02:22 AM

There is also an issue with what the trope even means. The description and laconic indicates that it's "character's bisexuality is an Informed Attribute", which is redundant with But Not Too Bi.

The overwehlming majority of examples, on the other hand, use it as "character is bisexual".

it looks to me as "characters confirming that they're bi". Whether it's an Informed Attribute or not is another matter.

And that confirmation is a thing because "normally" no one would be willing to admit that they swing both sides.

That's just "character identifies as bisexual", which is still probably not tropeworthy. It's also not how the term is actually used, as I can think of several examples where the trope is listed based on the character having lovers of both genders, but never actually use the word bisexual to describe themselves.

back then it was a trope. At least, to those real life people who were bi but were afraid to admit it. Yeah, I agree that it's less tropeworthy nowadays.

And what you mentioned about "having lovers of both sexes but no confirmation" would be a misuse. At least that's what I think. Even just saying "I like you both" isn't necessarily an explicit bi confirmation.

There was a Trope Repair Shop thread about Bi The Way several years ago which discussed pretty much the same questions. Some of you may want to read it: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1304127642084384900&page=1

Edited by LordGro on Mar 25th 2020 at 10:49:00 AM

There are a lot of people in real life who never admitted to being gay. We don't have a trope that just lists all gay characters.

That thread seems to land on a definition neither of us are using, which is "a sub trope of Suddenly Sexuality, in which a character who had only been shown having lovers of one gender mentions that they are actually bisexual, as opposed to gay/straight." Would it be alright if I created a new thread, given that this one ended nine years ago with no real conclusion reached and this is clearly still an issue.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Mar 25th 2020 at 7:02:01 AM

I mean yeah, the original idea is that the characters just so casually admit to being Bi, with it not being a major part of their character, as a subversion of how Bisexuality used to be portrayed. Nowadays it's not so relevant, but it's a Trope In Aggregate.

How is that distinct from But Not Too Bi? And that's still not how the trope is used, which overwhelmingly as "character is bisexual", whether that means that use that word to describe themselves or they are shown with lovers of multiple genders.

Yes, the trope has undergone severe Trope Decay, but doesn't change the actual definition.

But Not Too Bi is when a character claims to be Bi but is never shown acting Bisexual, and only dating people of one gender because it's less controversial or something. IDK, but they're distinct concepts.

I can't see the distinction. From what you're saying, it sounds like Bi The Way is either identical to or a sub trope of But Not Too Bi. Can you give a hypothetical example of a character who would fit the first but not the second.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Mar 25th 2020 at 8:47:06 AM

Sure.

• Bi The Way: In the first episode, Alice introduces herself as bisexual. Throughout the rest of the season, this is almost never brought up, besides that Alice has two love interests in Bob and Carol, and nobody makes a big deal out of it.
• But Not Too Bi: Carol's entire character arc is about how hard it is to come out as bisexual and how other characters treat her, but despite this, every love interest she's had during the show is female. She never expresses interest in a male character, despite claiming that she's totally been with men in the past.

One is about the show not really making a big deal out of a character's bisexuality, the other is a character's bisexuality not being demonstrated in the work itself. Can they overlap? Yes, but don't have to.

Tale your first example, but remove the part where Alice says that she's bisexual, so she just has male and female lovers but never actually uses the specific word "bisexual". Is she still an example of Bi The Way?

No, because she might be Pansexual instead, if you want to be technical. Of course Tropes Are Flexible, so I guess it could count.

Edited by WarJay77 on Mar 25th 2020 at 9:39:31 AM

That brings us right back to the trope being "character is bisexual", with the only restriction being that they can't "make a big deal about it", which is a really squirrelly concept with no real usable definition. It ends up being "bisexual character who doesn't fall into any preexisting category", which is not a meaningful trope.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Mar 25th 2020 at 12:47:20 PM

Oh, I don't disagree on that point. I was just trying to explain how But Not Too Bi isn't the exact same concept, even if it has very heavy overlap.

As has been pointed out earlier in this thread, Bi The Way is a response to No Bisexuals. When much of fiction doesn't acknowledge bisexuals exist, then bisexuality is tropeworthy. Now there's much more acknowledgment of bisexuals in fiction, it becomes less tropeworthy. The question is if No Bisexuals is still a thing or not.

^ I personally think No Bisexuals is very much still a thing. Although we're hopefully seeing it become a Dead Horse Trope over time, I think Bi The Way does still exist.

No Bisexuals is an attitude that must be expressed in specific works, it is not simply a lack of bisexual characters. The attitude still exists, but that doesn't justify having a trope that just lists all bisexual characters in fiction, if that is why we're now saying this trope means. "Character is bisexual" is not a trope.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Mar 26th 2020 at 11:26:37 AM

Bi The Way is a trope in Aggregate, so over a large scale the pattern is obvious, but individually, each usage looks like chairs.

What's the measurable aggregate patern here? What percentage of media feature bisexual people?

The hell would I know?

But the amount of legit examples are a good way to find out.