@giamahan replied to your post “Do you ever think about how the first episode of The Facts of Life...”
don't even get me started (like in the entire 1980s they never bring the idea of people being gay up once? that's some SERIOUS topic avoidance right there) but cindy was gay too she was just experiencing the most obvious display of comp het. you wanted me to like a boy? guess what! i like a boy now suddenly conveniently and it's the same one that all the other girls like!! :)))))
EXACTLY omg. She’s totally not truly interested. If I did a full analysis of tfol, I’d talk about how much her AND Jo AND Blair were totally suffering from comp het, but particularly the first two. Like, Blair getting paired up with guys all the time makes sense, just from her own upbringing and whatnot. But JO? Why did she date like all these guys? And actually got married?? It makes no sense.
And let’s be real, Blair even pointing out Cindy’s sexuality and calling it into question was a great example of her trying to distance herself from her own sexuality, as were her “contempt” for Jo.
Also it’s particularly interesting that they avoided the subject of homosexuality at all when like...even back then people were shipping Blair and Jo. That just makes their relationship even more questionable. Like, the writers couldn’t bring up gay people because what if it made people think that about Jo and Blair??
I guess I also wouldn’t be surprised if Lisa would be against it but damn. How did one of the gayest shows ever never even have a gay guest character? Golden Girls did it, Maude did it, several TV shows had done it...