How "The 100" is Revolutionary for LGBTQ+ Feminist Youth

Since The 100’s series premiere in March of 2014, the show has set the precedent for gender and sexual equality in the film industry as well as emboldening its millennial audience to be the leaders of their own lives. For those that haven’t seen it, the concept of the show hinges on 100 juvenile criminals being sent as guinea pigs to a seemingly irradiated and uninhabitable Earth from a space station known as the Ark. The space station was the only thing to survive a nuclear attack on the planet that supposedly eradicated the human race 100 years prior to the setting of the show. As supplies run out on the Ark, the only solution for salvation is to see if Earth’s radiation levels have dropped enough to be livable again, hence sending the 100 down to test the waters, both figuratively and literally. While the kids are the chosen test subjects because of their disposability, they quickly become indispensable due to the applied knowledge they acquire through copious amounts of near-death experiences on the ground.

Some may claim that The 100 is just another teen drama, but I know better. Being a 22-year-old who’s had plenty of discriminatory encounters due to both my gender and my age, I have found the entire series to be an awakening for my inner badass that knows I am defined by more than my sex and the number of years I’ve been alive. While we are all too familiar with the misogyny and sexual discrimination people face on a daily basis in nearly every industry, ageism is perhaps something that is more generally overlooked.

In the series, we see time and again how capable the younger characters are at not only fending for themselves but also making important, life-altering decisions for their people. At the start of Season 2 when the 100’s adult presence finds its way to Earth, there is some tension felt between the two entities over the struggle for power. Ultimately, however, there is a very satisfying moment where Clarke (the female youth leader) states rather matter-of-factly to the adult chancellor of her people, Abby (who also happens to be her mother), that she is “in charge.” In that moment, Clarke not only further asserts her prominence as a power player in the unfolding of the plot but she also did what all of us have wanted to do at one time or another - pull rank on their parents!

Clarke and Abby - two supportive female leads.

However, what I found most satisfying in this scene was not the stick-it-the-(wo)man attitude, but that Abby actually responds with something that borders between respect and pride. As Pip Jamieson once stated, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support each other.” This couldn’t have been more true during that exchange when two leading females butt heads and, rather than ending in a catfight as is traditionally (and unrealistically) expected, they lean on one another.

And this was not some fleeting theme. Throughout the entire show, we see these younger characters owning up to more and more of the responsibilities that would otherwise be shouldered by their elders (as is commonly the case in our own society). Lexa, another pivotal female protagonist, is not just a leader - she is the commander of the entire Grounder (the indigenous that survived the nuclear blasts) population on Earth. And she didn’t get there by birthright - she fought for it at the expense of other lives. While this may sound like savagery, it’s actually not. The reverence the Grounder people feel for not only life but also death makes this human sacrifice one of honor, not pity. Actually, when you think about it, the only time true savagery is ever seen on the show is when there are adults in power leading their people astray.

There is a reflective moment during Season 2 where Marcus (an adult leader) realizes that his decisions upon the Ark to kill any who broke the law or disobeyed him were never justified, they were cowardly. Similarly, Dante (another adult leader) leads his people into what we would equate as a black-market harvesting scheme where he captured Grounders and herded them as livestock to be used as a blood-supply in order to survive the levels of radiation on Earth.

So you see, contrary to popular belief, adults are not always right just because they’ve got a few more years under their belt. However, this is not to say that all the grown-ups in the series have a negative influence. Conversely, some of the strongest characters in the show are older and, more importantly, women! As mentioned earlier, Clarke is the unofficial leader of her people while Abby is the chancellor, Lexa is (or was, until she died - sorry, spoilers!) the commander of the Grounder populace, Octavia is a fierce member of the original 100 that learns from the Grounders and becomes a hybrid fighter caught between two worlds, Raven is an unparalleled mechanic who enjoys explosions of her own creation, and even Alie (an AI system responsible for the initial nuclear attacks that wiped out the human race). The best part, however, is not the dominant female presence felt in these characters but that they favor supporting one another over tearing each other down. Sometimes, these relationships even bloom into romance.

While Clarke’s character goes through Season 1 falling for a boy named Finn, she spends the next couple of seasons exploring her bi-sexuality with Lexa and Niylah. This was groundbreaking for the time as very few shows publicized on the open sexuality of their characters. In addition, we see Nate and Bryan in a homosexual relationship. It’s not that they’re unashamed of being gay that makes the show so different but rather the lack of stigma associated with their affiliation in The 100’s fictional world. To my knowledge, only a few other mainstream shows had emphasized LGBTQ+ relationships in a similar fashion, such as Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Glee, and Orange Is the New Black.

Although this coverage has greatly emphasized the need for open discussion of sexual equality over the years, few of these programs held such a progressive stance towards same-sex romances in the same way that The 100 did. Nonetheless, these performances helped pave the way to the much-needed and long-anticipated U.S. Supreme Court 2015 decision ruling in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide. Without these shows shining a light on the topic years prior, the conversation may not have taken place that allowed millions of LGBTQ+ Americans to finally marry their life partners.

So you see, to some The 100 is just another CW drama but, to so many others, it’s a refuge for the LGBTQ+ feminist youth looking for a place to feel at home. Who would have thought that home would be a heavily irradiated post-apocalyptic Earth? It's not ideal, but it's a start!