A Message From The Creator

Humanized is the story of  a misfit. And I know what that’s like. Growing up as a queer child of immigrants in a conservative community, I’ve dealt with the discomfort of trying to conform to those around me. Feeling out of place, there was a need to curate a guarded, idealized, substitutive version of myself – one that was more accepted by my peers. But it inhibited me from exploring who I truly was, so I wasn’t much of anyone. I was merely a performance. A manufactured personality. A machine. A media representation that externalized what I was feeling would have been insurmountably beneficial...

While it’s no question that the number of queer representations in media is higher than ever before, there remains a lack of content that develops its queer characters beyond their sexuality. In many instances, their storylines rely on their queerness as plot points, resulting in tired, two-dimensional identities. With Humanized, I aim to showcase a new possibility – one that primarily portrays a high-stakes drama, leaving the queerness of its characters as a faint, ever-present hum in the background. 

But Humanized is also a vessel for much more. Beyond self-expression, it’s the story of youth, loss, guilt, friendship, first love, vulnerability, family, technology, fear, and more. The characters, while flawed, are relatable to everyone. And while I hope viewers will recognize themselves on screen, I want them to recognize their neighbors too. I want them to learn about other people’s struggles; to empathize with them; to connect.

- Gabriel Guimaraes