Laugh away, he is gay! Heteronormativity and children’s television in Denmark

Thorfinnsdottir, Dia; Jensen, Helle Strandgaard

doi:10.1080/17482798.2017.1312470

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This article extends the empirical practices of Queer Media Studies by incorporating methodologies from the growing field of Queer Production Studies (e.g. Aslinger, 2009; Martin, 2015, 2018; Thorfinnsdottir and Jensen, 2017; Kerrigan and O’Brien, 2018; 2020). Queer Production Studies has engaged with various facets of the culture industries and has incorporated various methodological approaches scrutinising LGBT+ sexual identity in relation to various aspects of the media industry and the production process (O’Brien and Kerrigan, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public service broadcasting and the emergence of LGBT+ visibility: A comparative perspective on Ireland and Flanders

Kerrigan

Vanlee

2020

European Journal of Cultural Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Public Service Broadcasting in Europe and its centrality to cultural diversity has been established in relation to race, multiculturalism and gender, but LGBT+ sexual identity remains relatively absent from research. This article aims to address this gap by fostering a historical approach to examine the ways in which LGBT+ identities emerged on Public Service Broadcasting within Western Europe, specifically in Ireland and Flanders during the 1950s–1990s. Through a small-scale comparative case study analysis between these two regions, this article contends that the emergence of LGBT+ visibility is intrinsically linked to Public Service Broadcasting in both landscapes. Specifically, the article argues that this emergence shares two distinct structural qualities in the emergence of this LGBT+ visibility. First, the comparison points to the ways in which Public Service Broadcasting production cultures incorporated external expertise regarding LGBT+ diversity, presenting itself as a practical operationalisation of the social responsibility of publicly funded media in both regions. Second, later parallels in the introduction of LGBT+ characters to television fiction series illustrate how Public Service Broadcasting responded to various forms of competition from international and commercial broadcasters, engendering particular implications for the visibility of same-sex desire. While contributing to historical treatments of LGBT+ visibility familiar within Queer Media Studies, this article goes against the Anglo-American dominance of the field by examining more local contexts outside the US/UK centric paradigm, diversifying the contexts in which Queer Media Studies research takes place.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public service broadcasting and the emergence of LGBT+ visibility: A comparative perspective on Ireland and Flanders

Kerrigan

Vanlee

2020

European Journal of Cultural Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Direct interactions with the industry, in turn, enable queer interventions in the systems of meaning that structure the relation between fictional LGBT+ representations and wider societal assumptions on the reality of sexual and gender diversity. Hence, the present analysis builds on previous research, like Dhoest’s (2015), Martin’s (2015) or Thorfinnsdottir and Jensen’s (2017) studies, in explicitly taking the dissonances between academic and industrial practice – noted by all cited authors – as a core interest. The goal of incorporating professionals’ views on LGBT+ representations is not only to explore the discourses television professionals subscribe to when reflecting on the representation of sexual and gender diversity, but the kind of politics they invite queer television scholars to engage in too (Doty, 1993).…”

Section: Producing Lgbt+ Representationsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Acknowledging/denying LGBT+ difference: Understanding homonormativity and LGBT+ homogeneity in Flemish TV fiction through production research

Vanlee

2019

European Journal of Communication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Premised on the lack of in-depth engagements with television professionals’ views as a unit of analysis in queer television studies, this essay presents the results of expert interviews with seven respondents employed in the Flemish television industry. Television professionals consider it commonsensical and even necessary to textually reflect sexual and gender diversity as a component to socio-cultural verisimilitude. On the other hand, they rely on a homonormative conception of LGBT+ representation that emphasizes assimilation and conformity. Closer analysis reveals that this strategy is informed by unwillingness to engage in stereotyping. Accordingly, the noted homonormativity of Flemish television fiction is a product of benevolence and paradoxical dispositions towards televising difference on the level of production. Consequently, the paper calls for scholars to engage with the industry as a supplement to critical textual explorations of LGBT+ portrayals on television.

show abstract

“…This was almost always in relation to younger viewers, building on a widespread discourse that young adults growing up gender-and sexually-diverse are perceived not to have enough access to on-screen role models that benefit self-esteem and a sense of belonging (Lipton, 2008). The statement reflects a phenomenon encountered internationally in which media stakeholders' views reflect those that circulated in popular discourse and journalism years earlier (Thorfinnsdottir and Jensen, 2017), perhaps pointing in some respects to the longer development period of some media texts, which can sometimes be years from the initiation of a screenplay to the release of a film-that is, years in which sociocultural perceptions and norms relationg to young people's experiences and the wider media environment may shift. From a Queer theory perspective that is attentive to the constitutive force of mediated identity representations (Cover, 2000), it is notable that the norms that make certain kinds of visibility positive or negative are not necessarily taken up and utilised in identity performances along binary lines; that is, reclaiming a negative representation can, at times, be utilised in positive identity formation (Butler, 1993).…”

Section: Positive and Negative Visibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Making Queer content visible: approaches and assumptions of Australian film and television stakeholders working with LGBTQ+ content

Cover

2022

Media International Australia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A concept of visibility frames much scholarship and public writing on LGBTQ + representation in film and television, and underpins diversity reporting and inclusivity measurement. Although visibility is often depicted as a social good, there is a growing critical interest in asking if there are different kinds of visibility, and how these might be differentially valued. This paper reports insights gained from interviews with Australian stakeholders involved in the production of screen entertainment with LGBTQ + content. The study found that stakeholders are motivated by to create texts that make LGBTQ + stories and characters visible. The range of approaches to visibility was, however, nuanced and diverse: some understood any LGBTQ + representation as valuable, while others discussed visibility in contexts of character depth, anti-stereotyping, and visibility tempered by concepts of human dignity. Although visibility is perceived diversely, it remains a significant lens by which creative artists involved in LGBTQ + texts understand their work.

show abstract

Laugh away, he is gay! Heteronormativity and children’s television in Denmark

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Public service broadcasting and the emergence of LGBT+ visibility: A comparative perspective on Ireland and Flanders

Public service broadcasting and the emergence of LGBT+ visibility: A comparative perspective on Ireland and Flanders

Acknowledging/denying LGBT+ difference: Understanding homonormativity and LGBT+ homogeneity in Flemish TV fiction through production research

Making Queer content visible: approaches and assumptions of Australian film and television stakeholders working with LGBTQ+ content

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About