Queer Representation in All Ages Media Growing up as a Catholic, Puerto Rican gay boy in the 90s and early 2000s, I struggled to discover my queer identity as well as queer representation in the media I consumed. Being gay was something that was never discussed. If it was brought up, it was usually in hushed tones (I remember being introduced to my uncle 's close 'friend ' each holiday) or as something negative (I still remember the sting of being called a faggot in elementary school). This reflected exactly how homosexuality was portrayed in media at the time. Queer characters and homosexuality were at best portrayed in codified, 'blink-and-you 'll-miss it ' labels and affectations, or at worst, something to laugh at, pity or even hate. As someone who still regularly watches reads comics, watches Saturday morning cartoons and plays video games, it is so exciting to discover the lengths of progress that has been made in queer representation in all ages media. In this paper I hope to detail the highs and lows of LGBTQ representation in all ages media and highlight the impact of media representation. Before celebrating the strides of queer representation in all ages media, it is important to look back at queer representation in the past. The late film scholar Vito Russo painstakingly researched the evolution of queer representation in cinema in his landmark book The Celluloid Closet. In both the book and the documentary based of the book, Russo details the
Throughout our readings this semester, the three best topics that I have read were chapter 18, “pretending to be post racial: the spectacularization or race in reality TV’s Survivor,” chapter 22, “educating the Simpsons: Teaching queer representation in contemporary visual media,” and chapter 50, “video games and machine dreams of domination.” These specific readings helped me learn more about various forms of diversity, including race and sexuality. These chapters presented the material well, allowing me to better identify the diversity issues that our society faces, which I was not aware of before.
He adopts an ambivalent tone in order to examine the conflicting views of high school genre films. Denby’s purpose in writing this essay is to show how the overuse of these stereotypes results in few original teen films. Original movies expose their viewers to a diverse range of people and ways of thinking. Adolescents often mirror or find inspiration in the characters they see in media, so it is important to depict a variety of people in media targeted towards them. People of various sexual orientations should be represented more prominently and truthfully in media targeted towards children in order to promote acceptance and provide role models for those exploring their identity.
The representation of the LGBT community in the film industry has long been a topic of much debate. In her article, “It Ain’t Easy Being Bisexual on TV,” Amy Zimmerman addresses this topic with specific interest on bisexual representation. By appealing to the logic of her audience, using an informal tone, and referring to relatable content, Zimmerman constructs an argument which persuades readers of The Daily Beast that the film industry is unfairly and inaccurately representing bisexuals. However, her argument holds little influence over those who are not movie fans or The Daily Beast readers.
In their journal article of “Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children's G-Rated Films,” Karin Martin and Emily Kazyak discussed how the animated Disney films as well as G-rated movies construct heterosexuality to young viewers – children, as they should not contain any of heterosexual scenes. According to the authors, young children are seemingly involved deeply in media world as it is a fruitful chapter of their sexual socialization; animated Disney films or other G-rated movies are what they are oftentimes engaged and attracted. It is always plotted as a stunning, beautiful lady waits for a brave, handsome guy to come to her life, then they would live happily ever after since the movies mark relationships between opposite sex repeatedly,
The Celluloid Closet explores representation in film and its enormous effect on American culture. Although the film was originally released in 1995, many of the same issues around queer representation in media still remain over twenty years later. Gay characters are often the sidekick in stories revolving around heterosexual heroes, and queer stereotypes like “The Sissy” still persistent nearly 80 years after the character first appeared; and although queer erasure is not a prevalent as it was in the 1950s and 1960s, with entire plots being changed to hide queer elements, queer stories are still hijacked in subtler ways. Notably, queer characters are still regularly played by straight actors. Furthermore, these straight actors often win prestigious
This approach to queer subtext has been has always been a part of Western media as we as we explored in the film “The Celluloid Closet” (1995). Queer representation for many years was an continuous uncategorized personification that was vaguely acknowledged but to those who understood the subtext, it became an undercurrent of complex coded information that eventually paved the way for the integration of queer identification within the hetero film storylines. Doty speaks about this and also mentions that at some point in time representation of queer culture and sexuality
Although, we have improved in our acceptance many still target such individuals who sexual orientation differs. It is alarming when looking at the advertisements and media in today’s society and how they depict women and gay individuals. Women for instance are often depicted in the media as objects of men’s desires and treated as so on television broadcasts. Gay individuals are depicted in a comical way which is degrading. Another alarming factor that went unmentioned in the documentary is the age of many girls in the advertisements.
In several cases, the desire to kill the queer self also occurs when it seems impossible to move forward without fully accepting and presenting oneself as queer. When this idea is seen on television it is presented in both the interpersonal and introspective forms. For example, the characters that attempt suicide, such as the eight queer women characters between 2001 and 2016, are illustrating the introspective act of assassinating the queer self by killing themselves. In contrast the interpersonal aspect derives from the idea of identity as zero-sum and therefore the queer characters who do not cover present a threat to the stability and validity of gay characters on screen. This paper will specifically investigate how the interpersonal side of "assassinating the queer selves" plays out on screen as a way to reinforce the importance of
My PIP is a cross-generational comparison of media’s influence towards public perception of homosexuality throughout decades. Society has become more accepting in recent years and it’s expected to grow even more in the future. The rise in support for same-sex marriage over the past decade is among the largest changes in opinion on any policy issue. In my PIP, I’m going to be discussing media’s perception of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and asexuals in the past decades to how it is perceived now. Homosexuality is defined as a sexual desire or behaviour directed towards a person of his or her own sex. I’m going to be comparing my generation (Generation Z) to my parent’s generation (Generation X) to see how media has affected views towards homosexuals.
Since the beginning of the Australian film industry Homosexuals have had a certain depiction made of them. One of the first ever Australian films to include the idea of homosexuality is The Set which was released in 1970 (Davidson, 2016). This movie assisted in the set up the stereotype of gays in the Australian film industry. Although, Since the 70’s the representation of the minority group of homosexuals has changed drastically in the 21st century.
Media has always been highly influential in our society; it’s carefully constructed in order to show certain values, beliefs and messages. When viewers are exposed to topics they have little experience or knowledge in, media can especially play a large role in shaping their own opinions. It has been shown that people who know a LGBT+ person in their lives are much more likely to be supportive of same-sex marriage and the community in general. In place of that, viewing characters in film or television can adequately supplement the empathy gained from personal experience. This is exemplified by Wilson Cruz, the actor of Rickie Vasquez, a gay character on the 1994 television series My So-Called Life: “...Vasquez was the first gay person that they knew and because of the light he shed on the issue...I think people took up the cause of LGBT rights...I know for many people the only LGBT people that they know are people that they meet on their television screens or at the movie theater.” Since then, the amount of programming featuring openly gay characters has steadily increased, and with it, people are gaining a better understanding of the issues they face. As the years progress, Canada is being exposed to greater diversity: both on the television screen and within its community.
As the years have gone by, you can see the change of how gays and lesbians are widely seen in mostly every tv show or movie in today’s society. This is something most of our own parents didn’t even grow up seeing gays throughout the media. Living in today’s time period, you’re able to see how the influence has changed the way people see gays and lesbians. The nation has become more accepting of the gay and lesbian culture verses back in the days of when our parents and even grandparents were our age. Not only was is rare to see homosexuals on television, it was portrayed negatively, and now you can see it portrayed positively.
With the media becoming the main source from which the current society gets their daily information concerning products, news stories, and entertainment, it is wise to think critically about the messages they are conveying to us. These corporations spend large sums of money every day in order to grasp our attention. The question as to whether or not they have their customer’s best interest in mind arises and leaves the public no answer but to look to the advertisements they have produced. Consider the pistachio industry using a woman with a whip to grasp the viewers’ attention. In reality, is a provocative image what it takes to sell us a simple bag of pistachios? With advertising decisions like these come negative consequences such as the
I chose to write this project on the movie Grease. Growing up, this was my favorite movie. I chose to write about this movie because I haven't watched it since I was a child, and wanted to look back and reflect if there was anything I hadn’t picked up when I was younger watching this movie. The movie was made in 1978 by director Randal Kleiser, and was based on high school teens in the 50’s. Since it was based in the 50’s and most of us grew up watching this famous movie, I thought that there had to be social norms and stereotypes written and performed throughout the whole movie. The movie stars the famous actor John Travolta, who was a very young and upcoming actor in the 70’s. Since this was created in the late 70’s, there was a big push for equal rights of gays and lesbians going on in the real world at this time. I thought this movie would be a great example of gender, and other social political conflicts to help shape younger kids in the way “we are supposed to be”.
The Representation of Children in the Media I am writing about how children are represented in the media, after a group investigation carried out to see how they are portrayed in different papers; local newspapers, tabloids and broadsheets. We were looking to see if newspapers showed positive or negative images of children and how they portrayed them in general.