MediaSmarts Tags - Queer Representation

Level: Grades 9-12

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

Level: Grade 9-12

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 2 to 2 ½ hours

Overview

Level: Grades 9-12

Duration: 1-2 hours

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

The marketing trend of seeking out queer money is seen by many as a double-edged sword: on one hand, it’s an opportunity for gays and lesbians to legitimize themselves through their purchasing power and to bring about equal rights by demonstrating how valuable they can be to mainstream companies; on the other, it opens up issues such as ghettoization, further marginalization of non-middle class queer people, and the overshadowing of civil rights issues by questions of financial strength.

Print Media

Queer people have been producing their own print media as far back as 1950, when the Mattachine Society, one of the first queer activist organizations, began distributing pamphlets calling for revolt and demanding human rights. Most major cities in Canada and the U.S. have groups that publish and distribute small run “weeklies” or zines on queer issues and activism – usually available for free at queer-friendly businesses or alongside alternative weeklies such as Exclaim!, NOW Magazine, or Vue Weekly.

In this section, we explore how a heteronormative media constructs, represents, and comments on the legitimacy of Queer and transgender identities. We also explore the differences and overlaps between mainstream media and their queer counterparts.

Approaching Queerness in Media

One of the most difficult things about approaching film and television’s use of queerness is that there will rarely be a single verdict on any given cultural product. With the exception of the most simplistically supportive or bigoted representations, there is room for much discussion and debate in determining a positive or negative LGBTQ presence. Because of this shift, seriously engaging with and thinking about the images we consume has become more important than ever.

How things have changed in thirty years: more than ever before, queer people have a media presence. No longer relegated to the realms of innuendo and secrecy, we now see lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people represented on television and in mainstream film. Queer people see their reflections on screen in a largely positive light: stable, employed, charming, attractive, well-liked, and successful. And yet, there remain many challenges.

As previous sections have shown, queer characters, situations, and themes are becoming increasingly prevalent in the media. It is sometimes difficult, though, to determine whether or not certain representations are balanced. After all, like other human beings, queer people can be villains, fools or rivals and many “negative” characters are richly portrayed and written. Never having a queer antagonist would be just as poor a decision as the tradition of portraying queer people as only the butt of jokes or as sociopaths.