Normal And The Queer: Issues With Media Representation
The “Normal” and the Queer: Issues With Media Representation
The importance of popular media representation is often underestimated to the average eye. Television, movies, books, and video games are just a few of the many examples of media to are available to an increasingly growing audience. Although forms of media are not reality, they are representations, a looking glass for society at large to identify with and see themselves in. How many times have we watched a big-time action flick and felt strongly connected with the lead character, began rooting for their victory? How many times have television and movie directors, in the span of a few hours, drawn us to the side of the protagonist? Regarding the protagonist characters especially, …show more content…
Whenever LGBTQ people would like to look at a representation of themselves, they find it is a daunting task to find much of anything catered to them. For example, Haynes found notable “the lack of queer girl magazines” (Haynes 422). The participates in a study she conducted, having nothing for them in the media, utilized “ironic or ambivalent readings and imaginary creations [to]... negotiate between heterosexual girl magazines and lesbian magazines that are geared toward an adult audience” in order to claim the image of their social identity in society (Haynes 422). The fact that queer individuals are rarely represented is an example of how heteronormativity is perpetuated in media. This type of situation happens often; observations have been made in the queer community about queer youth projecting themselves onto non-queer media to create an area for themselves. A lesbian may see a woman 's relationship with her female friend as being queer in nature, or a transgender person may see a fictional character as possibly being transgender as well. Because these marginalized groups have little visibility, sometimes this is the only way for them to relate to media. However, what little visibility queer individuals may take for themselves are often questioned or challenged. Because of heteronormativity in the media and our society, if those in the media are not out-right revealed to be queer, the consensus and final decision is that they are heterosexual, or that the person in question 's same-sex relationships are simply platonic in nature. The media has the tendency to give “privileging of homosexuality over heterosexuality in the concept of platonic love” (Gates-Young
The importance of popular media representation is often underestimated to the average eye. Television, movies, books, and video games are just a few of the many examples of media to are available to an increasingly growing audience. Although forms of media are not reality, they are representations, a looking glass for society at large to identify with and see themselves in. How many times have we watched a big-time action flick and felt strongly connected with the lead character, began rooting for their victory? How many times have television and movie directors, in the span of a few hours, drawn us to the side of the protagonist? Regarding the protagonist characters especially, …show more content…
Whenever LGBTQ people would like to look at a representation of themselves, they find it is a daunting task to find much of anything catered to them. For example, Haynes found notable “the lack of queer girl magazines” (Haynes 422). The participates in a study she conducted, having nothing for them in the media, utilized “ironic or ambivalent readings and imaginary creations [to]... negotiate between heterosexual girl magazines and lesbian magazines that are geared toward an adult audience” in order to claim the image of their social identity in society (Haynes 422). The fact that queer individuals are rarely represented is an example of how heteronormativity is perpetuated in media. This type of situation happens often; observations have been made in the queer community about queer youth projecting themselves onto non-queer media to create an area for themselves. A lesbian may see a woman 's relationship with her female friend as being queer in nature, or a transgender person may see a fictional character as possibly being transgender as well. Because these marginalized groups have little visibility, sometimes this is the only way for them to relate to media. However, what little visibility queer individuals may take for themselves are often questioned or challenged. Because of heteronormativity in the media and our society, if those in the media are not out-right revealed to be queer, the consensus and final decision is that they are heterosexual, or that the person in question 's same-sex relationships are simply platonic in nature. The media has the tendency to give “privileging of homosexuality over heterosexuality in the concept of platonic love” (Gates-Young