GLAAD has been tracking LGBTQ representation in broadcast television shows for the past twelve years, with this year's data showing promising trends. Of 895 regular characters on television, about 4.8% of these identified as LGBTQ, with 28 reoccurring characters, the highest percentage recorded in the study. Additionally, record-high numbers of other minorities like black characters and characters with disabilities were also recorded, at 20% and 1.8%, respectively. Since last year, the number of LGBTQ characters showcased in streaming series rose from 59 to 65 and cable shows' total remained the same at 142. ABC and FOX lead in the percentage of these characters, and GLAAD hopes for other networks to follow suit as well as pay careful attention to portraying these characters accurately. On a more negative note, 25 LGBTQ female characters have died since the beginning of this year, a statistic that threatens the progress of cable television.
The existence of LGBTQ characters as well as other minorities in daily television shows is incredibly important to the development of a more inclusive and accepting world. Children are the most susceptible and impressionable to ideas as they have yet to establish their own beliefs and instead look to the world around them to mimic and form their own morals. As more and more diverse casts of characters are portrayed on popular television, the more future generations will be raised to become more accepting and willing to acknowledge and fight the discrimination suffered by minorities, or those who are not cis and white. LGBTQ and other minorities in the past have been poorly and/or misrepresented and it is very promising to see companies making more of an effort to include them in popular culture like television. These groups of people have, since the beginning, been discriminated against and criminalized because of their appearance or sexual preferences as well as other characteristics they cannot change. As the societal ideology shifts to become more inclusive and positive, hopefully the violence and discrimination surrounding these groups and topics will subside.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/entertainment/lgbtq-tv-glaad-study/index.html
Though LGBT representation in pop culture is very important, it is often used as a ploy to show how "progressive" a company or cable network is, while at the same time they do nothing to fix, (or even help to further in some cases) actual real world discrimination. In many places we can get fired, rejected from adoption agencies and evicted from our homes because there are few laws protecting the LGBT community as a marginalized group. Marriage equality is just the first step in a long fight ahead of us.
ReplyDeleteRepresentation is great, but I'm sick of seeing LGBTQ+ characters employed only as gags or given little depth. I'm also a bit done with the trend of having trans roles played mostly by cis white men. Why not hire an actual transgender performer? Everyone flipped their fecal matter over a transgender kid getting a small role in Modern Family; imagine the reaction of the transgender community if a transgender character in a promising film were played by an actual trans person instead of Eddie Redmayne. Playing a different gender than one's own can be great, drag can be great, crossdressing can be great, I have nothing against these things, but don't have cis people try to tell transgender stories. Trans is not a costume, and trans identities are not entertainment. I just ranted for a very long time, sorry. But yeah. Representation is great. Get more.
ReplyDelete-Cal Thompson, your angry resident trans kiddo who just made like 3 rambley comments about trans issues and a blog post