Straight and cisgender actors playing queer and trans characters: the views of Australian screen stakeholders. (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cover, Rob
• Is Part Of: Media, culture, and society. Volume 45:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 57
• Page End: 73
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: casting practices -- creative producers -- gender and sexual diversity -- interviews -- LGBTQ+ film and television -- minorities in media -- representation; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Wireless communication systems -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/01634437221104701
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-4437

Abstract

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.