The Media Representation of Fictional Gay and Lesbian Characters on Television : A Qualitative Analysis of U.S. TV-series regarding Heteronormativity

Abstract: There has been an increase in the portrayal of gay characters in several television series during the last decades, however they are still depicted in an odd way, derived from the heteronormative approach. Television programs constantly show that heterosexuality is the prevailing standard and that people that do not adapt to this heteronormative morale are regarded as eccentric and do not fit in American society. This study aims to contribute to an understanding of how the media representation of fictional gay and lesbian characters in U.S. TV-series persists heteronormativity. The theory explores different influencing factors and characteristics of heteronormativity related concepts coming from gender and sex theories. Consequently, these characteristics and elements of the literature will be identified and set side by side. As a method a theoretical conceptual framework, in the context of a qualitative content analysis, is conducted in order to investigate the characteristics and elements of the gays and lesbians in the selected TV-series. Hereby analytical tools were used of this conceptual framework in order to understand the characteristics and elements of gendered stereotype, sexual aspects, villain/victim and life-style in scene dialog texts. The findings suggest that the four series have different ways of depicting the characteristics and elements of how the gay and lesbian characters are represented. Regarding the findings within characteristics: life-style aspects, gendered stereotypes and sexual depiction the heteronormativity is still persisting the American series. Some findings are supporting the arguments of the research review, however several findings are challenging the arguments of the previous research.