“También podemos tener finales felices”: recepción e interpretación de personajes LGTBIQ+ en series de  televisión

Juan José Sánchez Soriano; Leonarda García-Jiménez; Miguel Rodrigo-Alsina

doi:10.7764/cdi.55.53897

Authors

Juan José Sánchez Soriano Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, España https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4371-0099
Leonarda García-Jiménez Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, España https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5472-3314
Miguel Rodrigo-Alsina Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, España https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9056-8040

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.55.53897

Keywords:

audiences, LGBTIQ , TV series, focus group, representation, interpretation, reception studies

Abstract

Given the scant research on audience reception based on group techniques, we used a focus group approach to compare interpretations by straight and cisgender and LGBTIQ+ individuals of representations of LGBTIQ+ characters in contemporary fiction series. The methodology is based on conducting four focus groups, two with LGBTIQ+ participants and two with cissexual participants, with questions based, on a first block, on fragments of series with LGBTIQ+ characters, a second on representation and inclusion, and a third on identification. The objective is to detect similarities and differences in the interpretations of these two groups. The results point to conflicting interpretations on various issues. For instance, while the LGBTIQ+ participants state that they can feel identified with any character, regardless of their sexual orientation, the straight and cisgender participants feel unable to fully identify with LGBTIQ+ characters. In conclusion, we infer that, despite confirmation of the paradigm of the active audience in terms of sexuality issues, our LGBTIQ+ participants tended to be more critical, while our straight and cisgender participants tended to be more accepting of media messages.

Author Biographies

Juan José Sánchez Soriano, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, España

Juan-José Sánchez-Soriano, assistant professor at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid). Ph.D. in communication from the Universidad de Murcia, he has written several scientific publications of impact (journals, international conferences, and book chapters), in addition to being a university professor and having completed academic stays in different universities, such as the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), the University of Hull (United Kingdom), and the University of Southern California (United States). His research interests are focused on cinematography, serialized fiction, cultural studies, audience reception, and LGTB+ studies.

Leonarda García-Jiménez, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, España

Leonarda García-Jiménez, Ph.D. in Communication, tenured professor at the Universidad de Murcia (Spain) and Affiliate Faculty at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Boulder (USA). Researcher in the Proyecto FEMICOMI: Análisis de los roles femeninos en la investigación de la comunicación en Iberoamérica (FEMICOMI Project: Analysis of female roles in communication research in Ibero-America) (Ministry of Science, Government of Spain), her main lines of research are communication theories, epistemology, and identity, on which she has published more than 60 articles, chapters, and books.

Miguel Rodrigo-Alsina, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, España

Miquel Rodrigo-Alsina, professor of Communication Theories at the Universidad Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. He has given courses and lectures at various Spanish and foreign universities and has been a researcher at Indiana University, Saint Louis University, Université René Descartes (Paris V), and the University of Westminster. He has published more than 180 articles and a dozen monographs: https://www.upf.edu/web/miquel_rodrigo. In 2022, he had more than 8,000 citations on Google Scholar.

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