La construcción mediática del colectivo LGTB+ en el cine blockbuster de Hollywood. El uso del pinkwashing  y el queerbaiting

Juan-José Sánchez-Soriano; Leonarda García-Jiménez

doi:10.4185/RLCS-2020-1451

Authors

Juan-José Sánchez-Soriano University of Murcia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4371-0099
Leonarda García-Jiménez University of Murcia. Colorado State University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5472-3314

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2020-1451

Keywords:

pinkwashing; queerbaiting; films; LGBTI; Hollywood; critical discourse analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Pinkwashing and queerbaiting are marketing strategies used by major Hollywood film producers to be perceived as tolerant industries regarding sexual diversity and thus to attract LGBT+ audiences. Its objective is to clean up its image in the face of negative actions, such as the complaints that the GLAAD association has been making in its annual reports since 2013 due to the lack of sexual diversity in blockbuster-type feature films. Methodology: The films that make up the sample are: Black Panther, Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Thor: Ragnarok, and Beauty and the Beast. For its study a critical discourse analysis (CDA) has been used. Results: These feature films, in which any explicit mention of sexual diversity was eliminated despite having been promoted as “gay friendly”, had a very limited participation of LGBT+ characters, who were presented in a stereotypical way and as an antithesis of the straight hero/heroin. Discussion and conclusions: Despite advertising the inclusion of LGBT+ characters during the promotional campaign, these feature films are framed in heteronormative logic and eliminate explicit references to sexual diversity to avoid possible economic losses.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Juan-José Sánchez-Soriano, University of Murcia

Juan-José Sánchez-Soriano (Murcia, 1990) is an FPU predoctoral researcher for the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport at the University of Murcia, at the Faculty of Communication and Documentation. Extraordinary End of Degree Award in Audiovisual Communication (University of Murcia). He has several scientific publications at international conferences, magazines, and book chapters in prestigious publishers. Member of the Association of Young Researchers at the University of Murcia (AJIUM by its acronym in Spanish). He has carried out research stays, among others, at the University of Hull (United Kingdom) and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. He is a member of the research group "Social Communication, Culture and Technology" of the University of Murcia and a member of the "Spanish Association for Communication Research". He has training in new teaching technologies and teaching experience in the Degree in Journalism in the subject Fundamentals of Communication I. His lines of research are focused on cinematography, serial fiction, cultural studies, audience’s reception, and queer studies.

Leonarda García-Jiménez, University of Murcia. Colorado State University

Leonarda García-Jiménez (Murcia, 1979), Ph.D. in Communication, is a Professor in the area of Journalism at the University of Murcia and an Affiliate Faculty at Colorado State University. She has also taught and researched at the Universidad del Norte (Colombia), the University of Seville and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), the University of Lugano (Switzerland), the Autonomous University of Mexico City and the Autonomous University of Zacatecas and Colima (Mexico), and at the University of Colorado Boulder (USA), where she also completed her training with a postdoctoral scholarship (Seneca Foundation, reference code 09395/PD/08). García-Jiménez has published more than 45 researches (books, articles, and book chapters) in her lines of specialization, including communication theories, identity, and interculturality. These works have appeared in impact magazines and editorials SJR, JCR and SPI. Her latest book, En defensa de la comunicación (2019), has been published by Tirant Lo Blanch. She has participated in more than 50 specialized congresses in communication, has two six-year research periods (2005-2010 and 2011-2016), has been a principal researcher in the project funded by the European Commission CRICORM, and has been part of 3 R+D+I projects of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain. She currently enjoys a Leonardo BBVA 2019 scholarship with which she develops the project “feminizing communication sciences” to recover the memory of outstanding women researchers of the 20th century.

References

Attitude (1 de marzo, 2017). World exclusive: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ set to make Disney history with gay character. Attitude. https://attitude.co.uk/article/world-exclusive-beauty-and-the-beast-set-to-make-disney-history-with-gay-character-1/13725/

Attitude (2 de marzo, 2017). These daily mail comments prove why ‘Beauty and the Beast’s’ gay character is so important. Attitude. https://attitude.co.uk/article/these-daily-mail-comments-prove-why-beauty-and-the-beasts-gay-character-is-so-important/13738/

Attitude (15 de marzo, 2017). Disney refuses to censor ‘Beauty and the Beast’ gay momento for Malaysia. Attitude. https://attitude.co.uk/article/disney-refuses-to-censor-beauty-and-the-beast-gay-moment-for-malaysia/13835/

Attitude (15 de marzo, 2017). Watch the moment Alan Menken acknowledges ‘Beauty and the Beast’s gay subplot. Attitude. https://attitude.co.uk/article/watch-the-moment-alan-menken-acknowledges-beauty-and-the-beasts-gay-subplot/13836/

Ayuso, R. y Belinchón, G. (5 de julio, 2018). Hollywood no quiere personajes gais en sus superproducciones. El País. https://elpais.com/cultura/2018/07/05/actualidad/1530750324_764682.html

BBC News (3 de marzo, 2017). ‘La bella y la bestia’: un personaje gay, una escena de amor homosexual, un beso interracial… y es una película de Disney. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-39148300

Brennan, J. (2018). Queerbaiting: The ‘playful’possibilities of homoeroticism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(2), 189-206. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877916631050

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble and the subversion of identity. Routledge.

Caviaro, J. L. (29 de julio, 2018). 'Jurassic World: El reino caído' es la última película de Hollywood que vuelve a meter en el armario a un personaje gay. Espinof. https://www.espinof.com/actores-y-actrices/jurassic-world-reino-caido-ultima-pelicula-hollywood-que-vuelve-meter-armario-personaje-gay

Cinemanía. (13 de febrero, 2018). ¿Ha eliminado Marvel una historia gay en ‘Black Panther’? Cinemanía. https://www.cinemania.es/noticias/marvel-ha-eliminado-una-trama-gay-black-panther/

Contreras-Pulido, P., Guzmán-Franco, M. D. y Vizcaíno-Verdú, A. (2020). ‘La Bella y la Bestia’ y el movimiento LGTB en Disney: empoderamiento y activismo en YouTube. Área Abierta, 20(1), 75-93. https://doi.org/10.5209/arab.63129

De Miguel, A. (2 de noviembre, 2017). Así es la escena eliminada de ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ en la que Valquiria se declaraba abiertamente bisexual. Fotogramas. https://www.fotogramas.es/noticias-cine/a19450515/escena-eliminada-thor-ragnarok-valkyria-bisexual/

Durán-Manso, V. (2014). El aula rompe con la censura en Hollywood: el caso de La calumnia. En Imatges de l’escola, imatge de l’educació: XXI Jornades d’Història de l’Educació. (pp. 19-37). Palma: Francesca Comas Rubí, Sara González Gómez, Xavier Motilla Salas, Bernat Sureda García (Coords.). https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5497270

Durán-Manso, V. (2016). La representación del deseo en el cine de Tennessee Williams: homosexualidad masculina frente al Código Hays. FEMERIS: Revista Multidisciplinar de Estudios de Género, 1(1/2), 58-73. http://dx.doi.org/10.20318/femeris.2016.3227

Echeverría, G. y Martín Maturana, J. (2015). Análisis crítico del discurso de políticas públicas en diversidad sexual en Chile. Universitas Psychologica, 14(4), 1485-1498. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.up14-4.acdp

Europapress (5 de septiembre, 2017) ¿Será Laura Dern el primer personaje LGTB de Star Wars? Europapress. https://www.europapress.es/cultura/cine-00128/noticia-sera-laura-dern-primer-personaje-lgtb-star-wars-20170905122311.html

Fairclough, N. (2008). El análisis crítico del discurso y la mercantilización del discurso público: las universidades. Discurso & Sociedad, 2(1), 170-185. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2547117

Foucault, M. (2002). Historia de la sexualidad. Vol. 2: El uso de los placeres. Siglo XXI.

Foucault, M. (2005). Historia de la sexualidad. Vol. 1: La voluntad del saber. Siglo XXI.

Foucault, M. (2010). Historia de la sexualidad. Vol. 3: La inquietud de sí. Siglo XXI.

García-Jiménez, L., Rodrigo-Alsina, M. y Pineda, A. (2015). ‘We Cannot Live in Our Own Neighborhood’: An approach to the construction of intercultural communication in television news. En Miller, T. (Ed.). The Routledge companion to global popular culture (pp. 330-344). Routledge.

García-Martes, P. J. (24 de octubre, 2017). Marvel tiene su primer personaje LGTB en 'Thor: Ragnarok', pero de nada sirve si no se muestra. Ecartelera. https://www.ecartelera.com/noticias/42895/marvel-primer-personaje-lgtb-thor-ragnarok-no-sirve-muestra/

García-Toca, I. y Nader-Carreta, F. (2009). Estereotipos masculinos en la relación de pareja. Enseñanza e Investigación en Psicología, 14(1). https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/292/29214103.pdf

GLAAD (Gays & Lesbians Alliance Against Defamation) (2018). 2018 GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index. Los Ángeles: publicación online. https://www.glaad.org/sri/2018

González de Garay, B. (2013). El lesbianismo en las series de ficción televisiva españolas (Tesis Doctoral). Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

González, F. R. (2008). The feminine stereotype in gay characterization. Languages and Cultures in Contrast and Comparison, (175), 221. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.175.12gon

Johnson, K. A., Sonnett, J., Dolan, M. K., Reppen, R. y Johnson, L. (2010). Interjournalistic discourse about African Americans in television news coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Discourse & Communication, 4(3), 243-261. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481310373214

Kaplan, E. A. (1998). Las mujeres y el cine: a ambos lados de la cámara (Vol. 46). Universitat de València.

Kaplan, D., Rosenmann, A., & Shuhendler, S. (2017). What about nontraditional masculinities? Toward a quantitative model of therapeutic new masculinity ideology. Men and Masculinities, 20(4), 393-426. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X16634797

Laguarda, P. (2006). Cine y estudios de género: Imagen, representación e ideología. Notas para un abordaje crítico. La Aljaba, (10), 141-156. https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=f53507c6-c8fa-4ec9-9388-4b63cc0365de

Lorenzo, L. G. (2005). La construcción de un personaje: el gracioso (Vol. 147). Editorial Fundamentos.

Marzal-Felici, J. y Soler-Campillo, M. (2018). El espectáculo del exceso. Representaciones de la crisis financiera de 2008 en el cine mainstream norteamericano. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, (73), 89-114. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2018-1247

Melero, A. (2014). La representación de la homosexualidad en el cine de la dictadura franquista. ZER: Revista de Estudios de Comunicación, 19(36). https://www.ehu.eus/ojs/index.php/Zer/article/view/13500/0

Moreno, I. (4 de septiembre, 2017). Star Wars: Los Últimos Jedi tendrá al primer personaje LGTB de la saga. Areajugones. https://areajugones.sport.es/2017/09/04/star-wars-los-ultimos-jedi-tendra-al-primer-personaje-lgtb-de-la-saga/

Moreno, I. (12 de febrero, 2018). Marvel eliminó un romance homosexual del corte final de Black Panther. Areajugones. https://areajugones.sport.es/2018/02/12/marvel-elimino-un-romance-homosexual-del-corte-final-de-black-panther/

Pardo-Abril, N. G. (2007). Cómo hacer análisis crítico del discurso. Una perspectiva latinoamericana. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Pardo, A. (2011). Europa frente a Hollywood: breve síntesis histórica de una batalla económica y cultural. Doxa, 12, 39-59. https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/doxacom/article/view/35946

Peña-Zerpa, J. A. (2013). Estereotipos de hombres homosexuales en la gran pantalla (1970-1999). Razón y Palabra, 18(85). http://www.razonypalabra.org.mx/N/N85/M85/03_Pena_M85.pdf

Pineda, A., García-Jiménez, L., y Rodrigo-Alsina, M. (2016). ‘I believe they felt attacked’. Discursive representation and construction of interculturality in Spanish news television. International Communication Gazette, 78(6), 585-605. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048516640711

Puar, J. (2013). Rethinking homonationalism. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 45(2), 336-339. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002074381300007X

Redondo, M. (14 de marzo, 2017). Las primeras consecuencias del personaje gay en ‘La Bella y la Bestia’. Hipertextual. https://hipertextual.com/2017/03/consecuencias-escena-gay-bella-bestia

Rich, A. (1996). Heterosexualidad obligatoria y existencia lesbiana. DUODA: Estudis de la Diferència Sexual, (10), 15-48. http://www.mpisano.cl/psn/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Heterosexualidad-obligatoria-y-existencia-lesbiana-Adrienne-Rich-1980.pdf

Rubio-Alcover, R. (2007). Del blockbuster al high concept: los efectos digitales en el neoespectáculo hollywoodiense. En Gómez-Tarín, F. J. y Marzal-Felici, J. J. (Eds.), Metodologías de análisis del film (pp. 147-156). Edipo.

Smith, P. J. (2006). Cine, historia y homosexualidad: Far from Heaven (Lejos del cielo, 2002) de Todd Haynes y La mala educación (2004) de Almodóvar. Archivos de la Filmoteca, (54), 98. http://www.archivosdelafilmoteca.com/index.php/archivos/article/view/247

Spade, D. (2015). Normal life: Administrative violence, critical trans politics, and the limits of law. Duke University Press.

Stakic, I. (2011). Homophobia and hate speech in Serbian public discourse: how nationalist myths and stereotypes influence prejudices against the LGBT minority. Equal Rights Review, (7), 44-65. https://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/ERR7_isidora.pdf

Stecher, A. (2009). El análisis crítico del discurso como herramienta de investigación psicosocial del mundo del trabajo: discusiones desde América Latina. Universitas psychologica, 9(1), 93-107. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.upsy9-1.acdh

Van Dijk, T. A. (1995). Discourse semantics and ideology. Discourse & society, 6(2), 243-289. http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Discourse%20semantics%20and%20ideology.pdf

Van Dijk, T. (2002). El análisis crítico del discurso y el pensamiento social. Athenea Digital, (1), 18-24. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/athenead/v1n1.22

Van Dijk, T. (2003). La multidisciplinariedad del análisis crítico del discurso: un alegato a favor de la diversidad, en Wodak, R. & Meyer. M. (Eds.), Métodos de análisis crítico del discurso (pp. 143-177). Gedisa.

Vasallo, B. (2013). PornoBurka: desventuras del Raval y otras f(r)icciones contemporáneas. Ediciones Cautivas.