10.3: Other Web Content

Since the proliferation of cable options in the 1990s, the screen media market has fragmented further with the advent of the internet and the means to reach millions instantly with relatively little overhead, experience, or equipment. In 2011, the lesbian Hannah Hart (figure 10.11) broke out with My Drunk Kitchen, a YouTube comedy series whose short films parody cooking show conventions and feature Hart’s inebriated culinary ventures. Around the same time, Jazz Jennings became perhaps the youngest out trans individual to achieve national prominence in the United States. She began making media appearances at age six and later created the YouTube series I Am Jazz.^[20] TLC and the Oprah Winfrey Network have produced, respectively, a reality series and a documentary about Jazz.

Figure 10.11. Hannah Hart. (CC BY-SA Gage Skidmore.)

Multitalented queer figures such as Jes Tom (Soojung Dreams of Fiji), Fortune Feimster (Chelsea), and Sampson McCormick (A Tough Act to Follow) have been able to get around gatekeepers by producing short films available on YouTube. They gained massive followings through a combination of recorded and live performances and their social media presence. Indeed, social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have created unprecedented reach and a sense of connectedness—for better or worse—for celebrities and the public. YouTube has also become a popular medium for coming out via emotionally affecting videos that sometimes accrue millions of views.

I'm Gay - Eugene Lee Yang

YouTuber Eugene Lee Yang, best known for his work at Buzzfeed and with the Try Guys, comes out in a music video (https://youtu.be/qpipLfMiaYU) that he directed himself and that expresses artistically his experience as a gay Asian man. The video had garnered nineteen million views by 2021.

• How does this music video express the challenges and complexities of coming out?
• How do you think using YouTube shaped the impact of this video?

LGBTQ+ Film and Media Studies: Critical Conversations

The LGBTQ+ community is anything but monolithic, and perspectives on LGBTQ+ film and media are accordingly myriad. This section highlights some points of particular contention within the field.

Coming Out

One of the predominant tropes in LGBTQ+ film and media is the Coming Out Story, exemplified in John Sayles’s Lianna (1983), Alice Wu’s Saving Face (2004), Dee Rees’s Pariah (2011), and Greg Berlanti’s Love, Simon (2018). These films focus primarily on the protagonist’s realization or disclosure of their queerness. Sexuality is framed as a confession or disclosure, something that a closeted character hides or denies until a dramatic outing scene, often the plot’s climax. Coming out stories are important, but it is also important to challenge the status of heterosexuality as the assumed default until a different orientation is declared.

Homonormativity

Homonormativity (see chapter 1(opens in new window)) establishes the bounds of acceptable queerness and that which deviates from it, often replicating other dominant social norms with regard to race, sex, class, and ability. For example, ABC’s popular Modern Family presents gay men (a married couple played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet) positively, but they are rendered respectable through other aspects of their identity: white, wealthy, monogamous, and constituents of a more or less traditionally structured nuclear family. The show’s message about queerness may therefore be read as “Look, we’re just like heterosexuals,” overriding rather than embracing difference.

Debates over homonormativity in film and television abound. For example, Glee provides numerous queer characters and storylines. Yet as Frederik Dhaenens notes, they ultimately “consolidate the heterosexual matrix” by portraying queer characters who are routinely victimized yet nonetheless overarchingly happy and conformist, as though simply rolling with the punches eventually yields contentment.^[21] Moreover, LGBTQ+ people of color are still dramatically underrepresented. Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce’s web series One Day at a Time (2017–2019, 2020) follows a Latinx family and presents much-needed diversity in terms of both characters and tropes.

Bisexual Erasure

Maria San Filippo and others have critiqued bisexual erasure or invisibility within LGBTQ+ cinema. Even when bisexual themes, characters, and storylines are present in film, San Filippo observes, they are typically referred to as gay, queer, or lesbian, terms that fail to acknowledge bisexuality as its own entity.^[22] Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy (1997), Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también (2001), David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. (2001), Charles Herman-Wurmfeld’s Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2005), and Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name (2017) all unambiguously depict both same-sex and different-sex relationships, yet they are seldom framed in terms of bisexual identity or desire.

Ciswashing

Trans people are often excluded from mainstream (and independent) media, even from narratives specifically about trans lives. Among the films focused on trans individuals that have found commercial and critical success, many feature cisgender actors exclusively: Hilary Swank in Kimberley Peirce’s Boys Don’t Cry (1999), Felicity Huffman in Duncan Tucker’s Transamerica (2005), Jared Leto in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club (2013), and Eddie Redmayne in Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl (2015).

Laura Horak observes, too, that much writing on trans media focuses on representations of trans individuals rather than on trans authorship.^[23] Because being out in Hollywood has always posed professional and personal risks—from pigeonholing and blacklisting to physical violence—it’s impossible to know the full extent of sexual and gender diversity that has existed among filmmakers, performers, writers, and others.

Artist and Activist Spotlight: The Wachowskis

The Wachowski siblings (figure 10.12) made history in announcing their respective transitions—Lana in 2012 and Lilly in 2016. Lana is widely considered the first major trans film director. Though most famous for their futuristic action franchise that began with The Matrix, the Wachowskis have made significant contributions in terms of queer content. Crime thriller Bound (1996) features two women who conspire in a romance-cum-heist. Wishing to avoid the cliché, pornographized, or insultingly diluted depictions of lesbian sex in film, the Wachowskis hired the sex educator and activist Susie Bright as a consultant for the sex scenes. Beyond critical success and Emmy nominations, the Wachowskis’ Netflix sci-fi series Sense8 (2015–2018) was a milestone in trans media. Created primarily by trans filmmakers and featuring a trans character played by the actress Jamie Clayton, who is trans, Sense8 offers a nuanced representation of trans lives and issues.

Figure 10.12. Directors Lilly (left) and Lana (right) Wachowski at a screening of Cloud Atlas at Fantastic Fest. (CC-BY WanderingWanda.)

It Gets Better?

In 2010, the writer and activist Dan Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, founded the It Gets Better Project in response to a rash of suicides by children and teenagers subjected to homophobic bullying and harassment. The campaign entailed the launch of a YouTube channel and viral video ad featuring Savage and his family along with the message that, however tough things are at present, they will improve with time. Although the campaign brought much-needed attention to homophobia and its consequences, it also drew criticism from within the LGBTQ+ community. Many queer activists and scholars, particularly individuals of color including Jasbir Puar (2010) and Tavia Nyong’o (2010), have pointed out that Savage’s promise is predicated on a narrative of upward mobility and affluence that is unavailable to many of the most vulnerable queer populations.^[24] It has also been critiqued for its failure to recognize the extent to which its makers’ racial, economic, gender-based, and physical privilege has helped clear their path. Activism and action are essential—and careful thought and reflection equally so.

Conclusion

This chapter is only a brief introduction to the wonders, shortcomings, and manifold complexities of LGBTQ+ film and media. Like raw film, it has been sliced, diced, and rearranged to fit into the narrow confines of its container. Readers who wish for more can avail themselves of the links and suggested readings and viewings that offer helpful paths to further, deeper exploration.

Check Your Knowledge

Contributed by Has Arakelyan, Rio Hondo College

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The success of Hannah Hart’s My Drunk Kitchen on YouTube is most indicative of which trend in LGBTQ+ media?
A) The decline of independent film festivals
B) The return to mainstream network television
C) The democratization of media production and distribution via the internet
D) The reduction of LGBTQ+ representation in comedy

2. Criticism of the It Gets Better Project by scholars such as Jasbir Puar and Tavia Nyong’o centers on its:
A) lack of viral reach.
B) focus on upward mobility and affluence, which may not be accessible to the most vulnerable queer populations.
C) exclusive use of print media.
D) emphasis on physical fitness

3. Jazz Jennings’ media presence is significant because she:
A) was the first out trans adult in the United States.
B) avoided all social media platforms.
C) only appeared in scripted television,
D) became one of the youngest out trans individuals to achieve national prominence.

4. The chapter suggests that the proliferation of cable and internet options has led to:
A) greater fragmentation and niche targeting in screen media.
B) a more centralized media market.
C) the disappearance of LGBTQ+ content.
D) the dominance of only major studios.

5. One major critique of internet-based LGBTQ+ activism is it:
A) is always universally accessible.
B) sometimes fails to account for differences in privilege among its creators and audiences.
C) never reaches mainstream audiences.
D) is only focused on entertainment.

1. How has the rise of platforms like YouTube changed the landscape of LGBTQ+ media representation and access?
2. In what ways does the It Gets Better Project both help and potentially limit the experiences of marginalized LGBTQ+ youth?
3. Discuss the importance of intersectionality in evaluating the effectiveness and inclusivity of internet-based LGBTQ+ activism.
4. What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of media fragmentation for LGBTQ+ creators and audiences?
5. How do stories like Jazz Jennings’ challenge or reinforce mainstream narratives about trans identity and visibility in media.

Multiple-Choice Questions - Answers

1. C) The democratization of media production and distribution via the internet
2. B) focus on upward mobility and affluence, which may not be accessible to the most vulnerable queer populations.
3. D) became one of the youngest out trans individuals to achieve national prominence.
4. A) greater fragmentation and niche targeting in screen media.
5. B) sometimes fails to account for differences in privilege among its creators and audiences.