While GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation) might see itself as the primary voice for LGBT(Q+) advocacy, some people (often this writer included) are not particularly happy about what appears to be a project of assimillatory politics and homo-normativization. That being said GLAAD can, and often do, conduct important analyses about the presence (and not necessarily representation of) LGBTQ+ people in the media. In a recent study conducted by the organization, it was concluded that out of 101 mainstream films tracked by GLAAD, only 14 included LGB characters and there were no trans characters.
The film studios under scrutiny in the created SRI (Studio Responsibility Index, which is a pretty lofty name if you ask me) were: 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Columbia, Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers. In the GLAAD report's words (which can be found here): “The report is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBT [note: the “Q+” here is conspicuously absent here] film representations.” The organization also released a new rubric for assessing the presence of LGBT people, analogous to the (in)famous Bechdel test used to measure the presence of women in media, called the “Vito Russo Test.” The criteria of the test (which, in actuality, is a little bit more stringent than the Bechdel test) are as follows:
The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender.
That character must not be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity (i.e. the character is made up of the same sort of unique character traits commonly used to differentiate straight characters).
The LGBT character must be tied into the plot in such a way that their removal would have a significant effect.
Less than half (six) of the 14 major studio films that featured an LGB character managed to pass the Vito Russo Test.
More interesting facts of the study can be read over here. The full report can be read here.
The more fascinating conclusions gleaned include: gay males had the most presence in film, with lesbians coming in second among LGBT people, bisexual men or women third, and transgendered people (as mentioned above) entirely absent. Predictably, most of the LGB characters were white. Super-hero movies in particular were lauded as one of the least responsible genres, which is disappointing considering the plethora (“plethora” here used semi-ironically) of LGBTQ+ characters that can be found in the source material of many of these movies.
While it may not be easy to agree with GLAAD on many of their stances, it's hard to argue against these kinds of numbers. Hopefully, and related to the GeeksOut Skip Enders Game campaign, these kinds of studies will not only point out a problem, but open up a discussion about not only the need for LGBT(Q+) characters in media, but also the reasons why they have and have not been excluded in certain media forms and genres.
