A new report criticizes French-speaking television when it comes to the representation of LGBTQ+ people. According to this study, Quebec series “tend” to depict homosexual, transgender and queer characters in a “superficial”, “cliché”, “reductive” or “prejudicial” manner.
Published in June by Pink Triangle Press, a Canadian organization that works to “improve the visibility of LGBTQ+ communities on screen”, this first Pink Report notes the marked differences between the English and French television offerings in Canada.
Although at the opening of the 122-page document, we note an improvement in the image of LGBTQ+ people on the small screen over the last five years, we specify that this is often an approximate or “stereotypical” representation .
According to research by Pink Triangle Press, carried out with support from the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada, “popular French-language television is three times more likely to depict LGBTQ+ characters in a one-dimensional manner” than in English-speaking Canada .
In addition, French-language television is “much more” inclined to present LGBTQ+ characters as antagonists or victims. Pink Triangle Press reports that in Quebec, LGBTQ+ characters are “almost evenly split between protagonists (or heroes) (36%), antagonists (36%) and victims (27%).” By comparison, in English Canada, LGBTQ+ characters are much more often protagonists (88%).
Positive point: Quebec television includes, all things considered, more LGBTQ+ representation than in English Canada. However, “this representation is perceived as significantly less precise and authentic”, it is emphasized.
By email, Pink Triangle Press President, CEO and Publisher David Walberg describes the Pink Report of “probing to measure the progress made and identify the challenges that await us”. “Let’s be clear: this report is not intended to point fingers, but rather to understand and provide the industry with some facts to fuel important conversations. It’s time to move beyond stereotypes […] to make room for more authentic, complex and inclusive 2SLGBTQIA+ representation. »
“Astonishing” conclusions
First director, dramatic programs and feature films at Radio-Canada, André Béraud is surprised by the conclusions of the Pink report. “Quebec television has always been progressive in breaking taboos. But indeed, we can always do better. »
André Béraud mentions several recent series to demonstrate the efforts made to integrate LGBTQ+ characters: Six degrees (ICI Télé) at FEM (Unis TV), via Lou and Sophie (ICI Télé), In Memoriam (crave) and Mont-Rouge (HERE Tou.tv Extra).
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BELL MEDIA
Evelyne Brochu, Éric Bruneau, Jean-Simon Leduc and Catherine Brunet in In Memoriam
Author of several series including LGBTQ+ characters, such as New address (Olivier Lapointe, played by Patrick Hivon) and Cerebrum (investigator Simone Vallier, played by Christine Beaulieu), Richard Blaimert also admits to being surprised by the conclusions of the Pink Reportespecially when he thinks of the work of Marie-Andrée Labbé, who signs STAT And Without an appointmentwhich revolves around a lesbian nurse-sexologist played by Magalie Lépine-Blondeau.
In his next fiction expected on Crave next fall, entitled The return of Anna Brodeur, Richard Blaimert gives “a nice place” to LGBTQ+ characters, notably through Patrick (Benoit McGinnis), the best friend of the heroine, defended by actress Julie Le Breton. “It’s not something I think about. But because I am gay myself, it’s like an extension,” says the screenwriter, in a telephone interview.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Author Richard Blaimert
To explain the gap between the French-speaking and English-speaking offerings, Richard Blaimert points out the different reality of the two solitudes. He mentions in particular Sort of (in French, Somehow), this CBC series which paints the portrait of a young non-binary person with multiple orientations. More confidential, this Sphère Média production was nevertheless exported to the United States, with the help of English.
“It’s a nested, fly-by-night and super interesting series that sheds new light, but it would be difficult to produce in French in Quebec. At Radio-Canada, TVA and Noovo, audience ratings are of great importance. You want to reach as many people as possible. The rules are different in English Canada. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SPHERE MEDIA
Series Sort of
“We feel an effort”
The report’s conclusions come from a methodology combining three factors: interviews with nine people in the screen field (including seven French speakers), a bilingual survey of 479 LGBTQ+ people working in the industry, as well as a content analysis of 22 hours of English-Canadian (14 hours) and French-Canadian (8 hours) television. Determined by Parrot Analytics, a firm specializing in audience data, the group of Quebec shows included STAT, Runaway, The voice, Soly Club, The flaw, This is how I love you, The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up And Robotic portrait.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
STAT
In English Canada, fictions like Schitt’s Creek, Transplant, Murdoch Mysteries, Letterkenny And Heartland were part of the lot.
POP TV IMAGE, PROVIDED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Annie Murphy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Dan Levy in Schitt’s Creek
Doctoral student in communications at UQAM, Juliette Lavallée studies the representation of queer women in Quebec television. THE Pink report confirms her research, she says.
“I see an improvement, a diversification. We feel an effort. We want to break away from certain norms. But when you look at the queer women’s characters, it was often the same stories: they were all women who cheated on their partners. Their sexual identity was trivialized: they had the same desires, the same desires, the same interests as any heterosexual woman. »
Juliette Lavallée brings a downside to the report. She would have liked a greater diversity of series to be considered in the content analysis. “Twenty-two hours of Canadian programming seems like a few hours of viewing to me to be able to count characters as “multi-dimensional” or “one-dimensional”. »
For his part, David Walberg of Pink Triangle Press hopes the study will help accelerate change. “As a gay man, when I see a demeaning depiction, it always feels like a punch in the gut, because I know these depictions fuel real-life behaviors. I feel this urgency every day when I read the news. »
Read the full study