With the development of digital technology, streaming digital platforms like Netflix changed contemporary television forms. This may suggest that Internet-distributed television seems more diverse in terms of content creation, and themes of minority cultures, such as transgressive, transgender and queer, can appear in television series. So, the concept of Trans TV is proposed to analyze the transformation of technologies, program content and viewer experience. “Trans TV operates as an intervention into these multiple contemporary transformations of television, arguing that they need to be thought together, and especially that discussions of technological transformations of the industry cannot be thought separately from aesthetic transformations both of televisual programmes and the televisual experiences of audiences” (Michael Goddard and Christopher Hogg, 2018). Television’s transformations could be considered as a tool to attract more viewers, get more traffic and convert into more financial benefits. Therefore, Netflix and other portals provide more humane, mobile and instant service to promote the watching experience so that they could grow their followers and earn more money. Besides, these streaming platforms also are able to collect many audience data through digital technologies to profile fans and study their preferences. Then they tend to add more series types to capture different fans’ personalised taste and show new cultural forms. However, in order to cater to the increasingly personalized needs of fans, some minority culture forms, like trans and non binary characters have taken a long time to appear in television series. Because firstly, these kinds of culture cannot be accepted in the past society due to traditional views and some religious cultures. Moreover, as television producers, how to truly show the daily life of these groups and be accepted by most of the audience is a big problem, also they should put more thought into how to cast, costumes, shoot, etc. Nevertheless, many minority culture-related television series have appeared, and these episodes are not only widely acclaimed but also the culture they represent is gradually becoming the streaming culture.

Take the example of The L Word (2004-2009). This is the first television series written and directed by predominantly queer women and featured the first ensembled cast of lesbian and bise sexual female characters. After the first season played, the show received a lot of praise and became popular fastly. It tells a story about the life of a group of lesbian and bisexual women living in Califonia. The characters in the drama not only live a desirable life, but also freely and bravely express their love, it can be described as the support of the gay right movement. Meanwhile, the drama also created a precedent that the director shot various lesbian sex scenes, like in restaurants, bathrooms and swimming pools. Thereby, to a large extent, this series upended the image of queer women on television and the stereotypes in the minds of some viewers. It also encouraged lesbian and bise sexual females to be brave to be themselves in real life.

Reference

Michael Goddard and Christopher Hogg (2018), ‘Introduction: Trans TV as concept and intervention into contemporary television’, Critical Studies in Television 13:4

Baker, Sarah; Rutherford, Amanda (2020). “Upgrading The L Word: Generation Q”. M/C Journal. 23 (6). ISSN 1441-2616.

Written by Zhongzhu Wang(33689304)