With the transformation of Netflix, traditional gatekeeping practices regulating mass media production, including film and television, are broken up; original shows acquired millions of investments. Notably, the diversity of the directors’ groups has become remarkable, including women, people with couloir and other minority groups often sidelined in the industry.

It has been argued that “the types of stories we engage with can impact the way we view ourselves and our world” (Wheatley, 2015), which emphasises the importance of spectatorship during the processes of making meaning; given this, the changes in the constitution of director could be regarded as shaking to the old power structure by. The minoritised group could take this opportunity to create their own stories and impact the nature of the shows on the platforms, then make meanings like shaking old stereotypes or traditional narratives.(Bucciferro, 2019)

Besides, when it comes to the “meaning” of televisions and films as a kind of mass social media production, it’s necessary to consider the audience who consumes them.

However, because the algorithms applied to calculate individual preference, the audience only could see a customisable interface presenting what they tend to visit. Therefore, it is questionable that a film or television changed the stereotype through its limited communication effect and niche marketing tendency.

However, it doesn’t mean this transformation is meaningless. For instance, the intimate relationships between trans-TVs, determined by the post-cinematic era and social media, propel the proliferation of queer, trans, and diverse characters, sometimes even exploiting another space that traditional TV has never opened for discussion. For example, with Euphoria’s phenomenal popularity, there has been a retrorse spread from Tik-Tok to the television itself. The particular aesthetics of Euphoria, especially the make-up style, led to a fever imitation; the post video involved accumulated more than 900k likes. Then the introduction of Euphoria and discussion happened in the comments area.

Additionally, users started to judge whether the make-up in the videos is enough “Euphoria “based on their understanding of the plots. In this situation, the intimate relationship with social media is like something groundbreaking, bringing trans issues to the public.

Reference

Bucciferro, C. (2019) ‘Women and Netflix: disrupting traditional boundaries between television and film’, Feminist Media Studies, 19(7), pp. 1053–1056. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2019.1667076.

Wheatley, H. (2015) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Television’, Feminist Media Studies, 15(5), pp. 896–899. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2015.1075276.

Lu Chang 33743573