In popular contemporary television, there is historically very little representation of trans or queer characters and narratives, with a sole focus on heteronormative males. Furthering this, when trans representations have featured, they have been, ‘closely tied to narrow and problematic depictions of gender non-conforming people as either dangerous psychopaths and sexual predators… or as victims with little agency’ (Koch-Rein et al., 2020). However, through the transformation of TV in the streaming era, we may be seeing the beginning of a shift.

Michael Goddard and Christopher Hogg suggest that due to the new modes of production, distribution, and consumption associated with the new era of TV, particularly streaming services, ‘these new models of television, with their appeals to ever more niche and activated users, at least allow for a potentially more open manifestation of television’ (Goddard & Hogg, 2018). For example, Netflix has greater control over the content it produces and airs in comparison to the controlled transmission model of broadcast TV, and with such a large user base they can target more diverse audiences and themes, a result being, ‘the greater proliferation of non-heteronormative characters, narratives and viewer experiences’ (Goddard & Hogg, 2018).

A prime example of this is the recent Netflix Original series, Sex Education (2019-2023), which is a powerful and progressive representation for a whole range of topics on gender and sexuality. Non-binary character Cal is introduced in Season 3, and various storylines address relevant topics and issues like the use of pronouns, bathrooms, sexual relationships, and top surgery (then later the associated problems and side-effects of the surgery). In Season 4, two new trans characters are introduced, and again there are a range of narratives that highlight real-world experiences and issues. Trans actors were cast for these characters, and Cal’s actor is non-binary too, which is a progressive step for representation.

In this example, we can see that, ‘trans characters now populate diverse narrative universes’ (Koch-Rein et al., 2020), which is a step forward from traditional representations, or lack of.  I believe that due to the nature of streaming services such as Netflix, who are more able to serve their viewers interests rather than the interests of corporations and advertisers as with traditional models of TV, we are beginning to see the more open manifestation of television mentioned by Goddard and Hogg, particularly in reference to trans representation.

Written by George Bentley

Bibliography

Goddard, M.N. and Hogg, C. (2018) ‘Introduction: Trans TV as concept and intervention into contemporary television’, Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies, 13(4), pp. 470–474. doi:10.1177/1749602018798217.

Koch-Rein, A., Haschemi Yekani, E. and Verlinden, J.J. (2020) ‘Representing trans: Visibility and its Discontents’, European Journal of English Studies, 24(1), pp. 1–12. doi:10.1080/13825577.2020.1730040.

Sex Education (2019-2023). Netflix