A study of University of Barcelona (UB) and the Pompeu Fabra (UPF) on the representation of trans characters in the series euphoria values that the prism on them is “more complex” than the usual “fetishistic look” that usually falls on the group in the audiovisual media.
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The series, from the North American network HBO, recounts the daily life of a group of high school students, and portrays, quite realistically, the vicissitudes of the students in love, friendship, drugs, social networks, sex, etc.
Although the main characters of euphoria They are, among others, Rue Bennett, a teenager with drug addiction problems played by Zendaia; Fesco, a drug dealer and Nate, a jock with anger issues; UPF and UB researchers have focused on the character of Jules Vaughn, a trans teenager who has a very intense relationship with the main character, Rue, and who is played by the trans actress Hunter Schafer.
The conclusions of the study by researchers from the Faculty of Communication at UPF, Rafael Ventura and Eduard Ballesté, together with María José Masanet, a researcher at the Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media at the University of Barcelona (UB), have been published in Magazine Social inclusion.
“We wanted to analyze Jules to explore the representation of trans characters in fiction”declares Rafael Ventura, researcher and member of the Critical Communication Research Group (CritiCC).
“The interesting thing about Jules is that he is a character that can serve as a model and aspiration not only for the trans public but also for cisgender people,” has added.
They emphasize that the series in this sense that “normalizes and makes everyday the trans character, shows Jules as a multidimensional teenager” which moves away from the hitherto usual representation of the LGTBI collective, with a usual “fetishistic look”.
“It has gone from complete invisibility (where there was no representation of these groups, or they were censored or intentionally omitted), then to an imperfect representation (where only negative, simplistic or ridiculous stereotypes or representations were shown) to date, when you can finally see narratives with fairer representations that treat LGBTQ+ people in a multidimensional way”concludes the text.
The study is part of the projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation ‘Transmedia Gender & LGBTI+ Literacy’ (TRANSGELIT), coordinated from the UB and led by the researchers Maria José Masanet and Maddalena Fedele, and the project ‘LGBTIQ+ Screens’, coordinated from the UAB and led by the researcher Maite Soto.
These are two research projects that collaborate with the aim of analyzing contemporary media representations and exploring to what extent these representations can contribute to reducing the prejudices of homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia or transphobia in different audiences. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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