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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs “But They’re Gay Though”: How LGBTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama A PhD Thesis By Alexandria D. Davenport PhD Sociology The University of Edinburgh 2018 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 1/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs I, Alexandria Douglas Davenport, certify that this PhD thesis is my own independent work. All data was gathered and analysed by myself, without assistance from anyone else. No work contained in this thesis has been published in any other format. All work referenced in this thesis that is not my own has been properly cited and listed throughout the body of the thesis and in the references. 2 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 2/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 ABSTRACTS 6 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 9 ORIGINS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT 10 IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY 10 CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH 13 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS 14 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 17 QUEER THEORY 18 MEDIA THEORY AND ACTIVE AUDIENCES 23 SPREADABLE MEDIA AND QUEERING 26 MEDIA REPRESENTATION 30 RESEARCH IN QUEER REPRESENTATION IN THE MEDIA 36 QUEER TV 41 QUEERING POPULAR MEDIA 43 QUEERING PRACTICES 45 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 47 SAMPLING 48 PARTICIPANTS 53 PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION AND INTERVIEWS 54 CHOOSING PROGRAMMING 57 ANALYSIS 58 ETHICAL ISSUES 59 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES 62 CHALLENGES TO THE DATA COLLECTION 63 LIMITATIONS 64 REFLEXIVITY AND POSITIONALITY 66 INSIDER/OUTSIDER STATUS 69 NAVIGATING CLOSETS 70 CONCLUSION 73 CHAPTER FOUR: QUEERING CAREER 74 “JOURNEY INTO QUEERNESS” 75 A HARRY POTTER GENERATION 85 CONTINUING QUEERING 89 QUEERBAITING, COMPULSORY HETEROSEXUALITY, AND QUEERING 91 MESSY QUEERING CAREERS 95 CONCLUSION 96 CHAPTER FIVE: ETHICAL QUEERING 98 REPRESENTATION 102 NEGOTIATION OF QUEERING 105 “HATE SHIPPING” 107 QUEERING BOUNDARIES 109 INTERSECTIONALITY 115 CONCLUSION 120 CHAPTER SIX: QUEERING AND EMOTIONS 122 EMOTIONAL REACTIONS TO MEDIA 124 EMOTIONAL ENTRAINMENT AND GROUP QUEERING 128 PLEASURES OF QUEERING MEDIA 132 3 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 3/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs RITUALISTIC TV VIEWING 135 WHY WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT EMOTIONAL FANS 137 CONCLUSION 140 CHAPTER SEVEN: EXPANDED DIMENSIONS OF QUEERING 142 WHICH QUEERS ARE REPRESENTED? 143 FAN FICTION AND FAN ART AS EXPANDING REPRESENTATION 149 QUEERING FRIENDSHIPS 155 CONCLUSION 161 CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUSION 163 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 163 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 168 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 169 APPENDIX ONE: GLOSSARY 170 A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY 170 GLOSSARY OF QUEER IDENTITIES 170 GLOSSARY OF A FANDOM TERMINOLOGY 173 REFERENCES 175 4 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 4/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been completed without the help and guidance of several people. First my mother, who always encouraged me to explore knowledge that was interesting to me and encouraged me to always continue my education beyond standard benchmarks. A special thank you to my supervisors Mary Holmes and Nick Prior, who encouraged me to examine my thesis topic instead of my originally proposed topic because of my enthusiasm for the subject. Their help and support guided me through an oftentimes dark and lonely four-year long project that seemed impossible to nish at times. They always gave me frank feedback while encouraging me at the same time. I also received both academic and emotional support from my friends Zaic, Sophie, Marianne, and Stephanie, who always cheered me on and reminded me I could do this. I also want to thank my supportive colleagues who encouraged my adventure into a topic that can seem unconventional at best. And nally, a thank you to all of my participants who were integral to helping me carry out this study, they know who they are. 5 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 5/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs ABSTRACT Previous research and the existing literature on LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender, Queer) representation in the media has neglected to examine how LGBTQ+ audiences are actively queering media in order to ll gaps in representation and to nd relatable characters and experiences in the media they consume. While we have seen a rise in research looking at increased representation, especially on television, and the online presence of fans, including LGBTQ+ audiences and their reactions to media representation, and the results of queering media (or “messing up” media for their own purposes), we have failed to see a rise in research examining how audiences react to this lack of representation and how they come to queering. My contribution to the literature provides empirical evidence of how people are actively queering media. This study uses purposive snowball sampling to gather participants, and the combined methodologies of participant observation and in depth semi-structured interviews, which were carried out in Edinburgh, Brighton, and London from 2014 to 2016. The resulting thesis argues that LGBTQ+ audiences are queering contemporary drama to address a lack of representation and for their own personal enjoyment. We can understand their queering practises take the form of careers that progress through time, many of them reecting major life changes and life stages, starting in adolescence and discovering their sexualities and gender identities, changing as they go away to university, and then again when they start or settle into adulthood. Their queering practices are done according to personal ethical guidelines, which prohibit practices they nd taboo, but also maintaining intersectionality in representation and queering. Their practices are also emotional; allowing them to explore their identities and interpersonal relationships, as well as examine emotional events in their lives; this is not reective of the previous assumption that fans are crazed, but that they 6 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 6/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs experience a range of everyday emotions. Finally, they expand the domains of queering to expand representation beyond dyadic relationships, which dominate LGBTQ+ representation in the media, to include more romantic and sexual orientations such as aromatic, asexual, and polyamorous, as well as trans and non-binary identities. This study points to the need for continued research in this area to fully understand how and why LGBTQ+ audiences are queering media, and the need to broaden the exploration of queering outside of urban centres in the UK, and across all backgrounds and age groups. 7 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 7/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs LAY ABSTRACT The following thesis examines for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other queer minority identifying (LGBTQ+) people are changing, or queering, contemporary drama to expand upon representation. The data collection took place in Edinburgh, Brighton and London from 2014 to 2016. This involved watching television with participants and interviewing them to get their thoughts on how they manipulate contemporary drama to ll gaps in representation. This research contributes to the existing literature about the consumption and queering of contemporary drama by LGBTQ+ audiences. This thesis also points to a continuing need for further research into the ndings presented across broad demographic groups within and outwith the UK. 8 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvUYdAB5a71jCdNeMF_MFA2b0LKXLElXgL6ssUuJCoE/edit?ts=5cf47848 8/182 6/3/2019 _But They're Gay Though_ How LBGTQ+ Audiences Are Queering Contemporary Drama vFINAL - Google Docs CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION While queering media has been a passion of mine, the subject