A Phenomenological Study on the Reception of Philippine LGBTQ+ Audiences Towards Queerbaiting in American Television Series

Abstract

Media has played an important role in shaping opinions and biases that pertain to certain issues. With regards to the LGBTQ+ community, there is a certain need to be represented correctly in the media, to stray from stereotypes that may be harmful to how people perceive them in the real world. The accuracy in the representation of these individuals are important in order for identification to take place and self-esteem to be supported. With the rise in popularity of LGBTQ+ themes, the general public encounters these characters in the media, and in some cases may conjure up opinions that would not be based on truth but on stereotypes. Substituting actual representation for the sake of entertainment, mixing themes of untruths to reality to appeal more to their target audience. One case of misrepresentation is queerbaiting. In this study, the researchers aim to look into the perception of the Philippine LGBTQ+ community towards queerbaiting in American series. The method of gathering data is through three focus group discussions, and the response is analyzed using interpersonal deception theory and audience reception theory. The results of the study were that the community finds it tolerable and sees it as a limited kind of representation. They also see it as a marketing strategy to garner more views, but it being intentional or unintentional raised different insights. And lastly, although the community consider it as a representation, they still would’ve appreciated a sincerer and multidimensional character representation.