Entre prized content et lesbian multicasting : étude comparative entre la saison 1 et la saison 2 de la série web québécoise Féminin/Féminin

Abstract

This article seeks to place the Féminin/Féminin web series (Chloé Robichaud, 2014 and 2018) within the Quebec media ecosystem and to think, through this case study, of the potential of the web as a platform for the dissemination of queer serial fiction written, directed, and produced by women in Quebec. This study examines more specifically the formal and discursive implications in Robichaud’s work between a first season that was produced for the independent community website Lez Spread the Word (LSTW) and a second season that was broadcast on the largest digital broadcasting platform in Quebec – Tou.tv. The visibility of a multiplicity of queer subjectivities certainly made history in Quebec television. However, by paying particular attention to the production budgets of seasons 1 and 2 as well as to their distribution space and by carrying out a comparative analysis of the narrative structures and images of lesbian characters in seasons 1 and 2 through the lens of the Queer Art of Failure (Halberstam), this article gives a better understanding of the programming of this series as “prized content” (Lotz) for season 1 and as “lesbian multicasting” (Himberg) for season 2. The study of this first queer Quebec television fiction makes an inventory of the post-network era in Quebec possible. This era, through its explosion of audiences, would promise more diverse and inclusive television for marginalized identities.