Ticking off the (pink) diversity box? Production views on LGBT+ in children’s fiction

Abstract

This article provides insight on the perceived importance Flemish producers attach to including sexual and gender diversity in their productions targeting children. Drawing on the frameworks of the ‘production ecology’, ‘cultures of production’ and ‘queer production studies’, this article considers the different internal and external influences that might impact why and how producers depict these LGBT+ narratives. Through qualitative in-depth interviews with different involved parties of these production processes, this article first and foremost demonstrates a unanimous, strong advocacy for diversified representations by all the participants. The formative role of television in informing and evoking empathy among children, as well as parents as an implicit secondary audience, are primary objectives when creating these narratives. However, the approach to this didactic premise differs for the public broadcaster compared with the commercial channels and is further nuanced in relation to the perceived cognitive abilities of children as an audience. In particular, sexual diversity is approached differently compared with non-normative gender expressions (e.g. transgender characters), the latter being perceived as (too) complex within a child’s frame of reference. The current production ecology has thus facilitated the recurrence of certain storylines and characters, while others remain underrepresented.