Representation is an ever-increasing area of inquiry and research within popular culture studies. For the LGBT community representation is increasingly important in the face of hostile climates and closeted depictions. While LGBT representation on television has improved over past years numerous problems still plague depictions of queer characters. For instance, the Bury your Gays trope continues to systematically kill LGBT characters as they reach their happy endings. Additionally, the practice of queerbaiting in television narratives draws LGBT audiences in with the hopeful premise of representation. Queerbaiting as a practice involves reading a character as a member of the LGBT community, only to then have the television narrative set said character into a heteronormative relationship and identity. This practice effectively “baits” LGBT audiences into watching a show with the hope of representation as part of the narrative. Show-runners and writers then often erase that hope and representation by stating explicitly that these characters who were thought to be queer to instead be straight. This paper will define the practice of queerbaiting and explore the effects that the practice has on LGBT fandoms. Furthermore, it will offer contemporary television shows as a case study to explore the practice and provide possible solutions for show-runners in combating the practice.
About the presenterCody Allyn Page
Cody holds a PhD in Theatre and a certificate in Performance Studies from Bowling Green State University. He is an adjunct professor at Penn State Harrisburg, where he teaches Effective Speech. Cody is a director, dramaturge, and intimacy choreographer. His research interests include queer theatre, queer representation in popular culture, and theatre for social change. Cody received his MA in Educational Theatre from NYU and a Bachelors from the Pennsylvania State University.