Acknowledging/denying LGBT+ difference: Understanding homonormativity and LGBT+ homogeneity in Flemish TV fiction through production research

Abstract

Premised on the lack of in-depth engagements with television professionals’ views as a unit of analysis in queer television studies, this essay presents the results of expert interviews with seven respondents employed in the Flemish television industry. Television professionals consider it commonsensical and even necessary to textually reflect sexual and gender diversity as a component to socio-cultural verisimilitude. On the other hand, they rely on a homonormative conception of LGBT+ representation that emphasizes assimilation and conformity. Closer analysis reveals that this strategy is informed by unwillingness to engage in stereotyping. Accordingly, the noted homonormativity of Flemish television fiction is a product of benevolence and paradoxical dispositions towards televising difference on the level of production. Consequently, the paper calls for scholars to engage with the industry as a supplement to critical textual explorations of LGBT+ portrayals on television.