Reception through queer media: Examining Netflix television contents as a queer television study

Although queer representations in Western television fiction have shown certain developments until today, they have been presented in a problematic framework for many years. Following the change in representational forms in the 1990s, media researchers began to diversify their approaches to explore more comprehensive and visible representations of queer. Queer theory, which is an approach against hegemonic norms and biological essentialism and questions the idea of fixed identity, offered a new and efficient perspective to examine these representations. Thus, queer television studies, which examine queer appearance on television from a broad perspective, gained momentum. The fact that the television industry, institutions and audience practices are in a transformation process in today, directly affects the portrayal of queer narratives and characters on screen. In particular, the production of innovative television content by online streaming services on gender/sexuality-based topics expands the fields of expression and possibilities for queer. The fact that Netflix, with the largest users, is the streaming organization that provides the most space for queer visibility in television content, makes it important to examine the meanings of the contents for the audience. This study is designed as an audience study aiming to reveal how Netflix's queer television contents are received by the audience. In this direction, 14 different types of television content from Netflix originals were selected and in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants (including heterosexual and queer individuals). The data were analyzed by qualitative data analysis and the reception practices of the participants were evaluated under various headings. As a result, the participants stated that a great improvement has been made for the future of queer by finding the queer narratives and characters in Netflix content innovative/progressive and Netflix has approached queer visibility in an affirmative framework. Keywords: Queer, Queer Television, Visibility, Representation, Reception, Netflix