Latin TV and cinema make progress in making LGBT visible, but with lags | WORLD

The debt that the Latin American media owes to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) community is undeniable, although in recent years there have been more creatives and stories on screen that reflect this group.

The conclusion reached by David Pablos, director of “El baile de los 41” (2020) and José Ignacio “Chascas” Valenzuela, creator of “Who killed Sara?” (2021) is the same: there is a significant advance in audiovisual media and a greater diffusion of LGBT productions thanks to streaming platforms, but there is still much more to do.

“We are still underrepresented, but the progress is enormous, there is no soap opera today that does not have a gay partner, that was unthinkable five years earlier. The great successes have been of young gay and lesbian couples. I’m sure this conversation in five years is going to seem archaic, ”says Valenzuela.

The series of Writer Chilean has become the most successful Latin Netflix production in the world and it has been the love of its characters Lorenzo and Chema that have received the most positive impacts.

Similar examples were the television phenomenon of the “Aristemo” and the “Juliantinas”, two couples of gays and lesbians who, when shown on open television as secondary characters in different soap operas, stole all the viewers’ attention, thus overshadowing the story. central.

Lack of equity

But even when these examples exist, underrepresentation persists within the same community, as most of the characters are gay men, while there are still more stories with lesbians or trans people.

“By including performance as an important element of entertainment, we empower many people to exist. Seeing trans people exist in the world was essential for me to be able to identify myself. I am proud to be part of that example for others with my work, ”said Brazilian creator Alice Marcone.

The writer and actress is responsible for successful series that promote the work of trans women such as “Born to be fashion” (2020) and “De volta aos 15” soon to be released.

Like Marcone and Valenzuela, David Pablos is a director of the LGBT community who has also worked to show a more honest face of homosexuality on the big screen, although the path has not been easy.

“The financing difficulties of the film ‘El baile de los 41’ opened my eyes and made me realize that one lives in a bubble. That situation makes it clear to me what is the reality we live in. I hope my film opens a gap for these stories, “he said.

Achieve full inclusion

“Responsible and correct media coverage is the most important thing you can have as a culture,” Mónica Trascendes, the director of Spanish media for GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation), pointed out to Efe.

Since the “AIDS crisis” in the 1980s, the LGBT activism organization Trascendes works for has been in charge of supporting media and to audiovisual creators from various countries in the world to make more dignified and just speeches about a community that has often been offended, caricatured and violated through fictions.

Creation of stereotypes, ridicule of the characters and the invisibility of the members of the community have been some of the problems they have faced and that have contributed erroneous discourses before a society from which they were also marginalized.

“The media reflect the culture and when they are inclusive they help people to open up more. More and more people dare to say their sexual identity and speak of their reality. When this is combined with inclusive media, it helps to increase acceptance, ”says Trascendes.

This is demonstrated by a survey conducted by GLAAD and Netflix to 6,000 people in Latin America in 2020, which showed that 70% of viewers of series such as “Elite” (2018) or “Sex Education” (2019), found in these an opportunity to increase their understanding of the LGBT community.

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