24. The Night House 25. Gunpowder Milkshake
Appendix D
Codebook
Level of units
Observation unit: a film character on IMDb’s “Full Cast” list [1]
Context unit: an entire film and, when necessary, available information about a character in the open sources
Steps to be taken
1. Code the films in the order they are mentioned on “Film list”
2. Open the IMDb’s “Full Cast” list of the respective film and write/type down all credited characters on it [1]
a. You can do this by searching for the film on IMDb, scrolling to the “Top Cast”
section, and clicking on it
i. If the list includes a younger/older version of the same character, skip them;
ii. If there is a narrator/announcer/etc., do not code them unless they are embodied and figure in the film themselves;
iii. If a character does not have a name and is merely described as
“Shoplifter”, memorize their looks/save their image/photo and code them;
• If there is no photo, you are allowed to search for the
actor/actress online, e.g., on Google, to see how they look like;
• If searching online does not help and you still cannot identify the character, try making sense who the character is while watching the film.
3. Read the codebook carefully.
4. Watch the film and make notes about characters while doing so
a. Sometimes, it can be hard to say if a character is queer or portrayed using a queer trope at the start of a respective film, thus you should make notes for each character on the “Full Cast” list (see explanation below).
5. Complete the Qualtrics survey once you have finished watching
a. Code characters in the order they are mentioned on the IMDb’s “Full Cast”
list,
i. When indicating a queer character’s age, indicate all periods that apply b. To see what other queer tropes, if any, are used, consult the TV Tropes website
for more explanation (the “Queer as Tropes” section should be selected) when the brief description included in the answer option does not suffice (you can also do this by clicking the URL link in this document in the “Other tropes to be coded section” [c]);
c. Note that it is not possible to go back once you have submitted your answers.
6. Repeat the steps for the next film
a. If you code several films on one day, make at least 10-15 minutes breaks between them;
b. You can, of course, take longer breaks when needed;
c. However, try watching the whole film once started, i.e., do not start coding a film if you are not sure you will be able to finish it the same day.
The Qualtrics survey
Block
Select the block
• 01 (2015-2016)
• 02 (2020-2021)
• Recode Film title
Select the title of the film
• See the full list below [a] [b]
Item ID number
Indicate the Item ID number (which is composed following the according rules):
1. The first two digits refer to the block
• If it is a recoded film, use “RE” instead of the first two digits
2. The second two digits refer to a film’s order number as noted in the Film list [a] or the Recoded films list [b]
3. The third two digits refer to the character’s order number on IMDb’s “Full Cast” list 01_05_04 Would mean that this film is from the first block, i.e., 2015-2016, would refer to the 5th film, i.e., “13 Hours”, and would be about the fourth character on the film’s IMDb’s
“Full Cast” list, i.e., Dave 'Boon' Benton.
Queer characters. Queer characters (also: LGBTQIA+ characters, non-cisnormative and/or non-heterosexual characters, and alike) are any film characters who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community [2]. They can manifest it in their speech, behaviour, appearance, etc.
1. Is this character queer? Select Yes, No, or Unclear (USE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY) a. Yes [Instructions for coders]
i. If a character says that they are:
▪ queer;
▪ LGBTQIA+;
▪ doubting their cisgender or heterosexuality/not cisgender or heterosexual;
▪ interested in the same sex and/or gender and alike.
ii. If a character is:
▪ visible in a romantic or erotic relationship with a character of the same sex/gender;
▪ flirting/kissing with a character of the same sex/gender;
▪ somehow expressing their belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community and alike.
Code as Yes.
i. If a character exhibits:
▪ a kind of behaviour that would be conventionally viewed as queer, also:
gay, non-cisnormative, etc.;
▪ cisgender- and/or heterosexuality-incongruent behaviour, e.g., a male character wearing makeup or a skirt/dress.
Pay attention to what they are saying or doing about their gender and/or sexuality.
In case you are not sure if a character is queer because, e.g., they do not mention it
themselves, but they MAY be queer, use the plot and/or storyline’s context to make sense and come up with a decision.
• Only when the above does not help: use open-source information, e.g., Google, to learn if the character is queer.
b. No
i. There are no reasons to believe that a character is queer.
c. Unclear
i. You think that the character may be queer but in the film itself and in the open sources it is not clear.
1. Is this potential queer character portrayed using any of these queer tropes? Select all that apply
a. Ambiguous Gender Identity: Are they trans, nonbinary, genderfluid, intersexed or just a crossdresser? Who knows.
b. Ambiguously Bi: A character may seem bi, but no one knows for sure.
c. Ambiguously Gay: A character may seem gay/lesbian, but no one knows for sure.
d. Hide Your Lesbians: Homosexual relationships/people hidden under a veil of subtext.
e. Homoerotic Subtext: Gay subtext without either character being gay.
f. Situational Sexuality: Characters engage in same-sex relationships for a lack of opposite sex characters to do so with.
g. Rainbow Lens: A character has a queerness-unrelated trait that can be interpreted as a metaphor for queerness.
h. Faux Yay: An extended ruse where characters pretend to be gay.
i. Sorry, I'm Gay: A character says they are gay to counter a seduction-in-process, regardless of whether or not it's true.
Demographics
If the character is/may be queer, indicate the demographics:
Gender
1. What is the character’s gender? Select one (USE “UNSURE” ONLY WHEN NECESSARY)
a. Cisgender male b. Cisgender female c. Transgender male d. Transgender female e. Transsexual male f. Transsexual female g. Non-binary
h. Gender fluid i. Intersex j. Other k. Unsure Sexuality
2. What is the character’s sexuality? Select one (USE “UNSURE” ONLY WHEN NECESSARY)
a. Heterosexual b. Homosexual (gay) c. Homosexual (lesbian) d. Bisexual
e. Asexual f. Pansexual g. Fluid h. Other i. Unsure
Period of life
3. What is the character’s period of life? Select all that apply (USE “UNSURE” ONLY WHEN NECESSARY)
a. Infancy & toddlerhood b. Childhood
c. Adolescence
d. Young/Early adulthood e. Middle adulthood f. Old/Late adulthood g. Unsure
Race/ethnicity
4. What is the character’s race/ethnicity? Select one (USE “UNSURE” ONLY WHEN NECESSARY)
a. Caucasian/White b. Hispanic/Latino c. African/Black d. Asian
e. MENA (Middle Eastern & North African)
f. Indigenous (like American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, etc.) g. Mixed
h. Other i. Unsure
Queer tropes. Largely, queer tropes refer to the widely used, often stereotypical and/or one-sided portrayals of queer characters in entertainment media. Such representations as promiscuous bi- or pansexuals, gay best friends, and masculine lesbians/feminine gays are,
perhaps, somewhat popular examples of queer tropes. Although sometimes obvious and apparent, queer tropes can still be hidden in the plots and/or storylines and sometimes are hard to discern.
1. Is this queer character portrayed using a queer trope? Select Yes or No a. Yes
b. No
2. Is this queer character portrayed using the “Gay Best Friend” trope? (See explanations of tropes below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
3. Is this queer character portrayed using the “Butch Lesbian/Camp Gay” trope? (See explanation below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
4. Is this queer character using the “But Not Too Gay” trope? (See explanation below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
5. Is this queer character using the “No Bi-/ Poly-/Pansexuals” trope? (See explanation below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
6. Is this queer character using the “Bi-/ Poly-/Pansexual Love Triangle” trope? (See explanation below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes
b. No
7. Is this queer character using the “Hooker-transgender” trope? (See explanation below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
8. Is this queer character using the “Trans Tribulations” trope? (See explanation below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
9. Is this queer character using the “Sissy Villain” trope? (See explanation below) Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
10. Is this queer character using the “Bury Your Gays” trope? (See explanation below) 11. Select either Yes or No
a. Yes b. No
12. Is this queer character using the “Asexuality Does Not Exist/Is A Deviation” trope?
(See explanation below) Select either Yes or No a. Yes
b. No
13. Is this queer character portrayed using another queer trope? Select all that apply (SEE THE FULL LIST ATTACHED BELOW[c])
a. Yes b. No
c. Unsure [Instructions for coders]
Find a list of specific queer tropes of interest and their explanations below:
1. Gay Best Friend: He is kind. He is understanding. He is always there to provide a shoulder for his (girl)friend(s) to cry on. He is the best you could have, but he is also gay. This portrayal shows gay men as a supplement to his best friends – girlfriends – who often complain to him about their romantic/erotic relationships when problems arise, e.g., George in My Best Friend’s Wedding (Hogan, 1997).
2. Butch Lesbian/Camp Gay: Very often gay men and lesbian women are portrayed as possessive of qualities conventionally associated with the opposing gender. If that is a gay man, he can be shown to be soft, effeminate, and/or flamboyant, whereas for lesbian women this means being portrayed as masculine, e.g., assertive, strong, confident, etc. Examples of these are very widespread; several of them are Big Boo from Orange Is The New Black (Kohan, 2013-2019) and Jack from Will & Grace (Kohan & Mutchnick, 1998-2020).
3. But Not Too Gay: Let them be gay but not too much. Gay/lesbian romantic/erotic affection is not shown on screen not to scare off heterosexual audiences. As such, non- heterosexualities can be depicted as long as they do not disrupt heteronormative standards of affective expression, such as kissing, having sex, etc., thus sanitizing queer sexualities. An example of this can be depiction of Harry in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Parker, 2018) who appears with his boyfriend at the end of the film without expressing their affinity in any way.
4. No Bi-/Poly-/Pansexuals: You cannot like more than one sex/gender. Bisexuality erasure is, perhaps, one of the most common trope in entertainment media. If other sexualities are portrayed, better or worse, bisexuality very often is unvoiced. If a
character is bisexual, they do not say it, e.g., like Piper in Orange Is The New Black (Kohan, 2013-2019) or Frank in House of Cards (Willimon, 2013-2018).
5. Bi-/Poly-/Pansexual Love Triangle: Switching between homo- and heterosexuality, a bi-/poly-/pansexual character cannot make up their mind as to what they want in their romantic and/or erotic relationships. Is often used to show that bi-/poly-/pansexual characters cannot be trusted, sometimes spilling over to stereotypes about
promiscuous bi-/poly-/pansexual who are not satisfied with only one sexual partner, and/or are confused as to which partner they wish to be with, thus exemplifying bi-/poly-/pansexuality’s inconstancy. An example of this can be considered Piper from Orange Is The New Black (Kohan, 2013-2019) who used to date a lesbian Alex, then left her and got engaged with a male heterosexual Larry, but, once in prison, started an affair with Alex again.
6. Hooker-transgender: She has a golden heart but since society does not accept trans people, she must earn money by “selling herself” to men that would never understand and appreciate her for who she really is. Mostly, transwomen are portrayed in such roles. This representation shows trans people as sex workers and, considering its prevalence, such portrayal takes away from other trans people’s representations, even though sex workers deserve their representation as anyone else does. An example of transwomen being portrayed as sex workers is the film Tangerine (Baker, 2015) where two main characters are trans sex workers walking a hard path of life.
7. Trans Tribulations: There is no way a trans character does not experience hardship because they are transgender. Although a lot of trans people do struggle with (some parts of) their lives, this trope regards these struggles to be insurmountable, thus leaving trans characters with the fate of a victim, poor thing, gender martyr, etc. Other tropes, such as Trans Relationship Troubles (struggling in one’s love life because they
are trans), can be a part of Trans Tribulations as it exemplifies one area of assumed troubles connected to being a trans person. An example of this can be considered Sophia from Orange Is The New Black (Kohan, 2013-2019) whose wife finds a man while Sophia is in prison.
8. Sissy Villain: Is he male? Is he feminine? Then he must be evil too. This kind of reasoning portrays a feminine male as a villain because he transgresses and disrupts the gender norms, thus, cannot be trusted. This trope is very often used in animation when children are shown and accustomed to gender-transgressive behaviour as mischievous and villainous, e.g., Scar from The Lion King (Allers & Minkoff, 1994) or Ursula from The Little Mermaid (Clements & Musker, 1989) who was inspired by a drag queen. Despite its prevalence in cartoons, this trope can also be used in other film genres.
9. Bury Your Gays: If they are queer, especially, if they are lesbian or female bisexual, an unfortunate fate, such as a violent and an early death, can visit them. Being a way to showcase that non-heterosexuality and/or non-cisgender identity is not compatible with life as it cannot reproduce, this trope erases queer characters, more so, women, from entertainment media. The reason why mostly lesbian and bisexual women are affected in such scenarios is because often this trope involves a violent death that societal norms tend to associate with women more as men are imagined to be able to defend themselves against violence better than women. An example of this trope is the death of an inmate Poussey in Orange Is The New Black (Kohan, 2013-2019).
10. Asexuality Does Not Exist/Is A Deviation: Even homo-/bi-/poly-/pansexuality is not such a problem as asexuality is. One cannot simply be asexual and, if they are, there must be something wrong with them. Very often rooted in the need for reproduction, asexuality is considered to be non-existent as, otherwise, the humanity would die out.
Very rarely, it can be seen in people, however, that indicates an illness, a deviation from the norm as all humans by default experience sexual desire. It is probably easier to name instances when asexuality, if at all, was not portrayed as a disease or
deviation, but one of the examples of asexuality being considered abnormal is in House M.D. (although non-asexual characters voice that; Shore, 2004-2012).
If a respective queer character is portrayed in either of those ways or any other tropes, code as Yes.
Comments
[1] A film character that has to be coded is a credited character who is included on the IMDb’s
“Full Cast” list. Coding these allows investigating characters who appear more frequently on- screen, thus have a higher chance of influencing viewers’ opinions, attitudes, and behaviours.
Uncredited characters or characters not included on the IMDb’s “Full Cast” list should not be coded. Note: if a character does not appear themselves, e.g., they went missing and other characters are searching for them, but they are on the list, they should be coded.
[2] Here “the LGBTQIA+ community” does not only relate to a political/human rights association and/or alliance of people but, primarily, to someone’s sexuality and/or gender identity. E.g., if someone says that they are gay but do not view themselves as a part of the LGBTQIA+ community because they disagree with some items on this community’s agenda, e.g., same-sex marriage, in this study you should still code them as queer.
[a] Film list
2015-2016
1. X-Men: Apocalypse
2. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
3. The 5th Wave
4. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation 5. 13 Hours
6. Warcraft
7. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 8. Hail, Caesar!
9. Deadpool
10. Bone Tomahawk
11. Independence Day: Resurgence 12. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find
Them
13. Fast & Furious 7 14. Doctor Strange 15. Me Before You 16. Crimson Peak 17. Cinderella
18. The Huntsman: Winter's War 19. The Revenant
20. Descendants
21. The Edge of Seventeen 22. Jason Bourne
23. Manchester by the Sea 24. Mad Max: Fury Road 25. Moana
2020-2021
1. Antlers
2. Being the Ricardos 3. Army of the Dead 4. The Protégé
5. Sonic the Hedgehog 6. Raya and the Last Dragon 7. The Tomorrow War
8. Greenland
9. tick, tick...BOOM!
10. Tenet
11. Don't Look Up 12. The Tender Bar 13. Luca
14. Black Widow
15. Hamilton
16. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
17. Fantasy Island
18. The Eyes of Tammy Faye
19. The Voyeurs 20. Nightmare Alley 21. The Guilty