Audience Attitudes about LGBT Representations in Spanish Cinema

Political attention towards LGBT issues in Spain has lessened in recent years because of a seeming belief that legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005 marked the end of inequality. Socially and in academia, however, much LGBT-related work continues to be done, not only at a social or political level, but also a cultural one. Many of these studies center on LGBT representations in Spanish film and television, and academics generally agree that said representations have become more mainstream and varied. Not many studies, however, look at the interaction between these representations and the audience that they are produced for. This study proposes to analyze not the evolution of LGBT representations, but how the Spanish audience consumes and understands these representations.

Looking to expand the field of audience participation and reception in Spanish film and television, this study will look at, through online surveys, audience’s reactions to recent Spanish LGBT films. The study works under the framework that A FILM is released depending on its target audience, with three types of distributing options: wide release for a general audience, limited release for a non-specialized (what can be thought of as the ‘art house’ audience), and small release for a specialized, mainly LGBT, audience (through very targeted theatre release or direct to DVD markets). The paper will discuss how these choices by the distributors correlate to the audience’s perception of the LGBT representation on Spanish films in terms of accuracy, positivity, diversity, etc.