“And now you’re a boy.” “I am today.” An analysis about representability exploring unconfirmed non-binary gender identities in films and TV shows
(2025) GNVK22 20251Department of Gender Studies
- Abstract
- Non-binary character appearances have grown in the film and TV show industry, slowly
turning its absent history into intelligible or unintelligible visibility. This qualitative research study analyzes non-binary representability in Nimona (2023) and The Umbrella Academy (2019-2024), which involves unclear and unconfirmed character identification spread by the mass media. This form of “queer-coded” representation has surfaced more in fiction, leaving identity interpretation up to the audience and the question of representability even more relevant. With the use of Queer Media and Gender Studies, this research applies multimodal critical discourse analysis on the material, with specification on dialogue and semiotics, split into the... (More) - Non-binary character appearances have grown in the film and TV show industry, slowly
turning its absent history into intelligible or unintelligible visibility. This qualitative research study analyzes non-binary representability in Nimona (2023) and The Umbrella Academy (2019-2024), which involves unclear and unconfirmed character identification spread by the mass media. This form of “queer-coded” representation has surfaced more in fiction, leaving identity interpretation up to the audience and the question of representability even more relevant. With the use of Queer Media and Gender Studies, this research applies multimodal critical discourse analysis on the material, with specification on dialogue and semiotics, split into the analysis categories embodiment, action, and lastly, emotions and narrative. Results showcase that the two fictional materials have different levels of non-binary representability,
as Nimona displays a more readable representation of the non-binary gender identity
compared to The Umbrella Academy’ s representation. This begs the question of how proper
non-binary representation should appear in fictional media, as non-binary gender identity does not consist of one particular expression and experience. Thus, the outcome of this research discusses representability’s need to find a balance within readability for audiences with genderqueer and cisgender perspectives. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9206067
- author
- Hellberg, Gabriella LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- GNVK22 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Non-binary, Film/Tv show, Cisnormativity, Representability
- language
- English
- id
- 9206067
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-30 10:34:37
- date last changed
- 2025-06-30 10:34:37
@misc{9206067, abstract = {{Non-binary character appearances have grown in the film and TV show industry, slowly turning its absent history into intelligible or unintelligible visibility. This qualitative research study analyzes non-binary representability in Nimona (2023) and The Umbrella Academy (2019-2024), which involves unclear and unconfirmed character identification spread by the mass media. This form of “queer-coded” representation has surfaced more in fiction, leaving identity interpretation up to the audience and the question of representability even more relevant. With the use of Queer Media and Gender Studies, this research applies multimodal critical discourse analysis on the material, with specification on dialogue and semiotics, split into the analysis categories embodiment, action, and lastly, emotions and narrative. Results showcase that the two fictional materials have different levels of non-binary representability, as Nimona displays a more readable representation of the non-binary gender identity compared to The Umbrella Academy’ s representation. This begs the question of how proper non-binary representation should appear in fictional media, as non-binary gender identity does not consist of one particular expression and experience. Thus, the outcome of this research discusses representability’s need to find a balance within readability for audiences with genderqueer and cisgender perspectives.}}, author = {{Hellberg, Gabriella}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{“And now you’re a boy.” “I am today.” An analysis about representability exploring unconfirmed non-binary gender identities in films and TV shows}}, year = {{2025}}, }