Successful Minority Representations on TV Count: A Quantitative Content Analysis Approach

Figures & data

Table 1. Percent agreement in coding for two independent coders and the number of analyzed scenes.

Main codes and subcodes	%Agreement	Number of analyzed scenes
Representation of minority experience
Challenges to heteronormativity	100.0%	22
Romantic situations	100.0%	22
Self-acceptance as a gay	100.0%	22
Coming out	100.0%	22
Challenges to social integration due to being gay	90.9%	22
Black cultural heritage	96.9%	32
Challenges to social integration due to being Black	96.9%	32
Representation of characters as recognizable	86.8%	38
Attractive/Unattractive representation
Smart/stupid	81.6%	38
Successful/unsuccessful (struggling)	76.3%	38
Funny/serious (stern)	76.3%	38
Admired/unpopular	86.8%	38
Friendly/mean	71.1%	38
Resilient/defeated	81.6%	38
Representation of psychological depth
Character’s struggle	89.5%	38
Character’s past	100.0%	38
Growth based on past events	92.1%	38
Stereotypical representation
Victim of oppression due to sexuality	90.9%	22
Effeminate	77.3%	22
Violent	100.0%	32
Emotional detachment	100.0%	32
Hyper-sexualization	96.9%	32
Representation of interactions with majority members
Friendly interactions	97.4%	38
Unfriendly interactions	97.4%	38

Table 2. The number of instances each code has occurred in scenes showing different characters and the percentage of all the scenes with a given character where each code has occurred.

	Eric (111 scenes in total)		Adam (66 scenes in total)		Jackson (81 scenes in total)
	No of scenes	% of scenes	No of scenes	% of scenes	No of scenes	% of scenes
Representation of minority experiences
Challenges to heteronormativity	47	42.3%	0	0.0%	-	-
Romantic situations	5	4.5%	2	3.0%	-	-
Self-acceptance as a gay	6	5.4%	0	0.0%	-	-
Coming out	1	0.9%	0	0.0%	-	-
Challenges to social integration due to  being gay	26	23.4%	0	0.0%	-	-
Black cultural heritage	14	12.6%	-	-	0	0.0%
Challenges to social integration due to  being Black	5	4.5%	-	-	0	0.0%
Representation of characters as recognizable	75	67.6%	36	54.5%	75	92.6%
Attractive representation
Smart	6	5.4%	0	0.0%	4	4.9%
Successful	4	3.6%	5	7.6%	28	34.6%
Funny	15	13.5%	1	1.5%	4	4.9%
Admired	1	0.9%	4	6.1%	12	14.8%
Friendly	44	39.6%	1	1.5%	24	29.6%
Resilient	21	18.9%	1	1.5%	5	6.2%
Unattractive representation
Stupid	2	1.8%	14	21.2%	0	0.0%
Unsuccessful (struggling)	26	23.4%	27	40.9%	7	8.6%
Serious (stern)	0	0.0%	2	3.0%	1	1.2%
Unpopular	15	13.5%	8	12.1%	0	0.0%
Mean	2	1.8%	21	31.8%	0	0.0%
Defeated	2	1.8%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
Representation of psychological depth
Character’s struggle	24	21.6%	17	25.8%	13	16.0%
Character’s past	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
Growth based on past events	5	4.5%	2	3.0%	5	6.2%
Stereotypical representation
Victim of oppression due to sexuality	15	13.5%	0	0.0%	-	-
Effeminate	52	46.8%	0	0.0%	-	-
Violent	3	2.7%	-	-	0	0.0%
Emotional detachment	0	0.0%	-	-	1	1.2%
Hyper-sexualization	4	3.6%	-	-	0	0.0%
Representation of interactions with majority members
Friendly interactions	63	56.8%	14	21.2%	54	66.7%
Unfriendly interactions	23	20.7%	12	18.2%	0	0.0%