Queer world-making in the welfare state: a reception study of the role of audiovisual media in queer counterpublics in Sweden, 1944-1989

The purpose of this three-year project is to produce new knowledge about the role of film and television in the formation of queer counter publics in Sweden, 1944-89. During this period, LGBTQI subcultures proliferated and moved above ground. Queer counter publics emerged as arenas for challenging heteronormative notions of gender and sexuality.

At the same time, LGBTQI characters and tropes became more recognizable and visible in films such as Hets (Sjöberg, 1944) and Tabu (Sjöman, 1977), and out activists were increasingly seen and heard on television. How did LGBTQI audiences make sense of such moving images? How did expanding audiovisual visibility influence burgeoning queer activism, communities and identities?

Combining analysis of media texts and archival sources with interviews, this reception study empirically examines how film and television were received by self-identified LGBTQI viewers, what kind of film and television cultures took shape around these representations and which understandings of sexuality and gender they contributed to articulating.

The implementation is guided by the project’s aim to offer insights into how moving image cultures have formed part of shaping discourses, practices and subjectivities in Swedish LGBTQI history and the research is designed around these three interrelated themes.

Through its original focus and innovative approach, the project will provide profound new insights into Swedish film and television as well as LGBTQI history.