Screaming at the Television: How Pose Fans Interrogate Cross-Gender Relationships Between Transgender-Cisgender Couples Through Networked Counterpublics

Abstract

This paper analyzes the romantic story arc between a cisgender heterosexual man (Stan) and a transgender woman (Angel) in the first season of Ryan Murphy’s groundbreaking television series, Pose (2018-2020). It also explores how fans have responded to its portrayal of a cross-gender relationship. I provide a descriptive summary of the #StanGel arc and conduct a discourse analysis within threads of the subreddit r/PoseFX on Reddit. In juxtaposition to Microsoft researcher danah boyd’s networked publics and Sarah Jackson, Moya Bailey, and Brooke Foucault Welles’ understanding of counterpublics, my discourse analysis of selected threads make three key findings: (1) new media can complement traditional media by extending the discussion beyond the screen and to a shared space; (2) LGBTQ+ fans want to see accurate portrayals of their experiences, especially its more lighthearted aspects; and (3) queer-dominated online communities like r/PoseFX serve as networked counterpublics that challenge the dominant cis-heterocentric narrative and ideologies of the mainstream society. This paper aims to contribute to both Media Studies and Queer Studies, with a greater aim of acknowledging the scarcity in academic literature on transgender representation in popular media, particularly cross-gender relationships between transgender women and cisgender men.