Queer Characters in Children's Animation: The Boing Case

The main objective of this article is to understand how the LGTBQ+ collective is represented in the broadcast animation series in Spain. For that purpose, a content analysis was carried out on a sample of 169 characters, extracted from the animated series broadcast by the Boing channel during February of 2022. A chapter of each animation series broadcast was randomly selected, distributed among the team for the characters coding. The results were transcribed and analyzed through an SPSS matrix, paying special attention to the gender and sexual orientation of the characters, and providing an intersection perspective by taking into account the functional diversity features of the characters. It was found that the LGTBQ+ collective is underrepresented and, especially, the trans collective, of which no character could be found. Regarding the LGB characters, these were represented as “non-human”, finding them in feminized spaces, without maintaining stable relationships and always in the “young adult” age range. On the other hand, in the variables of narrative level, roles and personality features, the results obtained were similar to those of heterosexual characters.