Representation of Gender and Sexuality: A Comparative Study of Indian Web Series and American Television Series

Gender and Sexuality have always been in intersections. It is nearly impossible to separately analyse both the terms. Films have been front runners in developing strong narratives, whether it has been the biased portrayal of women or the leading narratives related to heteronormativity. But in the changing time, there have been so many films that have been challenging this idea of gender binary. These include - Page 3 (2005), Dostana (2008), The Crowning Wish (2012), Aligarh (2015), My Son is Gay(2017), Subh Mangal Jyada Savdhan (2020), Badhaai Do (2022) etc. There have been characters in the Indian and the American Web Series, who contest this idea of distinction & differentiation. These web series are - Mismatched (2020), Tujhpe Main Fida (2024), Shadow hunters (2016), Shadow and Bone (2021), Dead Boy Detectives (2024) etc. The paper will try to deconstruct the gendered norms constructed in the society with the help of characters and their representations. It will use Judith Butler theory of 'Gender Performativity' and Gayle S. Rubin theory of 'Sexuality' as a theoretical framework to address the issue. The primary source to understand the phenomenon will be web series, which include- 'Mismatched' (web series from Indian context) and 'Dead Boy Detectives' (television series from American context.)

Keywords: Gender, Sexuality, Web Series, Heteronormativity and Societal Construct