DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3832258
title: Movies with mention to LGBTQ+ on plot-keywords [1909-2019]

description: IMDb was the only source from which data was extracted. The sample was constructed using the tool search engines, filtering “feature films” (over 45 min of lentgh), excluding “adult titles” and excluding “released”. In order to obtain a comprehensive length of time, all productions from 1895 to December 2019 were included according to a search carried out in March 2020. To collect only those films that could have detailed information, the number of items was limited to those with over 50 user ratings (N = 119809) as a way of minimally controlling the popularity of the published work.


In the resulting sample (N = 1768), the presence of descriptors in the field “plot” was coded, designating different terms related to the LGBTQ+ community. Those included the following terms and their variants with similar etymology: homosexual (homo/homosexuality), gay, lesbian, trans (transsexual, transgender) and queer. After adding those productions that had a descriptor term from this list in the keywords field, the total of the items corresponding to these categories was 9409 films. This decision responds to the need to reflect in the sample films in which there is representation of the group, but it is not necessarily part of the plot or is revealed through the course of it. It is also supported by the documentary tradition, according to which keywords tend to overlap with the plot or summary (La Barre & de Novais Cordeiro, 2012, p. 241). 


The following information was extracted from each item (movie):


•     Production by country and production by language in each year. In co-productions, only the first producing country was considered and the other countries discarded.


•     Identity of the group (gay, lesbian, trans, etc.) as per the plot keywords. Several identities and expressions such as transsexuality and transgender have been included under the label “trans” as it was impossible to recognize the correct expression from the labels provided by IMDb.


•     Cinema genres. Using the first two descriptors, a list of genre pairs was created, which were later grouped into 13 generic categories, as per the formal qualities of the theme: Drama (any combinations of the drama category that were not included in other categories), Comedy (combinations including comedy that were not considered in other categories), Action/Adventure, Melodrama (Drama + Comedy), Horror, Crime (including thrillers), Fantasy (including Science Fiction), Biography (in both fictional and documentary forms), Documentary (excluding biographies and fake documentaries but including News), Romantic Comedy (Romance + Comedy), Animation (excluding documentary formats) and Music/Musical feature films.


•     Age ratings. Parental Advisory guidelines have changed significantly over the decades, from the first classifications in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States to today. In order to establish a suitable comparison, the descriptor provided by IMDb, which is usually established by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), was used. When this was omitted, the descriptor used was determined as per the recommended age: Universal, Parental Guidance (PG), 12-13, 14-16, 17-18, as well as X and banned, according to the historical equivalence as provided by IMDd (2020).


Data was pooled to consider evolution by historical periods and trends in a single group or correlational ex post facto design. Subsequently, the data was analyzed with the statistical package SPSS v.26. To visualize the main trends from the data, Tableau 2020 software was used.