STREAMING CINEMA
Men on the Verge
Can four middle age buddies drink their way to liberation?
BY STEVE ERICKSON
“Another Round”
is likely to get as
much exposure
as a subtitled fi lm
can right now. It benefi ts from the
fact that it stars Mads Mikkelsen,
even if his role here as Danish high
school teacher Martin is far from a
serial killer in Armani suits or his
other villainous turns in Englishlanguage
movies and TV.
The fi lm, directed by Thomas
Vinterberg, has a catchy concept:
four teachers, all middle-aged
male friends, learn about scientist
Finn Skarderud’s study suggesting
that humans have a blood
alcohol defi ciency of 0.5 percent
and would benefi t from constant
but moderate drinking. The men
go about experimenting on themselves
in a way that initially enhances
their lives but leads to
Strong LGBTQ Visibility on TV in 2019
Queer folks gain as women, racial minorities lag behind
BY MATT TRACY
The percentage of LGBTQ
people on TV last
year outnumbered
the estimated share of
queer people in the US population,
though other diversity benchmarks
— including race and gender — did
not necessarily refl ect the makeup
of American society, according to
Nielsen’s 2019 inclusion report.
The report examined only the
demographics of the individuals
appearing on screen and did not
measure the sexual orientation or
gender identity of the characters
they portrayed — as some other
reports do — and while LGBTQ
individuals enjoyed higher visibility
on American screens, women
and people of color were underrepresented.
There were signifi cant
variations within the intersections
Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” which becomes available on VOD on December
18.
days and nights in a stupor.
The emphasis on male friendship
suggests fi lms about young men
Robin Roberts, an anchor on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” is among the most prominent out LGBTQ
faces on television.
of gender, race, age, and LGBTQ
identity depending on viewing platforms,
genres, and other factors.
HENRIK OHSTEN
like “Diner” pushed further into the
future. The fi lm is built around several
set pieces, some exhilarating.
REUTERS/ LUCY NICHOLSON
Nielsen’s report follows an analysis
published by GLAAD earlier
this year that found racial and
But in the fi rst and saddest, during
Nikolaj’s (Magnus Millang) 40th
birthday party Martin speaks at
length about his disappointments
and the failure of his marriage At
least 10 years older than Nikolaj,
he feels he should’ve achieved more
than his life as a teacher.
While “Another Round” could get
an American remake, that version
is bound to be far more moralistic.
Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm’s
script refrains from putting
a name on the characters’ actions.
The word “alcoholism” is only occasionally
mentioned. It refl ects
a much different culture, where
Danish teens can legally drink at
16 and one of Martin’s students
casually admits in class that he
consumes 55 units of alcohol each
week. If AA exists in Denmark, it’s
never brought up in the fi lm. Its
➤ ANOTHER ROUND, continued on p.24
TELEVISION
gender diversity among LGBTQ
characters in Hollywood regressed
in 2019.
Queer representation was especially
robust in the top 300 programs
across broadcast, cable,
and subscription video on demand
(SVOD), which encompasses
streaming services requiring a
monthly subscription. Twenty-six
percent of those top 300 programs
featured cast members self-identifying
as LGBTQ. Queer representation
was greatest on SVOD,
followed in order by cable and
broadcast, suggesting that LGBTQ
folks fared best when programs
were narrowcasting in the audience
they were targeting.
Some differences were also seen
across genres. Representation for
queer women was best in the area
➤ NIELSEN, continued on p.24
GayCityNews.com | December 17 - December 30, 2020 23
/GayCityNews.com
