Resumo

Queerbaiting is a topic that has become recurrent in contemporary discussions concerning Hollywood’s treatment of on-screen queer representation. Adopted by fan communities online to describe the phenomenon of baiting queer audiences with the promise of queer content, namely with queer subtext in film and television, it has not been sufficiently explored within an academic framework. This study revises literature done on Queerbaiting so far, updating it by proposing a structured approach to the different layers that compose this phenomenon - text, audiences, and authorship. By placing Queerbaiting within its historical context, its deep-seated roots in Hollywood become clear, as well as the way it has conditioned queer audiences through time. Furthermore, Queerbaiting’s most problematic aspect - establishing authorial intent - is dissected to find one possible solution, based on a moderate intentionalist framework.