How are the immigrant characters in spanish series broadcasted on streaming platforms?

Abstract

Introduction. The number of fiction series has increased considerably with the development of streaming platforms. At the same time, in recent years Spanish society has been transformed towards multiculturalism, as a result of new migratory processes.  However, this new audiovisual scenario has hardly been the subject of research studies, since the representation on platforms constitutes an area scarcely explored in the Spanish academic context. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to analyze the current representation of immigration in television series broadcast on the main streaming platforms. Methodology: For this purpose, a content analysis was carried out on 38 Spanish-created series, broadcast between 2017 and 2020, and on a total of 1509 characters (n=1509). Results: Among the main results of this work, it was found that immigrant characters are underrepresented and, when present, they hardly occupy leading roles. Together with the scarce presence of this type of characters, stereotypical features and characteristics in their forms of representation are appreciated. Discussion: Despite the presence of foreign/immigrant characters in Spanish production series, they are still a minority and their representation is biased and often stereotypical, as reflected, for example, by the significant relationship between the nationality of the character and the socioeconomic level with which he/she is represented.  For all these reasons, the new sphere of Spanish fiction series does not seem to reflect the Spanish sociocultural reality through its plots and characters.