code: def _get_unicode(data, force=False):
      
      if isinstance(data, binary_type):
          return data.decode('utf-8')
      elif data is None:
          return ''
      elif force:
          if PY2:
              return unicode(data)
          else:
              return str(data)
      else:
          return data
docs: Try to return a text aka unicode object from the given data.