Why are cartoon characters gay now
LGBTQ+ Cartoon Characters Are Essential For Today’s Queer Youth
Like a lot of cartoon-loving ’90s kids, I create immense joy in my weekly TV show lineup. Weekdays were for Digimon, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, and ThePowerpuff Girls whereas my weekends were reserved for Toonami’s loaded anime schedule of Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, and Gundam Wing. They were a beautiful escape from existence where I discovered so much of myself within different characters. However, as a queer kid, what I didn’t find was positive LGBTQ+ representation.
At the time, there was more queer media than any other decade. Madonna was featuring voguing, the ballroom dance tradition of Inky and Latinx LGBTQ+ folks, in her music video. Queer characters were in other TV shows and movies. And RuPaul was busy being the supermodel of the world, instead of being a media mogul.
Warner Bros. Animation/Netflix/Cartoon Network
As I started to navigate my own queerness, TV seemed to be a gateway to better comprehending myself. But queer and trans representation in cartoons didn’t seem to be readily accessible. Even if those characters were offer, they were typically
Inspiring queer cartoon characters we just love
It’s Pride Month, and to celebrate we’re going to take a look at some of our favorite queer characters from the history of animation. In recent years, we’ve seen a bit of an explosion in LGBTQ+ representation in animation (at long last).
Queer characters and themes are no longer just tokenised, instead they're the standout stars in many shows as well as some of the best plotlines.
Of course, there are some classic examples of strong homosexual characters, but a modern generation of animators and writers are really blazing a trail for the future. Read on to find out which gay icons we love the most. Happy Pride Month everyone!
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When it comes to the depiction of different sexualities in TV shows, the vast majority of characters will be gay or lesbian, and very occasionally they will be bisexual. Of course, considering that for the longest time heteronormative relationships were the only ones portrayed on screen, this is undoubtedly progress.
But sexuality is a very broad spectrum, and there's much more
Disney seemingly has a lot of gay characters. But if someone asked me what I thought of Disney’s first openly same-sex attracted character, I’d only own one thing to say: which one? ZING!
Disney is very fond of giving themselves a pat on the back for including the LGBTQ+ community in scenes of its major blockbusters. It’s become something of a meme in online spaces, particularly among queer TV/Film fans, who much like myself are unable to resist poking the billionaire company and it’s abysmal care when it comes to telling queer stories.
There’s an argument to be made that in reality gay fans shouldn’t care about Disney’s shit LGBTQ+ inclusion, and truly I perceive it. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that no matter how much you aim and shove people towards smaller ‘indie’ LGBTQ+ creators, it won’t stop them from wanting better from the billionaire company they are ride-or-die for. It sucks, but that’s just how it is.
To further bully Disney in the hope of actually producing another movie that actually has great lgbtq+ representation (hello Strange World), I’ve compiled a li
As an eight-year-old in suburban Michigan, I watched Lindsay Lohan creep across a dock in ‘Parent Trap’ and jump into a pond naked. At that moment, I had what I now recognize as an early sexual awakening. When her character Annie went skinny dipping after losing a wager, it scandalized me, awakening queer feelings I didn’t quite understand at the time. I don’t remember the identical moment I knew I wasn’t direct, but I think of every single childhood character that made me question it.
Growing up in the delayed ’90s and initial ’00s, I knew that none of the characters I harbored flustered crushes on were actually gay—in fiction or in real being. In fact, I don’t remember a single representation of a queer miss in pop society from my childhood, and I didn’t meet an out lesbian in person until I was 18. This likely contributed to a lot of classified fanfiction I wrote, as well as several unnecessary years in the closet.
The average age children understand they are something other than vertical is 12 years old, according to The Pew Investigate Center, and the average age they come out is now 16. This is an improvement from the 1980s, when t
20 Disney Characters Confirmed (Or Speculated) To Be Queer
As one of the foremost companies in its field, fans, critics, and the common look to Disney for leadership, analyze the themes in its movies, and praise or criticize the company for how it reflects the world. Among the points of interest is how LGBTQ people and their concerns are represented. Following the times, and in a few cases leading them, Disney has had characters in its films that audiences own perceived to be part of the queer community. However, some of these depictions have been more forward than others.
Few Disney characters are explicitly declared to be queer by the studio or its filmmakers, but viewers hold picked up on "gay coding," definition characters exhibiting traits corresponding with LGBTQ. Aud Bool on the blog Prezi describes the term: "Coded gay is when a male lover stereotype, 'gay behaviors' or 'camp' are used to mean that a personality is homosexual while never explicitly stating that they are." This is often not seen as a positive rehearse. However, in some cases, viewers own embraced Disney characters as being part of the fold or for reflecting on their possess journey toward acceptance. In other cases, viewer