Cartoon Brew recently featured an interesting article by Neill Emmett investigating the presence of homosexual characters and symbols in animation.
I thought it was fascinating to read about, since it plays so heavily into breaking the boundaries of societal norms, and the questions of taste and ethics. I for one, always assumed animation to be a medium in which experimentation could openly be done, and status quo could perhaps more easily be broken than in live action or other media. Any progress however that animators have achieved in creating more representations of gay characters has been hindered by backlash of conservative parents and religious groups who want to 'protect' children from viewing and possibly being influenced by such things. This is when it becomes apparent how important the ethics of our portrayals in animation are, and how we must consider our audience closely when developing characters and stories.‘Then there’s the recent Sponge Bob Gay-Pants dilemma. Look… if you don’t want people to think Sponge Bob is homosexual, then don’t feature him in a “diversity” video which obviously is implying that sodomites should be accepted as well. The flashing colors of Sponge Bob are a clear indicator to me. Everyone knows that the rainbow has become the hallmark of the homosexual movement. By the way, nothing is any more blasphemous to the Bible than the Sodomites stealing of the rainbow. It is God’s rainbow, not the homosexuals!’
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| Image source: superbwallpapers.com/cartoons/spongebob-squarepants |
In one sense, cartoon characters often are read as homosexual by detractors (as above) and in another they can be read in this way by fans, but neither of which necessarily means that their sexuality is explicit or even intentionally implied by the creators. Audiences can read characters and situations with very different meanings than they were ever coded to have. 'This is the result of subcultures appropriating aspects of mainstream pop culture.'
For the first time now we are seeing openly gay characters in animation, both adult and children's, which is a huge step forward for fair representation, equality and freedom of storytelling.
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| Ray Gillette from Archer, Image source: archer.wikia.com/wiki/Ray_Gillette |
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| Xander from Drawn Together. Image source: cc.com/video-clips/ndowqs/drawn-together-producer-s-profiles---xandir-p--wifflebottom |
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| Smithers from The Simpsons. Image source: nymag.com/daily/tv/2009/09/revealed_the_real_smithers |
ETA: while this article deals mainly with Homosexual characters, it is worth nothing that characters from across the whole LGBTQIA spectrum have started to become more widely acknowledged and represented in animation. Also, the subjects this article deals with are in a western sphere, taken from a western viewpoint and so do not deal with the great deal of portrayal there is with LGBT characters in foreign animation such as Anime.
Reference:
Emmett, N. (2014). A History of the ‘Gay Agenda’ in Animation. [online] Cartoon Brew. Available at: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/a-history-of-the-gay-agenda-in-animation-105951.html [Accessed 21 Nov. 2014].
