Is Western Animation Ready For Gay Characters?

J

...j......

New member
Funny story, I was talking about W.I.T.C.H. over on the Pixar/Disney boards and one guy revealed that the some of the writers thought Irma was a lesbian. I couldn't help but be reminded about Greg Weisman's revelation a few years back that Lexington from Gargoyles, was also gay. And no, it's not a coincidence that Greg worked on both shows. ;)

When asked how he would handle such a controversial topic in the context of a Disney cartoon, Greg had this to say...



Feel free to discuss among yourselves, but please try and be civil.
 
When Legion of Super Heroes:TAS was airing on Kids' WB, there were some fans who believed that Brainiac 5 had a homosexual attraction to Superman, and a few went so far as to hope or expect for Supes to return Brainy's alleged affections. If that were to actually happen, i think that it would have to have been worked in very subtly, as I really don't know if the PTA is ready for a gay Superman.

On a semi-related related note, Dwayne MacDuffie once revealed that the character of Richie Foley on Static Shock was indeed gay, although Richie's sexual desires were never discussed on the air.

It seems as though the only way to show homosexuality in kids' cartoons is to work it in subtly. I honestly don't know how concerned parents would react to characters who outright admitted to being gay or openly flirted with another character of the same gender.
 
Well, we got these:

Snagglepuss.jpg

17120_logo.jpg

f07f49ef7bd06154.jpg


Fair enough?
 
I didnt know that about Braniac 5, although I think its dumb considering 1. He wasnt gay in the comics and 2. Supermn isnt gay. So fans wishing for such a moment was completely ludicrous.

As far as Riche Foley goes, I have to correct you on that one. Riche Foley, from the cartoon wsnt gay. Hes just made up. In the original Static comics, there was a character named Rich, who was a friend of Static. Rich was gay. Richie is a completely different character made up for the cartoon. this character is not the same as Rich from the comics. With that said, things could change. Static is now part of the DC universe in the comics, along with the costume he wore on the cartoon. With Static getting his own series in 2011, we could see a lot of concepts from the cartoon merge with concepts from the comics, Including Richie being gay.
 
I guess anything goes in adult animation, but considering that in the last few years religious groups have "outed" the aseuxal Spongebob and Tinky Winky which led to media frenzies, no, American in general is still too intolerant for there to be "out" gay characters on kids TV, they have to stay closeted.

Sometimes the writers can work it in if they're very, very subtle about it, though. Maggie Sawyer's girlfriend did visit her in the hospital once. Well, she tried to, the way the laws were then she was probably made to leave.

Or you have characters who are obvious stererotypes, like Him from the Powerpuff girls, but are never actually said to be gay. It's not a cartoon but the Nevell Papperman character on iCarly is a huge flaming gay stereotype, but they aren't going to let him kiss a boy and in fact try to play it as if he has a crush on Carly.
 
I would love if western shows had a gay character that wasn't an insulting stereotype. And treat them as normal human beings.

But unfortunately they are people that won't stand for that..

If it's done, it needs to be tastefully done. And in this thread I don't think we should count the adult cartoons like Family Guy, because most everything goes in those kind of shows.
 
I think in this day and age we could have a maturely done gay character in animation. However I don't think people (re: parents) are ready for it and will protest a move like this. There's a reason why most of the known gay cartoon characters are only confirmed by the creative team after the series has ended.

Kids probably wouldn't care one way or the other.



After seeing the first episode of season 2 (where Brainy is running "simulations" of him dying in battle in the arms of Superman, and it's implied he's done it quite a few times) I can see where the fans got that idea from. I don't think they would've made Superman gay, but it's possible that Brainy had a crush on him.
 
TV's Richie Foley was a composite of 2 characters from the Static Shock comics; Frieda (who had the same role in the comics that Richie had in the cartoon-that of the only other person in the cast who knew Virgil's secret) and Rick Stone (who was gay). I was specifically referring to something that Dwayne McDuffie once said in an interview regarding TV's Richie, "As far as I'm concerned, Richie is gay."

Slightly off-topic: Is Static really getting another series in 2011? If so, I hope that the shows' producers will respect Mr. McDuffie's wishes and keep Virgil's mother Jean alive and well in this one.



Mr. Simmons? I don't think he was gay, just sensitive. I don't think that Mr. Simmons' sexual preferences were ever discussed on the show. I don't recall him ever showing signs of being sexually attracted to anyone.
 
There was never any confirmation of that whether in-show or by one of the show's staffers. The main reason why people speculate this is because Mr. Simmons' VA in a gay actor (Dan Butler).
 
In a word, no. Leaving my own personal opinions out of this, it's quite obvious to me that the current climate in America concerning this issue will not allow this, for the simple reason that animation is usually targeted at children. While homosexual characters are quite common on mainstream prime-time television (Modern Family and American Dad are just two examples), adding a gay character to a show aimed at a young audience would likely incite the wrath of many parents. Like it or not, you don't generally see childrens cartoons tackle issues like the war in Iraq, abortion, separation of church and state, or any other controversial hot-button topics, and homosexuality is no different.
 
I have heard about the differences between Rich and Richie. I thought that Rich wasn't as important to the comic books as Richie was for the series. I'm also really curious about Static getting his own series in 2011. I enjoyed the Static Shock series and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a new series that follows the comics a bit more.

Anyway, I could see some series ready to have homosexual characters. They could hopefully go beyond the typical stereotype image/behaviors of homosexuality and make them fairly realistic characters, depending on the tone of the series. I don't think that a lot of kids would mind it. The main problem is see in something like this is how would parents react. Some parents would probably be okay, but I could see a lot of parents and parent groups getting upset over this as well. They could think that it's inappropriate for children, even though I don't think that would be the case.
 
I would argue that it is very different. Only in the minds of bigots is it really no different. Just for the record, so it's not misconstrued, I am not calling you one. I get what you're saying. I just disagree with the people you're talking about.

Hmm, if the internet existed four or five decades ago, I wonder if we'd be talking about interracial relationships in cartoons like this.
 
Back
Top