This year marks one event important
to a lot of people who, just like me, are die hard fans of Adventure Time. As I
was browsing my Tumblr I realized that a lot of posts talked about the happy
ending that Cartoon Network had allowed Pendleton Ward to write. Finally,
Princess Bubblegum and Marceline shared a kissed that so many fans were
expecting after entire seasons where the creator would tease us with small
hints of the relationship between two of the main (and few) female characters
in the show. But as I was liking tons of fanart and fanfiction in the tagged
section, I realized that it was weird that so many people would dedicate their
time to creating something about a cartoon. Well, not weird. New. As I scrolled
down, I realized that when I was a kid, I never saw gay characters in any
channel, not even Nickelodion where the animation and the topics on shows like
Ren & Stimpy or Rocko’s Modern Life often had sexual innuendos, there were
practically zero queer characters in sights. I even went way back and started a
deep research in Disney movies or Hannah-Barbera shows like The Flinstones, or
The Jetsons, but still nothing. But then again, what was considered “old” to
me, a 25-year-old girl? I wasn’t even born during those times, so I went back
to my childhood memories when I would sit in front of the tv for hours letting
grotesque animation rot my brain. That’s when I remembered that first gay
character in my life: Him.
The Powerpuff Girls were fundamental during my childhood and I would never miss an episode, nonetheless, Him, the incarnated form of the devil was also a fabulous queer man dressed in a pink tutu, garter belt with fishnets, and sexy thigh-high leather boots made me question everything, starting with my mom. I remember calling her to my room and asking her why was “Him” dressed like that if he was a man, to what she replied “well, he’s the devil, he’s showing you being a desviado (queer for those who don’t know Spanish) is a sin. she went back to her shores and left a thousand questions in my head, “what was a desviado?” “why is it wrong” is the devil even worse for wearing ugly makeup? I didn’t understand until later that my mom was right, that cartoons tended to show homosexuality as a wrong thing, or simply put, a defect good enough for all the possible jokes. Another demon from my childhood, “Red Guy” from I am Weasel, was also an impossible gay devil who was always shoving his body onto other characters and often made them eat butts as punishment which I never understood. Yes, I get it now.
The Powerpuff Girls were fundamental during my childhood and I would never miss an episode, nonetheless, Him, the incarnated form of the devil was also a fabulous queer man dressed in a pink tutu, garter belt with fishnets, and sexy thigh-high leather boots made me question everything, starting with my mom. I remember calling her to my room and asking her why was “Him” dressed like that if he was a man, to what she replied “well, he’s the devil, he’s showing you being a desviado (queer for those who don’t know Spanish) is a sin. she went back to her shores and left a thousand questions in my head, “what was a desviado?” “why is it wrong” is the devil even worse for wearing ugly makeup? I didn’t understand until later that my mom was right, that cartoons tended to show homosexuality as a wrong thing, or simply put, a defect good enough for all the possible jokes. Another demon from my childhood, “Red Guy” from I am Weasel, was also an impossible gay devil who was always shoving his body onto other characters and often made them eat butts as punishment which I never understood. Yes, I get it now.
As I
grew up, I got used to seeing queerness in other shows, specially anime, like
Sailor Moon or Card Captor Sakura, but American animation was still reluctant
to show healthy homosexual beings until the 2000’s. With the creation of shows
like the Simpsons, where Mr. Smithers or one of Marge’s sister as the only
representation available (a very cliché ones), new cartoon writers came up with
shows like Adventure Time, as I mentioned before, Steven Universe, or even
Bob’s Burgers. Even if all differ a lot from each other, the fact that in
several episodes we can see transsexual women, lesbians, gays, or simply
genderqueer and complex characters made me realize that my generation was now
more open to acceptance and less tolerable to an identity being the reason of a
joke. When I first saw the many empowered female characters in Steven Universe,
I was very pleased, but I was also ecstatic when I saw that some of them had
lesbian couples and weren’t used to made fun of. On the contrary, they were
portrayed as strong women who would use the power of love to succeed in saving
the world.
After many years, I brought back my original questions about the feminine demon that would terrorize Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup and I came to a conclusion: being gay is not wrong, it was just the perspective from another generation, one that was raised on a world that doesn’t exist anymore. Seeing that queerness is not a reason to be laughed at made me feel more comfortable with myself, but also gave me so much peace when I realized that kids who know that are different can be confident enough to not be afraid of coming out and feel that they too deserve love. Thanks to the new animation wave that is inclusive and gay friendly the LGBT community has seen bigger numbers and the media notices as well. Being exposed to friendly personifications of gay people has allowed acceptance for drag queens like RuPaul, who has a show with a tremendous fanbase, or simpler formats like YouTube, that is full of makeup artists like MannyMUA or James Charles, men who have astonishing makeup skills and even have their own makeup products.
Being my dumb yet brave self, I asked my mom again why was “Him” living in sin? was it because of his moral values or simple based on the fact that he chose to wear huge amounts of blush. She was impressed to say the least. I didn’t even let her answer and went back to my room to keep reblogging Bubbleline fanart and fanfiction, but hoping that, just like she did when I was six back in my childhood days, my words had helped a little to make her reconsider her posture, and hopefully, having the right answer this time.
After all, I don’t think fishnets are THAT tacky.
After many years, I brought back my original questions about the feminine demon that would terrorize Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup and I came to a conclusion: being gay is not wrong, it was just the perspective from another generation, one that was raised on a world that doesn’t exist anymore. Seeing that queerness is not a reason to be laughed at made me feel more comfortable with myself, but also gave me so much peace when I realized that kids who know that are different can be confident enough to not be afraid of coming out and feel that they too deserve love. Thanks to the new animation wave that is inclusive and gay friendly the LGBT community has seen bigger numbers and the media notices as well. Being exposed to friendly personifications of gay people has allowed acceptance for drag queens like RuPaul, who has a show with a tremendous fanbase, or simpler formats like YouTube, that is full of makeup artists like MannyMUA or James Charles, men who have astonishing makeup skills and even have their own makeup products.
Being my dumb yet brave self, I asked my mom again why was “Him” living in sin? was it because of his moral values or simple based on the fact that he chose to wear huge amounts of blush. She was impressed to say the least. I didn’t even let her answer and went back to my room to keep reblogging Bubbleline fanart and fanfiction, but hoping that, just like she did when I was six back in my childhood days, my words had helped a little to make her reconsider her posture, and hopefully, having the right answer this time.
After all, I don’t think fishnets are THAT tacky.
