#queercoding in children's media | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

alpaca-clouds · 7 months

Text

The Vampire antisemitism problem

Okay, folks, Castlevania: Nocturne releases tomorrow and I might as well now talk about this topic, because it is an important one and I realized that a lot of folks do not realize this is a thing.

So, let me be blunt about it: A lot of the original, gothic literature that created vampires how we know them today was technically anti-queer, but most of all antisemitic. And because of that a lot modern vampire media often unwittingly reinforces the antisemitism within vampire horror.

Let me explain.

I think most people understand that those original big vampires (Carmilla, Ruthven and Dracula) are in their text explicitly queercoded. And that is alright, because by now queer people have reclaimed the vampire for themselves. Heck, they actually did so by the 1970s.

But there is another thing that mostly comes out of Dracula. As much as Dracula is a story about queerness "currupting" the "innocent", it is also a story about the British fear of reverse colonization. A lot of people reading Dracula today go about Jonathan's experiences in Transylvania and go like: "Oh, you are a bit of an idiot, aren't you?" When he is so confused about local customs - and also is super ignorant about literally everyone warning him. But... back in the day this was part of the horror. The strange "uncivilized" country was the picture Stoker was going back. Eastern Europe was (and still is by many) seen as less civil than Western Europe. And also... for a plethora of historical reasons also was home to more Jewish people than western Europe.

And, well... In comes Dracula. Who is from the perspective of the book not only one of those uncivil Eastern people, but also Jewish. No, this is not text, but in the description of Dracula the book clearly calls out to antisemtic stereotypes within the description of him.

And... Well, there is the thing about the blood cabal.

For those who lived under a stone for the last 1000 years, a quick explanation: A lot of antisemitic conspiracy stuff involves a secret cabal of powerful Jewish people extracting blood from children to drink it and use it within some sort of rituals. The details change, but the general idea has been the same forever.

And... Well, to put it bluntly: A lot of the historical vampire mythology did not have them as blood suckers. At times energy suckers, yes, but often vampires of all sorts rather made you sick. The entire blood sucking thing mostly came in there through antisemitic stuff.

And a lot of modern vampire media is painfully unaware of this.

Now mind you, this topic is super complicated. Mostly because there is a big issue: You absolutely can use the same symbolism for something else. Because you do not need a secret group to be blood sucking. There is a TON of vampire media out there, in which the vampires are actually a standin for capitalists or - what I believe Castlevania Nocturne to be going for - colonialists.

But... I just wishes that people were a bit more aware about this. A bit more careful when invoking this.

Also... Just do not go with "secret vampires running the world". Just don't. If you have a secret group of vampires secretly running the world... whether you intent it or not, that story is gonna have some antisemitic subtext in there.

#dracula #dracula daily #vampires #antisemitism #castlevania #castlevania nocturne #conspiracy theories #be careful

133 notes · View notes

tired-fandom-ndn · 2 years

Text

People keep creating media with lonely and traumatized protagonists who are desperate for the family and love they never had and who eventually get their happy ever after in the form of a heterosexual nuclear family with 2.5 kids and a picket fence and everything

and then those same people create epilogues where those protagonists are grown up and have become awful parents, who are never home and who throw themselves into their work and neglect their spouses and children.

And I know that that's to create drama and conflict for the next generation, but it really ends up coming off as a form of queercoding tbh, where the characters forced themselves into a traditional life because they thought it would make them happy only to still be completely miserable and desperate for any escape from the trap they willingly walked into.

This is a long and convoluted way to say that I'm thinking about an AU where Naruto realizes that the reason he isn't happy in his marriage with Hinata is because he was never really in love with her, only with the idea of her and the life she could give him, and late nights working in the office has led to him slowly falling in love with Shikamaru and he's now faced with the realities of divorce and accepting that the life he dreamed of for so long isn't what he truly wants.

#shikanaru #naruto

236 notes · View notes

ilistentogirlinred · 5 months

Text

a bunch of ideas for essays i have

ESSAY IDEAS:

fandom and parasocial relationships with celebs

primarily musicians

KPOP!!!

shipping

how this effects the idols themselves

and the fans perception of idols

“delulu”

competitive nature

groups

positions

obsession

racism

infantilisation

“maknaes”

lisa, jungkook

ONE DIRECTION

fucking larries

obsession

FITTH HARMONY

SWIFTIES

the idolisation

white feminism?

performative activism

NOT SEEING CELEBS AS REAL PEOPLE WITH FEELINGS!!!

mysoginy in fandom culture

internalised mysogyny

mysogyny in the works themselves

how that is internalised

the prevalence of m/m ships

patriarchy!

boo

KPOP!!!

shipping

how this effects the idols themselves

+ their friendships with each other

and the fans perception of idols

homophobia in the industry

“delulu”

competitive nature

groups

positions

obsession

racism

non fans who dislike the industry/fans

infantilisation

“maknaes”

lisa (crazy horse)

jungkook (seven, etc)

DEBUTING ACTUAL CHILDREN

THOSE ARE CHILDREN WTF DUDE

SHE IS BARELY 14

SHE IS 13

SHE WAS 12 WHEN SHE WAS ON THE SHOW

possible human rights violations?

work hours

neglect

mental health issues

suicides

beomhan therapy video (managers)

homophobia in the industry

if an idol comes out, fans will treat it as “proof” that their ship is “canon”

or will just be outright homophobic

FANSERVICE

its not gay but…

influence of fandom on modern media

queerbaiting/queercoding to attract an audience

destiel

teen wolf

bbc sherlock

tropes

enemies to lovers

DONE WRONG

queer rep in media

queerbaiting/coding to attract viewers

supernatural, sherlock

destiel, johnlock

teen wolf

queer coding in disney!

accidental?

LUCA!!!

cultural differences?

anime

YOI, SK8, Haikyuu

Naruto

superwholock -> ourgoodshadows

early 2000s/2010s YA dystopia plague, ya books in general

hunger games

marketing

movies

divergent!!!

bad

no second half of the third one lmao

maze runner

technically first!

LOVE TRIANGLES

twilight (either read or consult ms elloy, mya, etc)

hunger games

“big strong guy” vs “childhood friend”

predictable

repetitive

c’mon guys make it gay for once

try a conga line love triangle

that resolves itself with polyamory?

SPORTS ANIME

why is it so popular?

fandom, duh.

ok but why?

easy. gay anime boys

why is sports anime so gay?

power of friendship?

close bonds between people of the same gender

lack of characters from the opposite gender so less heterosexuality and f/m ships

but thats fandomy

the inherent homoeroticism of sharing a locker room

referring back to friendship/close bonds

BLUE LOCK

HOLY CRAP BLUE LOCK

its gayer than haikyuu but there’s no power of friendship really

there are very close bonds and strange definitions of attraction tho

bachisagi, reonagi, ryusae

REONAGI SHOUJO SPINOFF

attraction -> obsession

soccer -> dream -> lack of care about self

RYUSAE FUCKED UP IDEA OF (and perception) ATTRACTION

soccer = attraction, bond, romance/sex, etc.

BACK TO HAIKYUU

rivalries

rivalry -> close friendship

mirrors enemies to lovers very slightly

tis the power of friendship

power of friendship combined with coming of age?

YUURI ON ICE!

the canon gays

SK8 the infinity

queer coding?

QUEERCODING IN ANIME

is it all perceived and unintended due to differences in cultural upbringing?

possibly but the undertones are still very much there

maybe its censorship? who knows

killugon -> possibly find sources

the homoerotic queer-coded rivalry or friendship

established from the start

sasunaru, kagehina, bakudeku, renga, killugon, fucking soukoku, etc

also tsukkiyama, matchablossom, leopika, etc

SOUKOKU (and the rest of bsd)

the irl authors - were they queer?

FIND SOURCES!!!

#holy shit there are a lot

15 notes · View notes

artizonka · 1 year

Text

I asked an AI to write an essay on why pinky and the brain are queercoded and here’s what it wrote:

Pinky and the Brain is an iconic animated television series that first aired in the 1990s. The show followed the misadventures of two laboratory mice, Pinky and the Brain, who were constantly trying to take over the world. While the show was primarily a comedy, it was also known for its clever writing and its ability to tackle complex themes and ideas.

One of the most interesting aspects of Pinky and the Brain is the queercoding of the two main characters. Queercoding is the practice of imbuing fictional characters with traits and behaviors that suggest they may be LGBTQ+ without ever explicitly stating it. While Pinky and the Brain's creators, Tom Ruegger and Steven Spielberg, have never confirmed whether or not the characters are queer, there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that they are.

The first and most obvious piece of evidence is the way the characters are presented on the show. Pinky and the Brain are both male mice who are always together. They share a cage, work together, and seem to have an incredibly close bond. While it's not unusual for characters in children's shows to have close relationships, Pinky and the Brain's relationship is often presented in a way that suggests there is more going on between them than just friendship.

For example, Pinky often refers to Brain as "my dear" and "my love," which are terms typically reserved for romantic partners. Additionally, the two mice often engage in behavior that is traditionally associated with couples. For example, they have been shown dancing together, sharing a bed, and even holding hands.

Another piece of evidence for Pinky and the Brain's queercoding is the way the show's writers played with gender roles. Pinky is presented as a more effeminate character, with a higher-pitched voice, long eyelashes, and a love for poetry and art. Brain, on the other hand, is presented as a more masculine character, with a deep voice, muscular physique, and a love for science and technology.

By presenting the two mice in this way, the show's writers were able to play with traditional gender roles and suggest that Pinky and the Brain were not bound by them. This is a common theme in LGBTQ+ media, where characters often subvert traditional gender norms and expectations.

Finally, there is the fact that Pinky and the Brain were created during a time when LGBTQ+ representation in media was rare. While there were a few shows and movies that featured LGBTQ+ characters during the 1990s, they were often relegated to minor roles or portrayed in a negative light.

By queercoding Pinky and the Brain, the show's creators were able to provide LGBTQ+ viewers with characters they could identify with and root for. Even if the characters were not explicitly LGBTQ+, the fact that they exhibited traits and behaviors that were typically associated with queer characters was a step in the right direction.

In conclusion, Pinky and the Brain are queercoded characters whose relationship suggests more than just friendship. While the show's creators have never confirmed whether or not the characters are LGBTQ+, the evidence is clear that they were intentionally presented in a way that suggests they are. By doing so, the show's writers were able to provide LGBTQ+ viewers with representation at a time when it was sorely lacking in mainstream media

In conclusion, even ai agrees.

#brinky #patb

46 notes · View notes

jynxcomplex · 11 months

Text

Some of my favorite characters in media and a common theme:

Akemi Homura : *ascends to Devil status*

Satoko Hojo: *ascends to Witch Status*

Sabrina Spellman: *ascends to near Godhood*

What else do they have in common?

2/3 are queercoded, if not gay and can't fully commit to that because of the continuous homophobic political climate. Unfortunately, Sabrina is painfully straight.

2/3 have been effected by Catholicism, or a dark parody of the Catholic church's hierarchy and patriarchal values.

3/3 Stand for something that the patriarchy is afraid of, or rather hates because it fights the bullshit religious/political/individual values that support men abusing power. Sabrina especially is directly a middle finger to misogyny. Homura is a middle finger to religion. Satoko is a middle finger to gender norms and expectations.

TLDR I love them,,,, my children. Even if my interpretation is horrendously incorrect.

4 notes · View notes

puppetshowdown · 1 year

Note

Any favourite info-dumps? <:O/genq

I love all of them! But here I'll share a few that really stood out to me! -The Julia one I mentioned before!: "I just….. I am love her. I was SO happy when she was introduced. Her first episode is my comfort media. Autistic representation where it isn’t framed as a bad thing is SO rare in children’s media, and “she does things a little bit differently, in a Julia sort of way” made me CRY. She is so much like me and she makes me so happy. The happy flaps when I saw her on the Sesame Street float at the Macy’s parade nearly hurt my wrist I was so happy. She is the best girl and deserves the best. Her puppet was designed to have a set of arms specifically so that she can stim, and she has a comfort toy like I do and doesn’t like the way paint feels like I don’t and loves to sing like I do and gets overwhelmed by sirens like I do and I just love her SO MUCH. (I didn’t link a picture because there are so many good ones! I like the one where she is looking at a feather, and also the one from the cover of the picture book she initially appeared in <3)" -Audrey II: "want to preface: either the stage version or the '86 movie version works, as both are portrayed by puppets! although neither is canonically a puppet in the story. i couldn't tell from the rules if this was disqualifying or not. BUT if i could get a word in for the movie Audrey II: WHAT A GORGEOUS PUPPET… or should i say SERIES of PUPPET/ANIMATRONIC HYBRIDS! there's somewhere in the ballpark of a dozen Twoies in the film to represent the different growth stages of the plant. they're all beautifully painted with vibrant detail, perfectly matching the high camp tone & setting! the mechanics of the puppet are also intricate and innovative; especially the MOUTH those lip syncs are so accurate and expressive! the largest puppets were actually so heavy that in order to remain accurate to the audio, they had to be operated along to the tracks and filmed at half speed, then sped up in editing… which means that when the actors appear with the plant in those scenes, they're ALSO performing at half speed! the stage play versions are (by necessity) less technical than these puppets, which were fabricated by the Jim Henson company btw, but lots are still really cool; a unique standout is the one from the Pasadena Playhouse production! whew. all this and i didnt even talk about the character… Audrey II is an alien plant that was beamed down to Earth and wants to take over the world. it sings some catchy songs about that. they can fit so much queercoding and slay into this plant. it's a girlboss it's a drag queen it manipulated a young man into committing several murders. we stan." -Spamton: "Hee heehee I am so obsessed with this silly puppet guy. I love how he went from an absolute snazzy lil salesman dude with his red tux, and just gradually turned into a complete disaster of himself. I like how little detail is actually shared about his past, so you're left to wonder if he was actually brought down by circumstances out of his control, or if he brought his failures upon himself and just doesn't want to accept that. I want to give him a hug and he would no doubt try to bargain for my soul in the process"

-Riley Ruckus: "SHES SO GENDER OH MY GOD SHES THIS COOL EVIL SCIENTIST WHO WAS MADE TO BE LIKE. A KIND BUT SLIGHTLY AGGRESSIVE SCIENCE TEACHER FOR A KIDS SHOW, BUT AFTER COMING TO LIFE HAD THAT TWISTED INTO MAD SCIENCE, AND SHE CARES SO MUCH ABOUT HER DOGGO AND SHES SO PRECIOUS AND WOULD ALSO RIP U APART AND IS SO VERY GENDER"

And honestly so many others! I love all the infodumps! From the long passionate paragraphs to the more silly jokey ones They're all so much fun to read!

5 notes · View notes

star-scrambled · 2 years

Note

Aside from sonknux, what are your favorite ships? Whether in the Sonic fandom or not.

YIPPEE oh my god this is being Really vulnerable. oh boy. here we go

AS FOR SONIC SHIPS: I can’t be an IDW enjoyer and Not lose my mind over Whispangle. Come on. I also really like Sonic/Jet, Wave/Rouge, Knuckles/Mighty (whether just those 2 or with Sonic added in the mix hehe), and Knuxpio! But yeah I think my two favs are Whispangle and Sonknux definitely haha

NON-SONIC SHIPS SHALL BE LISTED 😨 I’m scared they’re all kind of niche LMAO

Luisley - Luigi x Prince Peasley - Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga

Mario is unfortunately a severely retired special interest of mine BUT if there’s one thing about it I’m forever gonna be passionate about ITS THESE GUYSSSS!!! JUSTICE FOR PRINCE PEASLEY I WANT HIM BACK FROM THE GRAVE SO BAD 💔💔💔

Lego Batjokes - Batman x Joker - The Lego Batman Movie

TLBM is also a fairly retired interest but. This ship was my first non M/F pairing I rooted for and I THINK THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT A ROMANTIC PAIRING IN FANDOM...VERY MONUMENTAL MOMENT IN THE VIC KWAZ STARSCRAMBLED LORE

Glaciershipping - Cole x Zane - Ninjago

In the midst of the millions of Ninjago ships that exist my 11 year old self thought these 2 in particular were so Real, and l mean. I do agree. they’re so Real.

I have too many ships with Kwazii Octonauts to list here LMFAO 😭

THE SONIC FOLLOWERS CANT FIND OUT ABOUT MY 2021 ENDEAVOURS /j

Frock - Master Frown x Brock - Unikitty

Sonknux is like a 5 feet distance away from replacing these guys as my OTP, but I don’t know if it’ll ever reach that point because what I experienced watching Master Frown and Brock go through an explicit and Canonically best friends to gay lovers arc with the most satisfying conclusion TO ME (I don’t have to elaborate or justify it @ unikitty followers but it Feels Right for them to not immediately become partners after the finale but take time to process turning a new leaf in life and how to go about being aware of eachothers romantic feelings for one another) between the ages of 11 and 14 was So fucking insane and it TOOK AHOLD OF MY BRAIN AND NEVER LET GO. THEY DESERVED THAT CANON HAPPY ENDING SO BAD YOU CANNOT BEAT A CANON GAY COUPLE—

#the day the sonic followers realize i like niche cringe queer kiddie shit it’s OVER /lh #this is who I am guys overanalyzing media for small children walked so my actually cool Sonic 2 theories could BOLT #I love gay people!#I’m very invested in relationship development especially if there’s some canon queercoding as you can see #which is funny cause I’m aro and instead of using them to yearn for a romantic relationship I USE IT FOR WRITING & COUPLES THERAPY PRACTICE #vics silly brain zone

6 notes · View notes

killcatboys · 4 years

Text

doing a presentation in world cultures on lgbt rights im boutta go off

#somehow i went from just a few interviews #to stonewall riots how it differs from generations and queercoding in childrens media #oops

3 notes · View notes

grrlofswirls · 6 years

Text

I remember seeing a post a while back of someone complaining that people asking if Netflix’s The Dragon Prince will have LGBTQ+ rep in it since people “Should just watch shows for what they are, not for representation”...and about a month later I’m hearing folks talk about the new Voltron show did the “bury your gays” trope and had queercoded villains, in a children’s cartoon. So cishet fans, this is why people ask about if a show will have LGBTQ+ representation: we don’t want to sit through seven seasons of the same bullshit we’ve always been given, we don’t want people working on the show telling us to shut up about our valid criticisms, and we certainly don’t want queer kids to experience this kind of harmful shit at such a young age either.

#My Rants #Sexuality and Media #Gender and Media #Representation #I'm glad that I didn't get into Voltron; doesn't sound like it's worth it #Not sure if the OP of said post was cishet or not but they were still acting condescending all the same #And yes I know queercoded villains in children's animation isn't new but it's 2018 can we please stop doing this!?

7 notes · View notes

femgeniuses · 2 years

Text

Is Luca Gay?: Queer Coding in Children's Media

Is Luca Gay?: Queer Coding in Children’s Media

This video, written and produced by Zianah Griffin, Pumehana Holmes, Mikey Richardson, Whitney Schranz, and Calvin Than in FG110 Introduction to Feminist & Gender Studies at Colorado College with Professor Heidi R. Lewis during Block 4 2021, explains queer coding to youth, particularly as it relates to children’s media.

View On WordPress

#Calvin Than #colorado college #Feminist & Gender Studies #Heidi R. Lewis #Introduction to Feminist & Gender Studies #Mikey Richardson #Pumehana Holmes #queer coding #queer coding in children&039;s media #queer coding in media #queercoding #queercoding in children&039;s media #queercoding in media #Whitney Schranz #Zianah Griffin

0 notes

handsmotif · 3 years

Text

The Queercoding of Pinky and the Brain

This originally was just me infodumping to my friends on discord, but I decided it might be interesting to some people on here, so I polished it up and made it an actual essay lmao

To start, we’re going to break this into 2 sections -- the relationship between the mice, and Pinky’s relationship with gender, because queercoding doesn’t just mean gay!

For a 90′s show, Pinky and the Brain (and its mother show, Animaniacs) was very progressive for its time! But there were still lots of things that they couldn’t slip by censors, and thus, that’s where we have to read between the lines. And that is something I wanted to clarify here before we dive in, the actual meaning of queercoding. It’s NOT the same as queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is when the people producing certain media purposefully dangle the possibility of queer representation to lure in audiences (most prominent examples are BBC Sherlock, Riverdale, and Supernatural I GUESS? who knows abt that last one anymore), but never follow through, purely for profit. Queercoding is when media producers WANT to write in queer representation, but can’t, usually because the censors won’t let them. So, they must resort to subtext. (example: the policemen from Gravity Falls) It could also be unintentional, simply assigning certain characteristics associated with the LGBT community to characters. (example: Bugs Bunny, many Disney villains) Either way, it heavily relies on the audience picking up subtext, but whether it’s malicious or not varies, depending on the media. Bugs Bunny is an example of positive accidental queercoding, while a lot of Disney villains are negative examples.

Now, to actually discuss the gay little mice! Pinky and the Brain, whether it be intentional or not (based off comments from Maurice LaMarche, Rob Paulsen, and Tom Ruegger, signs strongly point to intentional, but it’s never been explicitly confirmed), is an example of positive queercoding.

There are many moments that I could pick out to discuss here, but we’ll start with some VERY on the nose gay metaphors.

Remember Romy? If you don’t, that’s their actual biological son! Romy came about due to a cloning accident, where their DNA got combined and spat him out.

There’s SO many things I could say about Romy. Every appearance he makes has an overarching gay metaphor as the plot. His first appearance in the episode Brinky (yeah it’s literally titled their ship name), it deals with his dads (WHICH I ALSO WANT TO POINT OUT, he DOES call them both dad, and they do both call him their son) disapproving of the fact that he wants to leave home and not follow in their footsteps of taking over the world. Brain even goes as far as disowning him whenever he tells him, which is certainly something a lot of queer people can unfortunately relate to. Also seen a lot in this episode is Pinky and Brain arguing even more than a married couple than usual, which pushes Romy away even further. Later, when Romy eventually does leave, and Brain starts to regret chasing him away, he tries desperately to reach out to him, but Romy doesn’t want anything to do with him. They end up tracking him down to an apartment building, where Romy is now living with his human girlfriend. When questioned about their relationship, the girlfriend, named Bunny, goes off on a tangent about how people shouldn’t judge others based on labels or relationships (hello?), and that Brain needs to be more tolerant. Brain apologizes and Romy forgives him. Happy ending.

Romy’s only other appearance is in the comics. Essentially, the plot of this one is that Brain wants to become the president of the local high school’s PTA, but he needs Romy’s help to make it look like he has a normal home life. He also enlists the help of Billie, the obligatory Woman introduced to make sure Brain doesn’t look as gay as he actually is, that he has a crush on. She pretends to be his girlfriend, and Pinky pretends to be Romy’s uncle, while they make up the story that Romy’s actual mother was lost at sea. Because if the organization found out that Brain has a son with a MAN??? THINK of the controversy! Anyway, the plan works, and Brain actually manages to get elected as president. Throughout this though, Pinky gets WEIRDLY jealous that Brain keeps brushing him aside for Billie. To the point where during Brain’s inauguration, Pinky actually dresses up as the wife/mother lost at sea and storms into the room.

[ID: Comic panels of Pinky, Brain, and Romy on stage at the inauguration ceremony. Pinky busts into room wearing drag, saying, “Yoo hoo! I’m back from years lost at sea to be with my son and ungrateful husband! Narf!” He then hugs Romy, while glaring at Brain. He goes on to say, “I’ll stand by your side, even though you left me behind!” The people in the audience begin to question this, saying, “Oh great fuzzy bangs!”, “What’d she say?!”, “He deserted her to be with that other woman!”, “What kind of monster is he?!”. Brain then rips off Pinky’s wig and says, “This isn’t my wife! This isn’t even a woman! It’s my roommate, Pinky.” Pinky replies, “Well, yes... But Romy really is my son! Poit!” And Brain responds, “N-Nonsense! He’s my son!” More people in the audience angrily speak up, saying, “What’s that?”, “He lives with a guy who likes to dress up in women’s clothing and the both claim to be that kid’s father!”, “Grumble! Mutter!” /END ID]

Needless to say, this doesn’t end well for them. What we can conclude from this is that homophobia exists in the Pinky and the Brain universe, and our characters are directly affected by it.

Moving on, And-There-Was-Only-One-Bed is a pretty common occurrence with these two. Their cage is big, they have plenty of room for two beds, but? They choose to sleep together? Even in some times where this has been inconsistent and they DO have separate beds, they’re always RIGHT next to each other. (what if we put our minecraft beds together ❤😳)

I would like to mention the episode, You’ll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town Again! This episode is interesting to say the least. Deals with a lot of the meta of the show. Anyway. In this episode, Brain has a nightmare that he’s in a loveless marriage with Billie. You know, the woman he’s supposed to have a crush on. In the end, he wakes up from the nightmare in the same bed as Pinky.

Speaking of female love interests, Pinky is seen having multiple relationships with characters of different species. Any time this is brought up by Brain, Pinky counters with Brain being too intolerant. An honorable mention with this is in Wakko’s Wish, when Pinky is with Pharfignewton, and Brain’s constant pestering about their relationship could be read as jealousy. Pinky needs a mousy date, after all!

Something else I would like to mention is in one episode (I forget what it’s called, I’ll try to look it up later and edit this), Brain is applying for a job. The employer asks Brain if he’s married, and Brain hesitates before saying he “has a roommate,” but that he’s occupied with his own things, which then cuts to a shot of Pinky applying lipstick.

Leading into part two of this essay, Pinky’s relationship with gender! Pinky has always been very gender nonconforming, and loves to wear dresses, do his makeup, and make himself look pretty. For the most part, this is played pretty straight, and not as a gag, like a lot of shows tend to do! It’s just a casual fact about him that he likes to present femininely sometimes.

This does play into their taking over the world plans pretty often, where Pinky wears drag, usually either to sneak into somewhere. Like in one of their earliest appearances on Animaniacs, Noah’s Lark, where they pose as a couple to board Noah’s, and I quote, “love boat.” After boarding, Noah says to himself, “Who am I to judge?” Okay. Yeah. Alright. Anyway.

I actually had less to say on this than I thought I did, but I wanted to make sure to emphasize that Pinky at the very least is coded as being Not Quite Cis, and that he’s played a key part in helping a lot of people watching the show figure out that they’re also Not Quite Cis.

Wrapping this up because I’m hungry, but I want to throw in some more honorable mentions that I really do not see any type of cishet explanations for:

They literally go on a romantic date at a very fancy restaurant in Brain’s Night Off. This is played extremely casually, and the only remark from anyone that they receive is that they are “much smaller than the usual clients.”

Pinky, on at least one occasion, daydreams about him and Brain being a married couple, and wanting to be a housewife (the original malewife ❤)

There’s an issue in the comics where Pinky has a crush on another male mouse, and when Brain gets annoyed, Pinky reassures him that he thinks Brain is cute and quite the catch too

Brain attempting to kiss Pinky in the reboot??????

Brain actually did conquer the world once in the Halloween special, because Pinky made a deal with the devil for it, and thus Pinky got sent to hell! Brain actually went to hell and gave up the world to bring him back

Brain was extremely close to conquering the world once more in the Christmas special, but after reading what Pinky’s feelings for him were (nothing romantic, just Pinky basically just praising Brain for being so hardworking and an amazing mouse, and lamenting that he never gets anything for it), he gets so emotional that he sabotages himself and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas instead

TLDR; these mice are very queer and need therapy, and are probably the most heavily queercoded characters that I can think of in children’s media.

#animaniacs #pinky and the brain #patb #brinky #FLOPS ON THE FLOOR this took a long time to write

571 notes · View notes

unsafepin · 3 years

Text

Saw’s Adam Faulkner-Stanheight and Queercoding

In today’s day and age, I believe any relatively media-literate person would be able to tell you what “queercoding” is in the lamest of terms.

It’s the flamboyant male sidekick in Disney movies who is comically gender non-conforming and is played for laughs. It’s the punky girl in sitcoms who seems to despise all men and is mean to everybody she encounters, while still having a heart of gold she extends to her female friends. That's, no offense to media critics who spent years unpacking the never ending layers of undeniable queerness in these characters, baby’s first queercoding. For the context of this essay, let’s call this extremely obvious type of coding “Cishet Queercoding” - coding largely done by cishet people, easily recognizable by cishet people. What I want to unpack in this essay is “Queer queercoding”.

The most obvious example that comes to mind and got plenty of media attention recently is, of course, Supernatural. You’ve got to hear me out here. In its grueling 15 season run, a hodgepodge of people of different ideas and ideas for the show worked on Supernatural, but fundamentally it was a show conceived by cis straight men for cis straight men. This resulted in its two leads, Sam and Dean Winchesters, being comically masculine. Dean’s demonstration of masculinity (enjoying rock’n’roll, women, cars and alcohol, preferably at the same time) is so comical every queer person who laid eyes on this character immediately went “Oh, okay, you’re overcompensating”, while the writers of the show simply tried to fulfill their ultimate cishet dude fantasy. No one is this macho all the time, except if you are performing cishet masculinity.

Hence by my definition, “queer queercoding” isn’t necessarily LGBT characters by LGBT folks for LGBT folks, but rather coding a character as queer (accidentally or not) in such a way it’s painfully familiar for LGBT people but largely goes over the head of cishet folks. So where does Saw fit into all this?

Saw’s whole premise is a complicated, morally gray mix of one man both exacting revenge on people who wronged him and teaching them to appreciate the sanctity of life. While the main antagonist, Jigsaw, isn’t afraid of collateral damage, his main targets are people who somehow ruined his life and don’t appreciate their own. This is why Dr. Lawrence Gordon finds himself in the trap - for cheating on his wife and cold heartedly breaking the news of untreatable cancer to Jigsaw. His companion in the trap though - a downtrodden twenty-something photographer Adam Faulkner-Stanheight - seems to only be there as an accessory to Gordon’s torture. He doesn’t have any immediate connection to Jigsaw and his only connection to Gordon is that he was hired to spy and photograph his activities. Gordon’s condition to escape the trap is that he must kill Adam. Adam doesn’t get a solution to escape.

Adam’s only function in the film is seemingly to be an audience self-insert and then to suffer. The audience for gory, tacky horror flicks is obviously much closer to Adam’s character than to Gordon’s thus while we can sympathize with the latter’s struggle, the former’s is much more visceral. Adam’s only crime seems to be taking a job to earn some money and not being satisfied with a life that’s frankly hard to be satisfied with (In his own words - “I remember going to sleep in my shithole apartment and then waking up in a literal shithole”). And he dies in the end - abandoned, on the edge of escape, not knowing what he did to deserve this fate - while his fellow prisoner, as we later find out, becomes Jigsaw’s apprentice and goes on to torture other people.

Cool, so I’ve explained why Saw is scary beyond a guy cutting his foot off, why is Adam queer again? Well, besides his artistic career, general cynicism about life, comically crippling addiction to nicotine (queer existence and addiction to substances is a well-documented problem in real life, a coping method for living in an unaccepting society) and a cut dialogue line revealing he doesn’t speak to his parents (I don’t think I need to explain how many queer children were disowned by their caretakers), being put in a narrative only to suffer, die and be outlived by some cishet douchebag is possibly the oldest queer trope in cinema. Leaning into symbolism even more, Adam was cunning and on-guard the whole movie, obviously recognizing the only other person in the trap with him is just as likely to be a foe as an ally, but by the end he put his life entirely in Gordon’s hands. He shot Adam to escape and Adam still helped him, believing he will return with help. To make it painfully obvious, Adam was punished for putting his trust in another man. Adam Faulkner-Stanheight, bleeding out from a bullet wound inflicted by Gordon, still embraced him and begged him not to leave.

I don’t think it was Leigh Whanell’s, screenwriter and Adam’s actor’s, intention to make a veiled kill-your-gays metaphor. On the contrary, I think that the ephemeral queerness of suffering elevated this movie far beyond its successors. It becomes a commentary not only on needless violence, sanctity of life, but on how queer people suffer both in media and in real life. Perhaps by not considering this perspective, Saw was able to look queer pain in the eye and not flinch.

#unsafe pin #saw

103 notes · View notes

npdclaraoswald · 2 years

Text

Pegasus Yugioh🤝Preminger Barbie🤝okay, yes queercoding villains, particularly in children's media is bad, but. He's an icon

#yugioh #barbie

7 notes · View notes

tagthescullion · 3 years

Note

Here a controversial opinion: there is an high possibility that Rick Riordan made Nico di Angelo gay only for publicity, or maybe even that he was forced to make him gay. The House of Hade came out in 2013, the year of the rise of LGBT community and supporters that started to began to press for media representation.

Actually in the first series there wasn't a single foreshadowing of it. Nico at first idolized Percy because he was a child but then after Bianca's death he CLEARLY matures. That's it. Crush on him? Where?Also, at one point of The Last Olympian there is even a scene where Nico appears clearly attracted to Juniper (he blushed when is around her), end at the end of the same book children of Hades are finally accepted at Camp Half Blood (and because of that Oracle of Delphi's curse is broken) and Nico really appears ready to leave here with others demigods....but then? In the second series he is unsecure again? Other demigods are afraid of him again? That doesn't make so much sense and appears really forced. In the first series Nico is a strong chatacter who travels on his own and is in searching of his past and works as a sort of a spy during the war against Kronos till the end, where he convinced Hades to join the battle and finally is accepted with his father. His arc in the second series seems disconneted. Unsecure, confident, unsecure and then confident again? What?

Let's no start with solangelo. Riordan made them a couple just for validating Nico's sexuality. He didn't put any effort writing about them, just some random scenes to please the fans. If Will was a girl nobody would ever give a shit about solangelo, because it would have been called RUSHED by the fandom, just like caleo is always defined rushed.

Seriously, there were others characters who were so much more queercoded than Nico (like Leo, Piper and Reyna) and the only reason why it made sense on Riordan's eyes is because Nico is from the 1930s. In terms of personal arc not at all.

Anon I’ve had this since the 5th of April, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner

I’m really happy people got representation, I’m ace and I know how joyful it can be to read about someone who is like you. But that being said, I wish rep was properly written and thought out

To me pjo-Nico didn’t feel comphet so much as Leo did in the beginning of HoO and I will forever be salty that Leo’s supposed to be straight, Nico seemed to legit have crushes on girls (or at least feel attraction)

The idea that he was chosen because he was out of time upsets me a bit because it feels like it implies there’s no internalised homophobia nowadays, and so the character from the 40s is the only one who would experience it (I don’t think Rick thought that at all, mind you, but it feels that way to me)

As for Solangelo, I’m not a fan of canon Solangelo. I hope I’m wrong, but in some cases I feel like it’s getting too fetished by the fandom. Some people have legit created a good development for Nico and Will, and that’s awesome, I take my hat off for them. In canon, tho, I agree that if either of them were a girl, the fandom wouldn’t care for them bc they wouldn’t be “woke enough” to cover for their weaknesses

As for general character arcs, HoO was destructive for those. Percy lost his loyalty, Nico became a reclusive introvert again, Leo’s arc... it makes me sad, Piper's and Jason’s arcs were supposedly resolved but then they weren’t? Frank’s and Hazel’s arcs were mentioned in SoN and then never again... I love HoO, I’m very nostalgic for it, but character arcs weren’t its strong point

#anon confessions #unpopular opinions #cevenini responde #tagthescullion #rr crit #long post #pjo #hoo #toa #riordanverse #nico di angelo #piper mclean #leo valdez #reyna avila ramirez arellano

95 notes · View notes