Animating Queerness Through Representation
Graphic by Vanessa Vergara.
Every time a show has a queer character or relationship it immediately gets put at the top of my watch list. Queer cartoons especially because they're always so wholesome and pure – it’s always a shame when live-action TV shows portray queer people in a worse light compared to cartoons.
Over the past few years, queer representation has become more prominent in Hollywood and media in general. Shows such as Love, Victor, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Dead End: Paranormal Park, and more do a great job showing off queer characters in a good light. These shows are important because they help normalize queer representation in media.
The representation shown in shows such as She-Ra and Dead End is especially important because these are shows geared toward children.
Contrary to what some people may believe, introducing children to queer characters is a good thing because it helps them understand from a young age that these people are normal.
There has been a cultural shift in what is acceptable in media when it comes to queer representation, San Diego State University’s Dr. Amanda Beardsley explained. Beardsley mentioned Tom of Finland – a queer Finnish artist in the mid-twentieth century. Queer representation was different during his time, so he had to censor his art in ways that made them less outwardly sexual. Finland’s work often depicted muscular gay men, while he himself was not that kind of man. It is likely that he used art to portray a fantasy that he had, Beardsley explained.
“I do think there is so one of the larger reasons why, perhaps it's socially permissible to represent queer culture in comics or in cartoons instead of live action,” Beardsley said.
Typically, it seems that current cartoons that feature good queer representation are being made by a newer generation of animators and creators. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Dead End, The Owl House, and Steven Universe are all examples of shows whose creators are young and all happen to be queer.
A large factor in the appeal of cartoons for queer creators is the idea that you can create your own world and, “Redefine things on your own terms,” as said by Assistant Professor of Visual Rhetoric at the University of Florida, Margret Galvan.
Being able to create your own world is a big thing for queer and marginalized creators.
When you create your own world you’re able to escape the bounds of real-world society and expectations.
Creators are able to make worlds that escape the patriarchy or are accepting of every body type. Those aspects aren’t always present in the real world and creating a world where they are present is a really powerful thing.
Cartoons and animation are forms of media that are generally seen as being for children, because of this consuming this kind of media can bring people back to their childhood and be a healing thing.
Consuming and creating queer cartoons can heal the inner child of both the creator and the viewer.
“Wanting to create a space for the kind of representation they (queer creators) wanted to see or would have been useful for them (as children), whether they're making it for children or for adults it takes us (the viewer) back to a different place and reaches us in a different way,” Galvan explained.
Having queer representation behind the scenes in the film and TV industry is important because the industry is highly dominated by straight, cisgender, white men; this explains why so much queer representation in live-action films is either male-dominated and/or just bad representation. We need to have more intersectional representation in Hollywood decision-making rooms if we want there to be more diverse representation on screen explained Associate Director of Journalism and Media Studies at SDSU, Dr. Nathian Shae Rodriguez.
Having queer creators and animators in the cartoon and animation world is a step in the right direction. These creators are not only creating diverse content, but they are showing their audience that queer people are a normal and a beautiful thing in society. Shows like The Owl House and Dead End – and generally most cartoons – are more geared at children, so having queer representation in children's programming makes kids learn to treat queer people with more understanding and kindness than older generations may have.
It’s such a fight to get any kind of diverse representation in shows and movies; even in today’s day and age when people are significantly more accepting than even 20 years ago.
But we still have to keep fighting.
Representation is so important in general, not just to normalize these people in media, but to give diverse viewers characters they can relate to and look up to.
Seeing yourself represented on screen is so important for little kids and people of every age. I know that as a kid, I subconsciously loved when I saw Asian female characters in the shows I watched. It was likely a big reason why I liked shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Winx Club so much. I feel the same way now when I see queer representation; I’m just more aware of why it's so special to me.
Seeing the scene in the last episode of She-Ra when Adora and Catra kiss or in the last scene of The Legend of Korra when Korra and Asami walk together holding hands really spoke to me. Both scenes showed queer women just existing in their love for each other and watching these scenes when I was still in the midst of coming to terms with my sexuality really meant a lot to me; seeing people like me on screen meant the world to me.
I want people to continue to be able to see themselves in film and television as I was.
I hope that there are more groups represented in the future so that more people can look at a character on screen and see themselves up there.