XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: alt.politics.homosexuality   
   From: roto-rooter@flush.com   
      
   The antelopes next door were gay — maybe.   
      
   For viewers of the animated Disney hit Zootopia, it's been a bit   
   of a guessing game. In an early scene, rookie rabbit police   
   officer Judy moves into her new apartment and meets her new   
   neighbors. Bucky and Pronk are both antelopes and both men, who   
   live together and bicker like a married couple. But . . . were   
   they?   
      
   The answer, available to sharp-eyed movie fans, comes in the   
   closing credits: Bucky and Pronk share a last name, Oryx-   
   Antlerson.   
      
   While gay and lesbian characters are standard players in movies   
   and TV shows for adults, they remain a fleeting or barely   
   acknowledged presence in children's entertainment.   
      
   Last week, a campaign to change this caught fire on Twitter,   
   under the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend — a plea to Disney to   
   make one half of its beloved princess duo a lesbian in the   
   forthcoming sequel to its 2013 animated blockbuster Frozen.   
      
   A kids' movie may seem like the last place to be talking about   
   sex. But advocates note that in almost every gaudy princess film   
   or action-packed superhero cartoon, there are relationships —   
   moms and dads, aunts and uncles, princes and princesses — that,   
   thus far, have quietly reinforced a very traditional standard   
   for romantic love.   
      
   Yet Disney and other giants of children's entertainment have   
   evolved over the decades to reflect changing norms — from   
   including characters of many races to ditching the trope of   
   helpless damsels in distress. Could creating a hero with two   
   dads, or giving a princess a girlfriend, be the next step?   
      
   Some Disney fans argued on Twitter that it would have been a   
   huge help for them to see gay characters in movies when they   
   were young — that they might have become more sensitive and   
   accepting towards gay peers, or better able to grapple with   
   their own sexuality. Studies have suggested that seeing gay   
   characters in popular entertainment can decrease prejudice   
   toward those groups.   
      
   "There is no doubt that kids seeing positively portrayed gay   
   characters could have a significant effect that would contribute   
   to such children's learning about the world and who is in it,"   
   said Edward Schiappa, a professor of comparative media studies   
   at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.   
      
   But doing so is a risk for children's entertainment companies,   
   who have a financial incentive to make movies as widely   
   accessible — and therefore as non-controversial — as possible.   
      
   "It can be any little thing that will set off a firestorm," said   
   Lori Pearson, lead critic for Kids-In-Mind, a nonpartisan, non-   
   religious group that warns parents of potentially unsavory   
   content in movies. Pearson points to a time in the mid-1990s   
   when a rumor spread that in The Little Mermaid, there was a   
   suggestive bulge in the pants of the man officiating the wedding   
   of Princess Ariel. Conservative groups called on parents to   
   boycott not just the 1989 classic but all Disney products. The   
   bulge, of course, was nothing more than the cartoon character's   
   knee.   
      
   "Now, especially with the advent of Twitter and places where   
   information can travel quickly, if a certain group decides   
   something in the content is unacceptable, it will spread, and   
   people will decide based on that information not to go see the   
   movie," Pearson said. "And that will ultimately affect the box   
   office."   
      
   When asked if Disney might include an explicitly gay character   
   in a kids film, the company responded that its brand "has always   
   been inclusive, with stories that reflect acceptance and   
   tolerance and celebrate the differences that make our characters   
   uniquely wonderful in their own way. . . . Disney remains   
   committed to continuing to create characters that are accessible   
   and relatable to all children."   
      
   To date, Disney's only obvious instance of a same-sex   
   relationship in children's entertainment came on the small   
   screen. In an episode of Disney Channel's Good Luck Charlie, one   
   of Charlie's friends had two moms.   
      
   The only explicitly gay character in a kids' movie came in   
   ParaNorman, an animated film from Laika, an independent   
   production company. The 2012 cartoon, nominated for the best   
   animated feature Oscar, included a scene in which the character   
   voiced by Anna Kendrick asks a bulky bro named Mitch on a date.   
   Mitch responds by telling her, "You're going to love my   
   boyfriend."   
      
   "I knew it was the first of its kind when I was writing it,"   
   said director Chris Butler, who is gay. "I honestly don't think   
   I worried much about it, but maybe I was a bit naive." Butler   
   drew criticism from some conservative viewers that he had   
   essentially tricked the audience into liking Mitch before   
   revealing he was gay.   
      
   He says his intention was to have every character in the film   
   subvert stereotypes: The bully turns out to be weak, the mean   
   cheerleader becomes loving, the jock is revealed as proudly gay.   
   Plus, he noted, the goofy horror story was meant to pay homage   
   to the old Scooby-Doo cartoons. And Mitch was the member of the   
   gang most like Scooby-Doo's Fred.   
      
   "Of course Fred was gay," Butler said. "Anyone who wears white   
   cashmere sweaters and little neckerchiefs is probably not as   
   interested in Daphne as he says he is."   
      
   Pop culture geeks have long swapped theories about cartoonish   
   characters who maybe-sort of gave off a gay vibe, including   
   cross-dressing Bugs Bunny, high-pitched-voiced SpongeBob   
   SquarePants and best friends/roommates Ernie and Bert. Sesame   
   Street's production company was even compelled to put out a   
   statement on the latter topic some years ago: "They are not gay,   
   they are not straight, they are puppets."   
      
   Traditionally in shows meant for kids, even the characters whom   
   their writers intend to be gay almost never came out and said   
   so. One of the earliest instances of a homosexual relationship   
   in a cartoon was on ABC Family's Braceface. In 2004, the show's   
   Sharon (voiced by Alicia Silverstone) set up her Celine Dion-   
   loving male friend with an interior decorator working on her   
   mom's office. She went on and on about how the boys were a   
   perfect fit for each other, yet the word "gay" was never used.   
      
   "That probably wouldn't have been acceptable to parents," said   
   Melissa Clark, the show's creator. "But it was clearly wrapped   
   in rainbows."   
      
   Most of the hinting done since has been far more subtle, like   
   the scene in Zootopia, or an incredibly brief moment in Frozen:   
   When the character Anna visits a trading post, its owner waves   
   to his family members, sitting in a a nearby sauna. There are   
   four young-looking girls and one large blonde man, who could be   
   the male owner's husband. The family is onscreen for less than   
   two seconds.   
      
   If Disney seems to be creeping cautiously towards recognizing   
   diverse sexualities, it's a natural step in the company's long   
   history of reflecting changing cultural norms.   
      
   In the 1940s, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Hollywood   
   studios to make their films more appealing to South Americans,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)