"Gay" Caroons?!

[sdedalus]

"Gay" Cartoons?!

All this talk of SpongeBob made me think about my cartoon viewing habits growing up.... I wonder if there is any corrolation between bisexuality/homsexuality and the cartoons you watched. Probably has nothing to do with anything, I don't really think cartoons influences my life or anything. I just get weird looks when i say (as a guy) that I used to enjoy watching stuff like the Care Bears & Rainbow Bright.

I'd be curious to hear other's thoughts on gender/sexual identification and cartoons. Does anyone else relate or read anything into their childhood television viewing habits??

Discuss.....

SD

 

[College_geek]

There should be nothing wrong with that...you were a kid for gods sake! Who cares if young boys play with dolls and young girls play with army men? As a child, you're suposed to play and explore and learn about yourself and the world around you. Adulthood comes too soon anyway.

 

[Raimondin]

All this talk of SpongeBob made me think about my cartoon viewing habits growing up.... I wonder if there is any corrolation between bisexuality/homsexuality and the cartoons you watched. Probably has nothing to do with anything, I don't really think cartoons influences my life or anything. I just get weird looks when i say (as a guy) that I used to enjoy watching stuff like the Care Bears & Rainbow Bright.

I'd be curious to hear other's thoughts on gender/sexual identification and cartoons. Does anyone else relate or read anything into their childhood television viewing habits??

Discuss.....

SD

Yeah, of course.

Have you ever seen any of the Looney Tune characters?

Bugs Bunny was always coming out dressed in drag looking like Carmen Miranda or as a hot pin-up chick kissing Elmer Fudd on the mouth!

Although I always knew I was gay as a kid, watching these cartoons was the only thing
that made me feel, or gave me the feeling that it was ok. At the same time it didn't influence me to go to my mom's closet and put on makeup, her highheels and dresses.

It was like my own little secret cartoon world.
At the same time I also was aware that it wan't quite so
outside my front door.

This is probably the very thing these so-called Christian groups fear,
that kids will react and accept tolerance and open-mindedness.

 

[John Doe]

My brother and I watched the Care Bears when we were little. We even had little plush carebears. I'm bi, but my brother's straight as an arrow*, go figure.

*To a point. While he's straight, he is aware of homophobia and what it is quite often indicative of.

 

[glamorilla]

im not sure if theres a connection.

i grew up loving comic books with my favorite of all time being the Marv Wolfman/George Perez New Teen Titans series. I used to lurk and post on the dc comics message board and a few others a few years back and it was kind of wild to see the series has a very large vocal gay fanbase.

 

[College_geek]

I would think there's no connection. It all depends on who the person is and what they like. It's similar to the gender roles we're fed as kids. I always believed them when I was little- thinking that videogames were "boys stuff"- course then when I was twelve and my family got a Playstation, I became addicted. It doesn't mean I'm like a guy or anything, I just love the games.

 

[Raimondin]

im not sure if theres a connection.

No, I don't think there's a connection.

I was gay before I started watching cartoons. No,
the cartoons didn't make me or "turn me" gay.

I know that sounds a little farfetched for a kid
at nine or ten years old but maybe I was the
exception.

All I know is that watching some of these toons
like Bugs Bunny coming out in drag kissing
Elmer Fudd just helped me understand
the "concept" a little better, in my own
"kid" way.

Like the kid next door watching "GI-Joe" and
him "identifying" with that character.

 

[glamorilla]

No, I don't think there's a connection.

I was gay before I started watching cartoons. No,
the cartoons didn't make me or "turn me" gay.

I know that sounds a little farfetched for a kid
at nine or ten years old but maybe I was the
exception.

All I know is that watching some of these toons
like Bugs Bunny coming out in drag kissing
Elmer Fudd just helped me understand
the "concept" a little better, in my own
"kid" way.

Like the kid next door watching "GI-Joe" and
him "identifying" with that character.

i understand what youre saying there. i was born gay..there wasnt an outside influence but i do think its kind of unusual that this comic book series has such a high number of gay fans. we even used to discuss it. there was a forum for each title dc comics publishes and the the forum for this book was considered the gay one. i used to wonder if there was something in this series that appealed to all of us and if so what was it..there were no gay characters in it.

 

[Raimondin]

i understand what youre saying there. i was born gay..there wasnt an outside influence but i do think its kind of unusual that this comic book series has such a high number of gay fans. we even used to discuss it. there was a forum for each title dc comics publishes and the the forum for this book was considered the gay one. i used to wonder if there was something in this series that appealed to all of us and if so what was it..there were no gay characters in it.

Yeah, I remember some of my friends that were really into the DC comics thing.
I think I missed out on that one.

Although I'm very familiar with lots of the DC stuff,
it was only in a "glancing through" sort of way.

Well, there must be something very subliminal, hidden,
or cryptic in these comic book series, with their "larger than life"
characters that somehow has attracted (and connected with)
a large gay fanbase.
Maybe it's the very masculine male image these characters portray where the attraction is.
I can't pinpoint it either.

At the same time I can't help but to think of SNL's comic hero toon parody
"The Ambiguously Gay Duo" lampooning all of this.
Maybe the AGD was the artist's way of extracting that very "mystique"
aspect of these comic books that has appealed to the gay audience.
Of course in a very exaggerated and campy sort of way.
I think that was his point...

 

[WyldSpirit]

No, I don't think there's a connection.

I was gay before I started watching cartoons. No,
the cartoons didn't make me or "turn me" gay.

I know that sounds a little farfetched for a kid
at nine or ten years old but maybe I was the
exception.

All I know is that watching some of these toons
like Bugs Bunny coming out in drag kissing
Elmer Fudd just helped me understand
the "concept" a little better, in my own
"kid" way.

Like the kid next door watching "GI-Joe" and
him "identifying" with that character.

I definately don't think that it is far-fetched at all that you knew at 9 or 10 that you were gay. I've basically known my whole life that I was bi. Long before I knew what sex was, I knew. As soon as I was noticing boys, I was also noticing girls. My first kiss was a girl and that was probably third grade. I really believe that for most of us our sexuality is something that is hard wired and that there isn't any amount of influence, cartoon or otherwise, that could change it.

Anyway, there's my "two cents"

Hope everyone is well and having a great weekend. I've been very busy these last few days. Should be back on more of my "normal" schedule here now and online more.

 

[sdedalus]

I guess the best way to put it in my case though would be that maybe I watched certain types of cartoons because i was okay with them... just as I am okay with thinking about the same sex and the opposite sex.

I was just thinking back... I mean identifying as bisexual and being into both Rainbow Bright and GI Joe & Transformers... kinda makes you wonder...

I'm not really saying it's the cartoons that help make you a certain way, but I was just curious if other identified their younger behaviors (i.e. Cartoon choices) with their current lifestyle...

SD

 

[WyldSpirit]

Granted we all grew up in different time frames. I'm 27, so my clearest memories of cartoons and things like that are early 80's and on. Geez, there were soooo many, of course there were the "classics" Loonytoons, Smurfs (one girl and all those boys, anyone have anything to say about that???) but my favorites were probably Thundercats (I was so excited when they re-released that on cartoon network!) He-Man, Scooby-Doo, and of course the Hanna-Barbera cartoons (Flintstones, Jetsons, Yogi, Tom&Jerry, Etc.) geez, I'm trying to remember, I mean, we are talking 20+ years ago here for some of the earlier stuff I would say that yes, I did watch a lot of the more "male oriented" cartoons, but, I was always quite a bit of a tomboy.

Personally, I would think that there would be a problem if they didn't show healthy displays of affection such as holding hands between friends on cartoons. Since when did the concern about cartoons suddenly stop being about the amount of extreme and sometimes disturbingly realistic violence, or, how about how they have "dumbed down" most cartoons to meet the intelligence of your average two year old (has anyone seen catdog? now that's quality programming for our youth!) and started being about whether the same sex characters are holding hands? I personally haven't seen Spongebob, but my best friend has 3 children ranging from 8 to 13 and I know it's one of the few cartoons out now that she actually approves of them watching and will watch with them. The other current cartoon that I have seen that I greatly enjoy (seen because of watching with the best friend and her kids) is Recess, she had rented the movie for the kids and we actually watched it after they'd gone to bed that's how cute that toon is, it really does a very good job showing the interactions of kids on the schoolyard in gradeschool and all the little "cliques"

 

[Raimondin]

I mean, we are talking 20+ years ago here for some of the earlier stuff I would say that yes, I did watch a lot of the more "male oriented" cartoons, but, I was always quite a bit of a tomboy.

Personally, I would think that there would be a problem if they didn't show healthy displays of affection such as holding hands between friends on cartoons. Since when did the concern about cartoons suddenly stop being about the amount of extreme and sometimes disturbingly realistic violence, or, how about how they have "dumbed down" most cartoons to meet the intelligence of your average two year old (has anyone seen catdog? now that's quality programming for our youth!) and started being about whether the same sex characters are holding hands? I personally haven't seen Spongebob, but my best friend has 3 children ranging from 8 to 13 and I know it's one of the few cartoons out now that she actually approves of them watching and will watch with them. The other current cartoon that I have seen that I greatly enjoy (seen because of watching with the best friend and her kids) is Recess, she had rented the movie for the kids and we actually watched it after they'd gone to bed that's how cute that toon is, it really does a very good job showing the interactions of kids on the schoolyard in gradeschool and all the little "cliques"

Yeah, I completely understand what you're saying here.

I'm just worried about all these new animated video games, like the Playstation or Nintendo stuff that is so very violent compared to the toons we've been talking about. There's no comparison!
That should be an area of more concern. There areso many animated video games covering everything from how to steal cars to mutilating bodies full of violence, blood and gore.
That's scary!
Leave SpongeBob alone...

You too. Have a great weekend!

 

[sdedalus]

Yea cartoons have definetly gone downhill... at least the after school and saturday morning fair... then again we aren't really the audience for that anymore....

the adult cartoons are still great... Family Guy... Simpsons (although increasingly ADD'd out), and South Park are still on my TIVO...

i like that they have brough back some of the old stuff from our 80s childhoods... Thundercats... definetly a GREAT... and the new Masters of The Universe (He-Man) whatever the hell they call it now is good... I just can't get used to the new GI Joe and Transformers stuff in 3D... I think it looks corny... but maybe it's just my classic bias...

Oddly enough I ran across a new Care Bears in 3D animation the other day... that weirded me out... I wonder if they have Beastly and Shreeky... she was cute...