Hey there folks last time you were with me
We went over the wide world of 90s cartoons and queer representation as a period marked by a cultural contradiction
which saw a growing perception of kid shows as some kind of breeding ground for the indoctrination of
young people to the ways of the gays and
transgenders despite
very few real positive examples of that
it was certainly one well worth covering and cover it we did
In our hunt to see how these topics were really presented during this period
We look to shows like Ed, Edd and Eddy
Hey Arnold
The Simpsons
Lloyd in Space and many more concluded the reality that though a couple vaguely
Progressive genuinely accepting episodes could be found as we dug through the archives
They were for the most part vastly overshadowed by shows that turned LGBT people into overblown punchlines
"Tonight, you're sleeping on the sofa"
If they are even willing to openly depict them instead of hiding behind authorial claims
But alas I made a fatal error with this episode
An error I simply couldn't have predicted
One which threatens to damage the integrity of me and my work
I did not watch every single episode of every single '90s cartoon
To be serious, the comments section on our last video did a great job of pointing out a few show is worth a look for
a more cumulative understanding of this topic even because they genuinely did a good job of covering it all because they
uh, kinda didn't
"If I help you with this, do you promise to get out of my gender and stay out?"
So I decided to correct my grievous error and check at least some of these suggestions out
While I finished the scripts on my next big long video about a very bad film
All this to say I'm gonna be quickly running through these episodes giving a few thoughts and then leaving it up to you
The viewer
I'll probably be using some language you might not understand unless you watched my previous video
So if you haven't done so yet, please watch that first. Link in the description
Without further ado,
Let's tuck into the old saggy sack and pull us out some queer geared animated treats
Quick note:
I know a lot of you brought up Sailor Moon after I put up my last video and even from just the cursory understanding
I had about the show, I was slamming my head against the table realizing this that:
"Welcome to the gay room, Sailor scouts!"
Sailor Moon is both a perfect example of solid '90s cartoon
LGBT representation AND a perfect example of how this stuff was repressed for most Western audiences
This hugely popular sh-
This hugely popular show marketed, primarily towards kids, had not just one but two gay couples
both boys and girls
The latter of which are among the main cast of the show, no one and done cameos here
Or at least these are gay couples if you watched the Japanese version or
Read up on the original manga because in the original American release
Yep, those gay gals are actually-
"They're girls, and cousins, too!"
"You're the best cousins in the world"
"My cousin wants to know if you'd like to race her again"
"We're cousins, we grew up together"
Those gay dudes? Well actually one is a lady
Open gay flirtation becomes inoffensive snark touchy-feely moments become just bros being bros
"What's better than this? Guys bein dudes"
Entire storylines which put more emphasis into this stuff either get highly dubbed over or edited. It's uh
pretty much the worst possible treatment of a fantastic show of representation
topped only by the Russian release which instead makes one of the gay characters actually a man who transforms into a woman at will
Accidental gender fluidity, yeah
And the Albanian release which just straight up cuts the seasons which feature these characters
The sad part is that so many people I spoke to about my last video cited Sailor Moon as one of the properties that introduced them to LGBT positivity as a kid
Albeit only after some further research
It leaves me to wonder how many more queer kids out there
May have benefited from shows like this which treat LGBT concepts with such a degree of normalcy
And it also makes me wish I had actually watch this show as a kid
You see, being raised as a young lad in the regular old needlessly gendered world
Most of us grew up in, there were two shows I wanted to watch but felt an intolerable discomfort
About the idea of being seen to do so
Sailor Moon and Powerpuff Girls
Too much pink, too many love hearts, too many little girls frolicking about firing rainbows
In a world where all of these things were basically giant flaming warning labels reading "For Girls, Not For Boys"
It all wound up just scaring me off
As such, while I did want to get in real deep with a segment on the show
I just don't have the background watching it to really speak about it with authority
This isn't just about watching one or two specific queer issue episodes to get me up to speed
These are entire seasons covering these relationships
And as much as I try to write around it it felt so unfair to just try and vaguely describe something I haven't really gone through
So here's my acknowledgment that Sailor Moon is a great example of everything I've spoke about
And a light suggestion to occasionally remind me to get through the show so I can do a full video about it
Encouraging my audience to pester me about something on social media? That will definitely work out well
Over the course of its run, King of the Hill had quite a few episodes at least circling around the bowl of the lgbts
Most generally positive and at least with their hearts quote-unquote in the right place
This is something sort of granted to them by virtue of the fact that King of the Hill was not a kid show though
It's included here because much like with The Simpsons a lot of kids wound up watching it anyway
Remember, can't talk about the queers directly to kids
That's basically just one step away from showing them Boku No Pico apparently
Episode 16 of season 6, My Own Private Rodeo
introduces us to Dale's out-of-the-closet father, Bug
In the midst of he and his wife, Nancy, renewing their wedding vows for one reason or another
The big joke of the episode is that Dale isn't actually aware his father is gay
And while he had disowned dear old dad from his family, it wasn't due to his homosexuality
But quite the opposite
Dale saw his dad trying to lock lips with dear sweet Nancy and has sworn him off ever since
In trying to fix the rift between Dale and Bug
Hank discovers the reality that the apparent womanizing incident was actually a last-ditch attempt by Bug to cover up his sexuality to his son
A panicked act gone horribly wrong
The revelation that Bug even had a son sends him and his partner, Juan Pedro, into a dangerous spat
And Hank heads off to try and explain the situation to Dale
Dale was not having it
Even when his dad arrives, to finally out himself to his son, in typical Dale fashion
He gathers up that his dad is hiding a deep secret and has a male partner and declares that he must therefore be FBI
To make a long story short the misunderstanding eventually gets resolved
And after all the build-up Dale finally realizes his father sexuality
To which he is
fine with it
Dale is honestly more just relieved to find out his dad isn't a secret government agent
And ultimately indifferent to his dad's homosexuality
Now for a show set in suburban Texas the heartland of good ole conservative values,
I'd say this was a pretty smart way of handling gay panic
The framework of the disowned gay family member rejected for their deviant behavior
Is a pretty common one in media and obviously echoes the reality for many people, especially at this time
And especially in these sorts of communities
The fact that this show manages to take their narrative and use what we know about the characters to create something a lot more lighthearted and ultimately
Accepting without the need for the typical self serious "facing the queer" issue episode
That's pretty neat
A few foibles here and there like Bug's Latino lover basically fitting every possible flamboyant gay sterotype
And the whole, I don't know..
"He's gay, so he works at a gay rodeo!"
It is just a joke, it really doesn't matter much
Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by this one, a change of pace from the usual
"He's gay? gasp!
Hold for audience laughter."
Is always a pleasant thing and hey, look they did an episode about gender identity, too
I bet this one will be just as-
"I just had the best time with this new girl Peggy Hill
"I don't know what his real name is"
So in this episode Peggy's feeling self-conscious due to the paranoia that she's regularly perceived as
"mannish"
Her interests aren't super ladylike, her aesthetic isn't the most feminine, and most importantly she's got big feet
Things take a turn for the better when she bumps into Carolyn, a charming young lady also suffering from an unfortunate foot size problem
They hit it off and Carolyn, being quite the fashionista, even helps Peggy pick out some new outfits to make her feel more like a woman
Peggy's happy to meet a lady who she feels such a strong connection to until, drum roll please
That's no lady
It turns out Carolyn is actually Jamie, a part time drag queen, working under the assumption that
Peggy is also a drag queen due to her more quote/unquote masculine appearance and behavior
To make matters worse, Carolyn has invited Peggy along to perform with them at a drag show
which apparently is a problem because
I don't know I guess bio queens aren't a thing here
When all of this is revealed to Peggy, She breaks down and Hank is forced to try and comfort her
In some ways this is all reminiscent of the gay episode
Flipping the scripts and what we might expect with this kind of social issue story
Instead of being upset that his dad's gay, Dale is upset because he doesn't know his dad's gay
Instead of the drag queen having to deal with misgendering, it's Peggy being misgendered by the drag queen
But as you might be feeling at this point, here seems a little more
messy
With the help of Hank who is actually super sensitive about this issue
Never overtly calling Carolyn out, but always referring to the respective persona he wishes to speak to
"Hello Carolyn? I was calling to get Jamie's number
"Oh, yes? Oh, that'd be great
"Hello, Jamie"
Peggy and Carolyn make amends
She then bonds with the drag queens who, as some comforts, are in love with Peggy's particular brand of femininity
So the message of this episode seems to be floating around the area of
Femininity is not so rigid as we make it out to be, there are different types of femininity
But then something feels odd about this conflation of Peggy's incidental atypical gender mannerisms with the overt performance of drag
Again, I think their heart's in the right place here
Peggy's pain is inward, she never shames Carolyn for being a drag queen
Carolyn isn't really shown as being all erratic or irrational in some way
But if it was reductive both to cis women and drag queens that essentially,
Cis women who don't look or act in a stereotypically feminine way and
Drag culture are being lumped together here
Is it like Peggy and the drag queens are together broadening that which we call feminine?
Is it Peggy acts outside of traditional Femininity and that's okay because she has drag queen pals to share that experience with?
Or maybe more optimistically
Is it that drag queens who were introducing Peggy to an established different notion of femininity that they have cultivated and are welcoming her into?
Something feels off at least to me
but I do give a thumbs up to the show for again confronting this especially to demonstrate how a
Conservative southern family could confront these issues in a less antagonistic way
And hey, I am NOT the authority here
Definitely more than happy to check through comments below and chat about what your response to the episode might be
Especially if this is a culture you're more familiar with
And now for something completely different
Bling blong! this show right here is the bombest shit, and fell right into the early 2000s adult cartoon field of
Horribly mismanaged from beginning to end
The show was pulled from the WB network's late-night slot after just two episodes then a year later came back for another four
Then the full season didn't finish airing until the show got a cult following at adult swim not including the last five episodes which never got funded past animatics
And yes by extension had never made it past the first season which sucks because the show has
A vibrant striking look very down-to-earth
Characters that are easy to connect with and manages to move deftly between the issues of aimless
20-somethings, self-conscious teens, and yes, the gays
Specifically the de facto series finale plan 9 from Mission Hill or I married a gay man from outer space
Kevin the teen brother of layabout main character, Andy, is dealing with puberty stuff
Ever the goody two-shoes Kevin starts to find himself having urges on passing a local movie theater advertising adult screenings
Eventually caving in to them insatiable pubescent feels and getting himself a ticket
Joke's on him, it's actually a screening of the 1969 classic Midnight Cowboy
The story of a young gay prostitute struggling in New York
As Kevin's neighbor and co-owner of the theatre Wally explains
Midnight Cowboy's infamous X rating came not from the fact that it was particularly horny or pornographic a film
But from the fact that it was a frank depiction of homosexuality at a time when that was far from the norm
While it wasn't quite what he was looking for, the movie still piques Kevin's interest in classic cinema
And him and Wally make a weekly habit of checking out the latest prestige movie reruns together
Wally teaches Kevin about new ways to enjoy film
Not just to view movies as some consumable object built simply to generate mass appeal
But to observe and appreciate as the result of a personal vision
This all comes to a crashing halt on the discovery of a movie that all had thought to be lost to the sands of time
The Man From Pluto, an obscure science fiction movie from back in the day
Kevin and company take this as noteworthy
Mostly for the fact that the eponymous Pluto man look exactly like Gus
Wally's husband and the owner of the gangs local diner
It turns out, it is him from an old movie starring him written and directed by Wally
This takes Kevin aback
Confused as to why Wally would hide such an achievement, but he's mostly just happy to have discovered a copy of the once-lost auteur relic
So much so in fact
That Kevin spreads news of the film all across town and before you know it pretty much everyone in Mission Hill arrives to check out the film's first grand show
It's
different
"I am here. Here at last"
In fact in the tradition of Planet 9 from outer space
It's a camp-ridden movie with bizarre attempts at visual effects, awkward and stilted dialogue and utterly nonsensical
casting choices particularly when it comes to Gus himself
More "thug with an anchor tattoo from an old gangster movie" than "otherworldly alien from a distant planet"
GUS: "Your weapons is like toys!"
Wally despairs at seeing the audience slowly begin falling into fits of laughter and he heads home with Gus
After some pressuring, Wally tells the story of how the movie ended up like that
They Come From the Stars, a sci-fi allegory on Cold War politics, was to be Wally's first big break back when he was an aspiring director
An opportunity to chase his dream project with decent studio backing
The film, in fact, was shaping up pretty nicely until disaster struck
Wally fell head-over-heels in love for the roughneck stagehand working on set
So much is Wally enamored by this infatuation that he brings Gus on as the replacement for the lead character in his film
A decision which increasingly puts Gus at odds with his production team causing disagreement after
Disagreement until eventually Gus was working on no budget and forced to make the best out of amateur performers, cardboard props, and basement set prestige
Changes were forced out of necessity and Wally wound up o embarrassed by the finished product that he left Hollywood in disgrace
Here's the thing though
People aren't hating the film. In fact, in repeated showings at Wally's theater, people are loving it
It's an instant cult hit with audiences regularly getting tickets to examine the strange eccentricities and just plain anomalies of the work
Kevin, against all odds, convinces Wally maybe in some way
He did make a great film
"You're the one who taught me that all great movies have a personal vision
"Wally, this whole movie is your Valentine to Gus. It couldn't be any more personal"
"Oh, that still doesn't make it great"
"I'm not so sure"
For the first time in a while, Wally is pleased with what he's made of himself
He returns home to Gus and the pair settle in to enjoy the rest of their lives together
Now what you may have spotted here is that at face value
This episode is not about the fact that Wally and Gus are gay
Their relationship is key to the story
But the fact that it's a gay relationship is incidental to the tale itself
Gus could have been "Greta" and it'd still be basically the same story of a young director
Too blinded by love to care about what those around them think
Again, at face value
What's so wonderful here is that the episode neither makes an issue out of their homosexuality
The main conflict here has nothing to do with the fact that Wally or Gus are gay
And yet deals directly with themes relating to gay representation
Kevin is awakened to the grand artistic potential of cinema by Midnight Cowboy
A film judged unfairly not by the production itself, but by it being perceived as a deviant depiction of sexuality
Which was, and I quote, "a possible influence on youngsters"
This allows Wally to show Kevin how these films can often be seen radically differently by these different audiences
The value of perception in acceptance and the power of persisting with what energizes your particular vision
In a sense,
We are talking about the gay struggle in these particularly oppressive periods. Particularly when it comes to the artistic world
ACTOR: "Oh come on! Whatever that guy did to get that part I can do be-"
ACTOR: "See ya."
Made explicit by the use of Midnight Cowboy as a jumping-off point for the episode
To act on what we truly believe in even if it isn't what those around us necessarily approve of
This is also a great metaphor for the show itself
Mission Hill is itself a show about outcasts
How people who feel rejected in society can come together and navigate the murky waters together.
Kevin is a suburban nerd thrown into city life
Andy is a cartoonist struggling to fit within the capitalist structure
And Wally and Gus are, well
Wally and Gus
A gay couple at a time when gay couples were only acknowledged by society in the most limited possible terms
And that's one more point that Mission Hill earns as far as representation goes
In comparison to what we were mostly getting for gay representation in the late '90s, Gus and Wally is so
Regular. There is no flamboyance. No sticking to overly stereotypical archetypes
And as far as I can recall their homosexuality was a peripheral part of their characters not just an avenue for cheap laughs
Now I could also talk about how the treatment of the show itself as a representation of this principle that
Mishandling by executives was a direct result of it not fitting easily within typical genre conformities that the show itself was an outcast
But then I might just suffocate from going so far up my own ass about the show. Hey, it's really good
Wally and Gus are good representation
Thumbs up. Yes, go watch it, please. Thank you
Now this is the one
Holy shit am I glad I did not miss this
Thank you so much to the commenters who pointed this episode out to me
Robot Jones was a show I caught on and off as a youngin
The endearing story of a robot kid just trying to fit in in a middle school which places him as essentially a token minority among humans
Robot Jones wants to understand human nature to help him adjust to others
And so each episode generally deals with some unique human concept for Jones to wrap his head around and
maybe draw some deep philosophical conclusions
And boy, oh boy did they pick a winner with season 2 episode 1
For copyright purposes I can only show short clips of the episode
But rest assured all of this is worth watching for very good reasons
"Why do boys and girls need separate bathrooms?"
We begin here with Jones musing in the hall about gender things
His defining curiosity here pointed at the question of what really separates the men from the ladies
It's at this point Jones is called over by a friend into the boys room
Despite being essentially a genderless robot, Jones has always been generally accepted as male by his classmates
A pretty typical way people respond to seeing essentially ungendered characters
Notice how a stick figure is a male until you give them a skirt and long hair or
How this yellow blob is a boy until you give it lipstick and a bow
It's another confusing and arbitrary facet of how places like the U. S. deal with gender
Which Robot here is going to have to deal with
On extending his questions to the boys club
They begin rattling off warnings about what will happen to Jones if he exposes himself to the girls bathroom
That they'll make him sick, that they're heinous demons to be avoided at all costs, that he should be afraid
Very afraid
Robot, still not attuned to the human penchant for hyperbole, starts to take these claims deadly seriously
Especially as boys show up to continue to corroborate
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa what's going on here?
It WAS leftist propaganda all alo-
Long story short by a class time the mere idea of girls terrifies Jones to the bone.
And it's at this point the students are assigned electives, which
Is that how school for works in America? Who knows
Maybe Americans
Two of the girls, Pam and Stacy, are assigned home ec. a revelation which leaves them none too pleased
Until it's revealed another girl has been assigned to work in the auto shop
The middle school auto shop
America?
while this assignment actually seems to very much interest young Chrissy
This is immediately fodder for a torrent of laughter from the other girls
She got a "guy class"
You can sort of see where this is going
Girls get chastised when they don't get "girl classes" guys are relieved when they're assigned "men things" like metalworking
Video game design
You win this round, gamers
Robot even joins in the mockery when a guy gets home ec. despite we as an audience knowing he doesn't really understand these arbitrary lines at all
And then he gets home ec.
"Home Ec.?"
"Home Ec.?!"
"Home Ec.?"
Now he's the butt of the joke and worst of all he's forced to work with girls
Robot still doesn't exactly know why he's supposed to be scared of girls, but he is
Intensely, and this leads him to immediately retreat to work with the one boy in his class
I feel like this is an experience alot of young lads who can probably empathize with
As it goes robot has a knack for sewing while Pam and Stacy decidedly do not
Noticing this they decide to try and rope Jonesy into helping them
He announces his intense fear of them declaring that his buddy Mitch told him they'd rip out his insides and make him vomit
Pam laughs this off, calls Mitch a liar, and assures robot she just wants to get along
And that's pretty much how it goes Jones even starts to make friends among the girls
Readjusting his evaluation of girls from bad to okay
Now up to this point it's been fairly standard moral lessons for kids
Boys and girls should both be treated with respect
Nothing that's gonna rock the boat too much in the late '90s early 2000s
Now comes the clincher
As he begins being chastised by the boys for his change in opinion regarding girls
Robot has gathered up to this point really the only things socially
Separating boys and girls in this school is the fact that they have different interests
Except Jones likes boy and girl activities and seems to enjoy the girls company even though boys apparently shouldn't
And none of this really makes sense
So Jones heads off into the girls bathroom to hang out
They get some ideas of fun things to do and whoopty-doo
Jones's decided they might actually prefer being a girl
In this 2002 Cartoon Network show, the main character transitions from boy to girl
At least until a spat kicks off that only further complicates robot's understanding of gender
The boys snatch him back from the girls, wipe off robots makeup, and insists they're being a traitor
meanwhile
The girls return to try and reclaim Robot and this starts to feel oddly similar to another episode I've already covered
The gender binary has once again fallen into simple tribalism and
Just as before, our victim decides enough is enough and abandons both parties
Jones decides, after all the strange and contradictory data, to come to their own conclusions about this whole gender thing
Final analysis:
Girls and boys are basically the same
Now there's a few things we can say that makes this early 2000s
Kids cartoon a bit messy in its own sort of way late into conversations about LGBT issues
Robot is, after all, a robot
Which leads to certain problems
Formost is the fact that their decision to transition partway through the episode is treated as totally spur-of-the-moment
Based more on his robot mind just trying to grapple the rational aspect of what defines gender
Now, there is a whole group of fun folks out there who do deal with gender in this way
They simply feel a certain way at certain time. Absolutely fine, all power to them
The trouble in robots case is it would probably be a bit too easy for people looking at this episode in bad faith
To conclude this is an example of quote-unquote "transtrenders"
Someone simply choosing to transition because they're confused or want to feel like they fit in
Now, real actual evidence that "transtrending" is a significant problem in any shape or form is basically non-existent
But when's that stopped people from attacking LGBT identities before
This is mostly just to acknowledge that it's a bit tricky to show something like this in an episode
mostly comprised of the main character being confused about what gender is or what it means
but
Fucking hell man, even more so than with our Lloyd example last video
This show is using children's entertainment to tackle subjects even adults can't have reasonable conversations about nearly 20 years later
Without a Mad Libs rerun of the gay panic of prior decades
"What's this going to do to my children?"
Well, by and large, absolutely nothing other than
maybe make them feel a bit more comfortable with their identities if they decide to take an interest in something
That for some irrational reason has been designated to "that other gender"
And I think it's fantastic that this show went there
That they move past the simple inoffensive message that boys should respect girls and girls should respect boys and into the territory of
Hey, maybe these group designations really don't matter that much in the first place
Maybe the parts that may or may not be between your pants
You know, those parts most people will never even see
Shouldn't come with this laundry list of predefined
Interests and behaviors that you must abide by or else be seen as some kind of twisted deviant
Maybe these distinctions just aren't that useful outside of very specific interactions between a person and their doctor
Maybe these strict frameworks of identity are
Actually what's confusing kids far more than just telling them they're allowed to enjoy what they want to enjoy
Behave how they'd like to behave as long as they're not being jerks
Maybe you can just wear a suit or wear a dress or put on some makeup or be the one that stays home with the kids
Maybe you don't need colors for girls
And maybe I can watch Sailor Moon and Powerpuff Girls
And maybe posing the question of why any of this needs to be so set in our minds as kids is a far more eye-opening one
Than demanding we work backwards to explain over and over and over again why it doesn't
Because these people who want nothing more than to live their lives comfortably
Who really truly are not out to hurt anyone
Maybe they have the right to that as much as you do
These are concepts, one way or another, we're all going to have to deal with
And having shows like those I've discussed here and in my last video that cracked the door on that
Perhaps aren't actually the cause for panic they were so deemed to be
And he code word is avocado toast
If you didn't use it in your comment, I know you didn't watch this to the end
Whoof
okay well that was something
Again, I want to thank all of you who suggested these shows to me
Diving back into this topic his week has actually been a lot of fun
as I said
This was intended as just a brief return to the world of '90s cartoon queers before I delve into something much bigger
Which hopefully you'll be just as into
I'm gonna be a bit more pushy about the old Patreon this time
seriously
if all of you new folks gave one dollar that would basically
Eliminate the piles of busywork that keep me away from just pumping out more of these
And you get more bonus content and unlockable goodies
If you can't do that just sharing this video around on reddit or twitter or your local discord could help just as much
There's also Ko-fi for small one some donations
If you want to keep up with the next episodes development be sure to follow me over on twitter
Where I'll be posting most of my updates
You can also chat with me there about the video or just comment down below and hey while you're down there
Give it a like give it a subscribe and hit that bell button to actually know when things I make come out
More and more you just keep popping up with each video, which is you know, a good thing!
Today, I'd like to thank Alba, Alex Wennberg, Kristen Roers, Leporibae,
Stephanie Bullard, Unnamed Muffin, Vrisha Jhriress, Owen Maitzen, Peter Coffin,
SleepySlug, Large Raccoon, Jordan Hoxsie, Bira'yurr
Dyl,  Michael Q Warnock, and Holymittens
And most of all a huge huge thanks to E. V.  Roske,
Le Tyr, and Nichtschwert
And Cain Johnson and Collin Johnson
You, in all seriousness make the channel possible
That about does it for now. So from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for watching
Love you all and stay safe
