Lu is marketed as a "metaphor for anythg" but the sea monster setup is a perfect allegory for a gay story, and LGBTQ viewers n read that way.
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IS THIS SHARK GAY?
I was today-years-old when I realized an unrlyg theme of Shark Tale uld be g out and gay acceptance. The most recent example of this problematic trend is Dreamworks’ Shark Tale, which has a proment character so metaphorilly drenched sub-meang that ppots wh accintal exactns what is wrong wh the ntemporary Hollywood polil praxis.One of Shark Tale’s ma characters, Lenny (a shark voiced by Jack Black) is so obvly meant to be a doppelganger for a homosexual man that five-year-olds are likely pickg up on well before the scene which Lenny has a garish performance full drag as a dolph (the peaceful, sensive creatur of the film’s world).The characterizatn of Lenny the ntext of the film is important here. What Shark Tale ultimately reprents, and what mak so emently aggravatg, is Hollywood’s static view of homosexualy as somethg that mt be hidn om the public.
In a polil atmosphere which queers are creasgly gag agency and wng untls victori the marriage bate, Hollywood thks self sneaky and subversive by throwg a character to a kiddie movie that uld be read as (hold your breath!) gay. Memo to Dreamworks: In 2004, your dience gets .The eper problem is that Hollywood n’t pe the ag-old right-wg dictum that homosexualy is a perversn.
It’s not that the predomantly liberal nizens of the world’s domatg film dtry are homophobic. The qutn is, why n’t Lenny jt be gay?