Laika’s ‘ParaNorman’ Prents First Openly Gay Animated Character – IndieWire

Contents:

• WHY PARANORMAN FEATURED THE FIRST GAY CHARACTER AN ANIMATED FILM
• 'PARANORMAN’S' MCH: THE FIRST FAY-FRIENDLY GAY ANIMATED CHARACTER
• LAIKA’S ‘PARANORMAN’ PRENTS FIRST OPENLY GAY ANIMATED CHARACTER
• ‘PARANORMAN’ MA HISTORY WH ANIMATN’S FIRST-EVER OPENLY GAY HIMBO 10 YEARS AGO TODAY
• MCH DOWNE FROM "PARANORMAN" IS AWOME GAY REPRENTATN
• 'PARANORMAN' FEATUR GAY JOCK, AND SOME PEOPLE DON'T LIKE
• 'PARANORMAN' SLIPS FIRST GAY ANIMATED CHARACTER
• PARANORMAN'S GAY JOCK

WHY PARANORMAN FEATURED THE FIRST GAY CHARACTER AN ANIMATED FILM

As the DVD, Blu-Ray, and Ultravlet versns of ParaNorman today h stor and puters (and iPhon, if you get pocketBLU), we talked wh animatn's hottt dream team -- gay wrer/director Chris Butler and his (not gay) -creator, director Sam Fell -- abouttheir smash animated film. They also touch on The Breakfast Club, stop-motn animatn, and their so-lled gay agenda. And all of that means there are spoilers for those of you who haven't seen the story of a bullied kid, a pack of zombi, an ancient curse, and a gay Advote: I believe that ParaNorman is the first mastream animated film wh a ma character who is gay.

'PARANORMAN’S' MCH: THE FIRST FAY-FRIENDLY GAY ANIMATED CHARACTER

You look to your left there's the next set beg pated and you look to your right, there's a bunch of wigs beg veloped for a new character, so you're pletely immersed There's somethg liberatg as a director to actually pot at an object you're talkg about, rather than jt potg the fger at a Butler (left) and Sam FellI saw some of the small mols when I was at the premiere which was endlsly fascatg Mch, the gay character.

I noticed a lot of parent blogs wrote somethg like, "Great film about tolerance, too bad had a gay character at the end. I thk that one of the nservative punds had a piece soon after the film me out that said was only a matter of time before the gay muny targeted children wh films like ParaNorman. I thk they were tryg to say that you, Chris, beg gay, meant that this is part of your so-lled gay [Lghs] My sid agenda gettg out Sam, you also did Flhed Away, which is also this sort of ntemporary type of film which you didn't have to be a kid, or have a kid, to enjoy .

LAIKA’S ‘PARANORMAN’ PRENTS FIRST OPENLY GAY ANIMATED CHARACTER

In 2012, ParaNorman featured the first out gay character an Amerin, fay-targeted, animated theatril release. This has lead to an crease of gay-tged humor and ambiguo characters. The fact that an unabashedly gay character like Mch ma on the big screen speaks to a shift Amerin culture that is reflected s animatn.

In South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, the characters Satan and Saddam Hse are gay lovers; and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, the character Frylock clar himself a transsexual lbian trapped a man's body, and the end cred scene shows Frylock as a woman. This clus a greater potential for gay-tged humor or gay-d characters. Gay-tged humor tends to be a short punch le or reference that has a gay-readg, but don’t affect the world or fe the sexualy of any of the characters.

Gay-tged humor n also e the form of farcil homoerotic suatns between characters that are tablished as straight.

‘PARANORMAN’ MA HISTORY WH ANIMATN’S FIRST-EVER OPENLY GAY HIMBO 10 YEARS AGO TODAY

This display of homoerotic humor preces a scene which both characters are shown beg attracted to sirens who have taken the form of betiful animals of their rpective speci, and is their attractn to the femal that leads to their advertent kiss. In the se of gay-d characters, reliance on ambiguy allows for multiple readgs of a character. In the live actn film Thank God It’s Friday (1978) Kenny Friedman add a gay male uple to a background crowd of dancg straight upl.

He found tt screengs that straight viewers did not notice while gay viewers did. “Which is exactly what he wanted; he found that general dienc are unwillg to see gays and he ma easier for them. Bee the Big Bad Wolf is prented as an ambiguo character, the two uld be read as a gay uple - but they don’t have to be.

MCH DOWNE FROM "PARANORMAN" IS AWOME GAY REPRENTATN

One review mentned as a gay kiss 7. In this way gay dg works to a stud’s advantage. Ambiguy male characters, particularly male duos, has bee a wi enough regnized trope that bar the same name as the popular Saturday Night Live sketch, the "Ambiguoly Gay Duo.

” Other tim the qutns me the form of jt, like the Daily Show sketch that poked fun at a gay readg of the El Dorado characters 10. Eher way, the fact that a gay readg of the characters was brought up at all speaks to creasgly perceptive viewers.

” The fact that they the film didn’t make any pot about Bryony’s sexualy is part of why she pged some people’s gaydar, bee is so rare to have a female protagonist who is not overtly heterosexual.

'PARANORMAN' FEATUR GAY JOCK, AND SOME PEOPLE DON'T LIKE

To many Mch as a gay character was seen as no more a danger to child viewers then a character like Harry Potter would be as a wizard. More movi released means the potential for more risk takg the typ of characters and stori, and gay-tged humor and gay-d characters have creasgly been met wh approval by dienc or at the very least acceptance by viewers who re ls about the sexualy of the characters and more about the narrativ. This is not to unrme what a monumental thg was to have Mch be gay.

ParaNorman is revolutnary, not jt bee mak the unspoken official – Gay characters n exist…Look there he is – but bee reflects our changg social valu.

In a small, almost thrown-away moment towards the end of the movie, one of the film’s supportg characters mentns his boyiend, and dog so, beme the first openly gay character an Amerin animated feature. Also, Mch is gay.

'PARANORMAN' SLIPS FIRST GAY ANIMATED CHARACTER

In this film, the gay character is cidly unstereopyil his gayns, and his sexualy don’t mer more than a sgle le. And yet, “ParaNorman”‘s gay character don’t really seem to be gettg a lot of prs, or much at all, to be more precise. Asi om a few articl on right-wg, nservative webs (this one talks about a iend who saw the film “ a ‘red state’ and reported that ‘you uld hear the gasps the theatre om parents’ at the unexpected le”), Mch Downe the gay jock hasn’t been that big of a al.

PARANORMAN'S GAY JOCK

Maybe ’s a sign of how gays and lbians are simply part of the mastream the days for most Amerins. “ParaNorman” certaly po no particularly polil perspective on s gay character, and isn’t makg a statement. But by cludg a gay character that is eher ‘Mch’ or ‘the jock’ before he’s ‘the gay character, ’ may jt be the most subversively mastream animated film we’ve seen a while.

But, for our purpos, ParaNorman also serv cred for s trailblazg cln of the genre’s first gay himbo character.