She-ra is my new favorite gay icon

She-ra is a Netflix original spinoff of the he-man franchise. I was never a fan of the original show, but I thought I'd check she-ra out and I'm glad I did. It's a fun show, and I wish we had more like it when we were kids. It's one of the few kids shows where women outnumber men in the lead cast, and there's so much gay but it's not like "woah look at all this gay!" It's a lot more subtle, and I think that's great. Of course, there are more seasons to come, but I'm glad that the first one showed as much restraint as it did.

I feel like if we treat LGBT people as special, it'll only perpetuate the idea that they're something "other" than straight people. It's important that our pop culture reflects the idea that gay people are just, you know, people.

Take all that with a grain of salt though, I'm a straight cis white guy. I just wanted to start a conversation.

Comments

  1. Jacob MollotNovember 24, 2018 at 9:24 PM

    I haven't watched the show, but I did read a New York Times article about it. My understanding was that there was an original She-ra. And that this is a reboot of that show. Was the original series a spinoff of he-man?
    I do tend to agree with what you are saying though on the ideological side.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elaine HortonNovember 25, 2018 at 10:12 AM

    just wanted to add that the new She-Ra was developed by a gay woman! Her name is Noelle Stevenson and she's brilliant and this is like a premo example of why diversity in creative positions is so important!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 2, 2018 at 8:37 PM

    I saw it and it was great! I agree with your sentiment too. It's not as subtle as let say the Gay Moment TM blink and you miss it moment in movies like Beauty and the Beast. There are canon gay couples shown together, and sexual tension between two female characters. It isn't undermined or played for fan service but at the same time it isn't over stated or screaming hey look this is our gay character aren't we diverse? It's normal in this universe. Just as straight people don't have to have it spelled out their sexuality and explain themselves neither do the characters of She-Ra. I could go on and on but you get it. Other then that it's a great show for a ton of other reasons both in story and character design... and I might just write a post about it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bratz: Rock Angelz is the movie I didn't know I needed

Image
This weekend, I watched the hit 2005 animated movie Bratz: Rock Angelz. This movie was one of the first Bratz films in CGI, and let me tell you- the plot is ALL OVER THE PLACE. The girls start a fashion magazine and use stolen passes to get into hot London punk clubs, but when they lose their passes they decide that the only way to get into the gig is to become a rock band? This movie can be considered capitalist propaganda- the Bratz shop in order to destress about their problems, and it's an implemental part of their lives. They don't have jobs either- Jade has an internship, but only for three hours until she is fired. Chloe meets a TRASH British prince and ignores her best friend Yasmin who finds celebrity judge Byron Powell's (I don't make this stuff up) dog, Ozzy. Jade and Sasha try to do a photo shoot for the magazine, but Sasha micromanages the whole thing and makes her friend feel bad! And this whole time, there's these two evil blond twins (Kaley Cuoco PLA
Read more

Does Animation Have to Make You Laugh?

Something that I have taken note of lately is how you barely ever find any mainstream animation that doesn't have some semblance of comedy integrated into it. For example, when was the last time you saw a Disney movie that didn't make you laugh (or at least try to)? And when was the last time you saw an adult cartoon that wasn't making a joke every 10 seconds. My point is, mainstream animation has seemed to simplify itself into a single tone: Comedic. Even in the films that are primarily covering serious topics there is typically a comic relief character to add some lighthearted fun to the film. But do all films need this? Is it necessary for all animation to try and entertain us in the exact same way? My answer is no and I wish that more animation studios and their production companies would realize this. One thing I don't think many people realize is that animation can be lighthearted without being funny. When I say you don't have to be funny all the time, that
Read more