The Fight For Queer Representation in Animation

I’m doing something I don’t normally do except for my Patrons (and they already got this early). I’m putting out part of the audio for an upcoming episode of Hope Makes Chris Watch Cartoons months in advance.

My co-podcaster Chris and I recorded for the Gravity Falls episode “The Love God.” We had a twenty-five minute conversation about the behind the scenes fallout around the episode. In hindsight, this is one of the most important episodes of Gravity Falls. Not because of the story or the character arcs, but because of what got cut out of it.

While it was in production, one of the storyboard artists drew a cute little lesbian couple which you can see in the artwork above. Disney censors told them to change the scene, and Alex Hirsch fought them on it. It’s probably the biggest controversy of the show. It’s one of the most important moments too.

In the last eight or so years, there’s been a ton of progress in animation when it comes to LGBTQIA+ representation in animation. It hasn’t been easy. It’s been a hell of a fight. The battle for representation certainly isn’t over.

Chris and I discussed this moment as well as other shows and franchises. We mention The Legend of Korra, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, The Owl House, Star Wars, Marvel, Steven Universe, and Ducktales. I’m proud of our conversation. So in lieu of an article today, I’m sharing a clip from our future episode of Hope Makes Chris Watch Cartoons podcast.

The Alex Hirsch interview I read from is here if you wish to follow along.

The full episode for “The Love God” will be up for my Patrons soon, while the public episode will be up a few weeks after. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to share this discussion with you. So please enjoy this snippet of Hope Makes Chris Watch Cartoons.

 

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