Some Thoughts on South Park's Queer Rep, Ninjago, and a Bit of Hazbin
(The yap got longer than expected again. Haha. Discussions and corrections, welcome, if any!)
Several days ago, I made a video on Instagram arguing that one of Ninjago's main messages is to accept differences. In the Instagram post, I considered writing my own confusion about South Park in comparison, but ultimately didn't because it would be too long. Here's the gist of what I was going to say.
See, a loud ugly part of the Ninjago online fandom is wildly homophobic. People harrassed the writing team and denied any semblance of queer rep in the show. When I compare it to the South Park fandom, I'm surprised because online, the South Park community is generally more accepting. You'll see comments like, "Ninjago went downhill after they made it gay," but for South Park, the worst criticisms right now are that the show didn't parody the Biden administration. No one says that having Mr Garrison transition, or canonizing Tweek and Craig's relationship is a problem. My main source of confusion is that for Ninjago, the show is very accepting, but the community itself is divided, whereas for South Park, the fandom is queer-friendly, but I don't think the show is, at least not 100%. (Basically, my thought process is, how the heck is the Ninjago fandom more homophobic than freaking South Park's?)
Yes, it has Big Gay Al, Mr Garrison, Tweek, Craig, and other characters as outright queer representation, and it does have episodes dedicated to the support of gay people. I think Craig's dad accepting Craig's orientation is a beautiful scene and the episode condemning conversion camps is a must-watch. But these episodes are far and few in between. In most of the episodes, the boys use the phrase, "That's so gay," and the F-slur flippantly. I am aware this is satire, a type of meta-commentary to show that this kind of language is stupid. Stan even acknowledges that he shouldn't have called a rule "gay" in one episode. But let's be honest, this is a risk, isn't it? "Repeating a derogatory slur even with the purposes of refuting it can make stupid people think it's okay," says Kyle in Cupid Ye, paraphrased. People with lower comprehension are more likely to use these phrases in real life because a cartoon has "normalized" it. I've read accounts that claim South Park unintentionally contributed to homophobia in their youth. Let's also not forget the terrible representation of trans people in the show. I haven't watched the episode on this, but I've read about it: There's an episode where it, unintentionally or not, likens transitioning to doing plastic surgery with the goal of changing one's race. South Park is a great show, but if we keep track of all the episodes, they aren't doing the best thing to paint queer people in a positive light. While one can argue that it does take a jab at everyone, the specific episode on transitioning feels targeted and careless.
(The following paragraph is an additional edit after some thought.) Also, South Park has an episode where they attempted to reframe the F-slur as something normal to say, or at least, redefine the word. I can't express how disconnected this episode feels, especially since the show had a previous episode arguing that non-black people don't understand what it feels like to be called the N-word. Why isn't the same logic applied to the F-slur? Of course, there are differences in how black and queer people struggled and were discriminated against, but surely, only queer people understand the weight of using the F-slur against them? How is this making fun of people equally? Also, I suppose, this episode is old, and in recent years, the show has been getting better in terms of queer rep, and I believe the use of homophobic language has been significantly diminished thanks to PC Principal, so that's good.
Despite all this, the South Park online fandom, especially fan artists, is overwhelmingly accepting, and I've never encountered a South Park fan artist that is homophobic. (You can still find Ninjago fan artists that are homophobic and despise queer headcanons. I was shocked when I found one.) So... maybe the conclusion is that South Park's online audience is better at grasping these nuances than Ninjago's. Another possible explanation is that because the show has a prominent queer character early on, the South Park community is already a self-selected crowd, whereas Ninjago's queer rep has only been added into the show quite recently.
Either way, I actually don't think South Park has that great queer representation, especially because of the episodes about trans people. However, in that notorious Tumblr poll, I'm pretty conflicted on whether I should vote for South Park or Hazbin Hotel for "best queer rep media." I loved Hazbin Hotel mainly for the music and little else. (In particular, I found the art style extremely inaccessible. Why is everything red? I can't see.) It feels that Hazbin Hotel is queer just for the sake of being queer, and the story personally is a bit too weak for it to be good representation. But I suppose, although I find myself more entertained and emotionally invested in South Park, I'd have to eat my hat and choose Hazbin Hotel for the poll.
Obviously, I think South Park as a show overall is better. As the only thing I enjoyed from Hazbin Hotel was the music, there is no contest. South Park has an amazing list of songs.
