#queertoons

[teddyroo12]

Queer Duck (1080p and Fixed Audio!)

Icebox's official upload had HQ audio, but a ton of Rendering erros and it was stuck in 480p. The Queer Duck Archive Project had 1080p video

HERE HAVE QUEER DUCK WITH FIXED AUDIO AND 1080P VIDEO.

[quentinkum]

Episode #2022-06 President My version of comics by Dennis Goris Original: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbAkUbkuLvg/

[izzet-bedtime-yet]

Be gay do cartoons

*gulp*

Psst! Hey, you! Yeah, you! You like... queer shit? You like... cartoons? You like... pre-Web 2.0 technology? If the answer to at least two of these questions is yes, then you should come on over to the Satur.gay Morning Queertoons forum!

[queertoonqueertoons]

Bodies of Knowledge Conference @USC

Would y'all be interested in seeing a recording of my fandom studies talk about "Dear Bryke" or would that be boring?

[queertoonqueertoons]

On Non-Binary Identities in Steven Universe

Hi, y’all!  So I’m probably going to be writing a much more thoughtful essay on this topic in a couple of weeks, but I’ve had a lot of people messaging me about the Gems non-binary status and the decision to include Ruby/Sapphire in the femslash canon.  I first off want to establish that I myself am a non-binary, queer woman (yes, you can be ALL those things at once), so I am afforded some amount of agency in approaching this topic while simultaneously realizing that gender expression is a complex and fluid construct that can be a highly personal experience/process.  Therefore I also acknowledge my own bias as a Southern, white, middle class person and want to be clear that I am not speaking for the entirety of the diverse non-binary community.   Whew. 

Okay, so let’s talk about Rebecca Sugar’s “Gems are Gems!” quote.

Rebecca Sugars also opens with this line, “The real question is, were/ are there any female crystal gems! And the answer is NO”

So I’ve never spoken with Rebecca, but she strikes me as someone super savvy in her gender/queer theory, or at least familiar with these notions (I mean, one look into the aesthetics for the show and its like intro to queer aesthetics).  Camp-inspired colors, destabilizing normative structures of narrative, time, and space, etc.  

She knows the difference between talking about female (biological) and femininity (societal).  The Gems are alien stones, they do not have a “sex” in the way that humans do, but they have do have preferred pronouns. This means that they are not genderless.  In fact, gender seems to be expressed pretty clearly throughout the series as demonstrated by Amethyst’s gender fluidity as shown in the change in her pronouns to masculine “he/his” when becoming the Purple Puma.  

So I resist this idea that they are “genderless” but rather accept that they are are “without sex.”  Usually people who are agender/gender-non-conforming use “they/their” and/or “xe/xyr” and/or “ze/zir,” which considering Garnet herself is a fusion of two gems, using “they/their” isn’t exactly a crazy idea.  But that’s not the case.  Ruby and Sapphire both use feminine pronouns, so while they’re not female (biologically) they are certainly feminine presenting.  And I want to make it clear that choosing your preferred pronouns when you yourself are non-binary, is a choice, a very conscious one in constructing your gender on your own terms.  

In short, “non-binary” means that we exist outside of the dichotomy of male/female.  Our bodies are not tied to our understanding of our gender.  My biological sex has nothing to do with my gender expression.  I personally choose to identify as a woman (most days) as a political statement, but my expression of gender is not one that conforms to preconceived ideas of “femaleness.”  

I like to challenge our conventional notions of gender and what it means to be a “woman.”  In the same way, the Gems exist outside of the binary, but they choose their pronouns and their presentation and gain power out of the expression of their femininity (and sometimes masculinity).  They can bounce around gender, they can exist outside of gender, they can be a gender, they cannot be a gender. . .  in this way the Gems are non-binary while simultaneously expressing gender. 

These are just my thoughts, I’d love to open this post up for discussion if that’s cool with my followers?

[queertoonqueertoons]

On Korra and Byrke's Spiritual and Creative Journeys, Respectively

Anonymous said:

All the discussion on representation and the "compassion" line is really interesting and useful. I think your points about the production environment are fascinating and agree that Bryke's failure to include marginalised voices in their production environment and fandom's dismissal of fans of colour explaining the way the violence done to Korra affected them are huge problems. It's also clear that this opinion is not monolithic (nor should we expect it to be). The way Korra's life experiences mirror the experiences of qwoc re: violence. However, instead of erasing that narrative as is usual, Book 4 puts that front and centre. The fact that it IS such a painful narrative only highlights why people with experience should have been involved in telling it. But I do find *something* redemptive in their use of violence in Korra's story because it's used to tell a story not often told but one that SHOULD be. But do we see it as finally putting a qwoc's experience of violence from her own pov on screen, or of Bryke humbling a qwoc w/ violence. (Though it also explains why Korra's contextualisation of her experience is so important. Personally one thing I felt was powerful that I don't see discussed much is the way Tenzin just radiates respect for Korra throughout that scene. Not paternalistic pride, but respect for her as a leader - as *his* leader - as someone who changed the world and plans to again. Which doesn't negate others' concerns about the "compassion" line at all.

But I do think the tone of the scene in which she says it is worth considering.) Anyway - without attempting to excuse Bryke's failure to include relevant voices in the first place, do you think in some ways this is another example of their later-series course correction and deliberate deconstruction of their own earlier work? [With apologies for the extended anon ask - I hate these character limits! And thanks again for all your thoughtful commentary - no obligation to answer this.]

First off, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. As I broke down in an older essay, I think in many ways the last two seasons of Korra are Bryke’s attempts to correct a lot of the more problematic elements of their series as well as create more subversive arguments about their own political stances on certain topics.  And while there is still a lot of things like the production culture, overt neoliberalist strategies, and the occasional stereotypical Asian accented reading of certain characters, which all drive me nuts, I think they finally get their messaging and characterizations on the same page in the last few minutes of the show.  

Does that save it from all of its past mistakes? No. Does that mean I won’t ever recommend the series to other people? No. What it does mean, though, is that I think a critical treatment of the series from all of its intersections - production studies, fandom studies, animation studies, and media studies - is crucial in really unpacking the “essence” of the series, rather than its “representation.” I will stand by my stance that Bryke “stumbled” into their queer narrative.  They created characters completely separate from their own experiences, and, in doing so, created a tension between themselves as creators and the characters. And why I think there are so many things that felt “off” during seasons one and two. You can tell the difference in seasons three and four, that they started listening to their characters rather than telling them what to do.  It feels “organic” rather than “forced.” And that’s not saying any of this was conscious or intentional, there is very much a meta-physical force inside this series, and that’s to be expected when working with spiritual topics (read: making media is magical).  

We know for a fact that Bryke never planned anything further than Korra’s spiritual journey, and in the process Bryke appears to have gone on a creative journey of their own over the course of the series.  And part of it is because the struggles of Korra do so closely mirror the struggles of real life queer women of color.  And as they got to know Korra, through writing and listening her, I think these connections became more and more evident.   That being said, they do a lot of damage getting to that point, and perhaps having someone with that personal experience in the room could have enlightened them earlier onto Korra (and Asami’s) struggles, showed them the opportunities for subversion and nuance, offered criticism on their more problematic elements.  But they are in a position of privilege and sometimes it takes other people to point out how power operates in these dynamics.  I think their decision to canonize Korrasami was, in part, the result of this awareness of privilege.  They saw an opportunity for healing and forgiveness, and took it.  “I’m just glad I could finally forgive him,” is one of Asami’s lines in the final scene, and I think Bryke is offering it as an apology to the queer fandom, who has been ridiculed by other fandom communities and even creators of other shows through things like queerbaiting, fan service, trolling, etc.  

They recognized that they have been in a position to tell these stories for a while now and it was humbling for them to realize how long it took to incorporate those narratives into their own work.  But if there is someone from a marginalized group in the creative room with them in the future… then maybe it won’t take them so long the next time.  

[queertoonqueertoons]

This is QueertoonQueertoons!

Hi! New followers! I just hit the 300 mark for this blog and I'm super excited to have y'all on board.  I promise my blog is usually a little more active, but I am currently in the airport on my way to Denver, Colorado for the Creating Change Conference!  Learning about Queer Media and all that jazz, but I promise I have lots of great content coming soon!  If you're bored in the meantime, I totally recommend checking out some of my essays (warning some of them are long, but always with GIFS!). 

[queertoonqueertoons]

Rebecca Sugar tells us all about her show Steven Universe on Cartoon Network.