Since weāre talking about cartoon lesbians...
Letās talk about Ever After High, and how it completely re-wrote the narrative of compulsory heteronormativity in maybe the coolest way possible.
Ever After High, although popular, is slightly less mainstream than say Barbie or itās sister cartoon Monster High, so letās get a rundown shall we?
The show follows the children of famous fairytale characters, who are split into two factions, the royals and the rebels. The two main characters are Apple White (daughter of Snow White) and Raven Queen (daughter of the evil queen). Raven is having second thoughts about her destiny as teh next big bad, but Apple wants her happily ever after, so she conspires for the two of them to be roommates (oh my god they were roommates) to try to convince her friend toĀ āfollow her destinyā
Spoiler Alert: Raven doesnāt, and the status quo is broken. The rebelās realise that maybe they could have happy endingās too, and the Royals are scared of losing theirs.
We could talk about how the show breaks down privilege and explores deeper societal issues through this narrative, but letās instead focus on Raven and Apple for now.
Over time, the two develop a real friendship, and Apple becomes less concerned with her own happy ending and more with the safety of her friends, specifically Raven. In addition to this, Appleās relationship with her boyfriend Daring Charming is tenous at best. They show no real chemistry, she often finds herself exasperated with his vanity, and he even shows interest in other students. Meanwhile, Apple spends more and more time with Raven. As such, many viewers thought that maybe Apple had a thing for her roommate, and I agreed.
BUT, Raven has her own love interest, Dexter, the youngest Charming brother, and their relationship is actually well-built and really sweet. So, Appleās crush is unrequited, (although many people still thought rapple would be cute, myself included)
Then, we met Darling Charming, Derekās twin.
Although born a royal, she joins the rebels, since she doesnāt (to her knowledge) have a fixed fairytale, and she wants to be savior like Daring. She takes on the role of the white knight, initially disguised as a guy, but eventually revealing herself to the protagonists.
So, thatās one heteronormative stereotype broken, which was cool enough on itās own, right? She getās to be her own Prince Charming, what more could happen?
THEN DRAGON GAMES HAPPENED IS WHAT
If you havenāt seen it, itās on netflix (and most of the series is available on youtube) but tl;dr Apple accidentally frees the Evil Queen from her prison, they have a big fight with dragonās, Raven and Apple works as a team, blah blah blah, good times all around.Ā
But something really interestng happens in between.
Apple gets cursed by the Evil Queen, meaning that she falls into an apple induced coma right? Well, Daring comes riding up, ready to kiss the girl, save the day, all that jazz.
Except, it doesnāt work. HisĀ ātrue loveās kissā fails to save Apple, and so it seems like sheās dead. So Raven and gang throw her a funeral, everyoneās sad, but Apple starts to choke in her sleep, and Darling (cause sheās a REBEL)Ā runs forward to perform CPR and guess fucking what.
thatās right, she brings Apple back to life. WITH TRUE LOVEāS KISS.
Now lil old baby me didnāt really understand teh ramifications of this, but effectively, Apple is now in the Happily Ever After part of her story now, not with Daring, but with Darling, her true love and Princess Charming, WHICH IS FUCKING AMAZING???? like i watched this show growing up, and now thereās the implication of a same sex couple??? And, an extra note, this particular chapter of EAH came out before Disney and Co. jumped on theĀ āitās ok to be gayā bandwagon, this was the first time I had ever seen a canon wlw pairing in my smol child life!
The series is still ongoing, so we donāt know FOR SURE, if Apple/Darling will be canon, but idk yāallā¦ that is PRETTY gay.
Which is amazing??? I mean, while Disney is fooling around, releasing a newĀ āfirst gay characterā every other week, we have a pretty much canon wlw couple, whose narrative arc would really come full circle in a satisfying way with the ship, and idk about yāall but I think thatās amazing! I mean, they had the perfect set-up for a Prince Charming + Perfect Princess endgame here, heck, we even had a backup Prince Charming who was a huge dork, and could effectiveyĀ āsubvert expectationsā BUT INSTED THEY GAVE US THIS??? WE HAVE TO STAN!
IN CONCLUSION: pls watch Ever After High, because in this house we stan Darling Charming
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