The characters lived together in Ivy’s home with one bed. They had meals together: languishing in a casual attire of just oversized shirts. Scenes driving in Ivy’s pink convertible drew visual reference to Thelma and Louise.
Ren and Stimpy (part 3)
Spumco was known for hiring inexperienced artists (often fans) and training them. Kricfalusi used this as a cover to prey on young girls.
Ren and Stimpy (part 2)
Ren and Stimpy were not openly recognized as a canon same-sex couple until the Ren & Stimpy Adult Cartoon. This new series targeting adult audiences aired on the new Spike TV. The press release at the time stated: “the duo is back -this time as a gay couple”
Unintended Double-Reading
In a roundabout way the public outing of Batman and Robin in the 50s legitimized the possibility of gay readings in ambiguous characters.
Krazy Kat and Ignatz
Krazy Kat was a deeply influential comic strip that started in 1913 and ran for thirty years. It is an embodiment of the ambiguity and social transgression that are seen as staples of animation.
Disney and Gender
19/90 movies have a female protagonist. That’s only 21.11% of Disney animated feature films.
Judy Hopps and Royalty
To really understand what makes Zootopia so unique, it’s important to take a look at female primary protagonists in theatrical animation, particularly the royalty. There are relatively few female primary protagonists in American animation, and a large number of them have either been royals or women whose love interests are royals.
She-Ra Design Controversy
The primary complaints were that the original She-Ra was a “symbol of womanhood”, and upheld an idealized example of femininity while the new She-Ra did not. These complaints were made before the show came out, after only looking at a handful of images.
Ren and Stimpy (part 1)
In retrospect, it is almost shocking that a children’s show like Ren and Stimpy was made at all, considering the Care Bear fare of the eighties. But the nineties gave creative freedom back to the animators.
Jumba and Pleakley (part 3)
The Japanese and Chinese spin-off shows vaguely tie-in to the original series, but make changes to the world/characters to fit the demographic these new series are targeting.