So! There's been this sorta scandal/craze all over the interwebs lately, and it has to do with the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time.
It's an incredibly random, slightly troll-esque show that is supposedly aimed at kids- this is Cartoon Network we're talking about, after all- but ended up having a much larger teen-and-adult fanbase than anticipated. It's deliciously off and funny in an incredibly awkward way.
Moving onward, one of the characters and my personal favorite is Marceline the Vampire Queen.
She is just your typical angsty slightly antisocial teenage vampire. And she's pretty good at writing emotional ballads.
Aaaaand moving on, there's also this other character, Princess Bubblegum. She's not my favorite but she's hilarious in her own right.
Now, if you're paying any attention at all you'll have noticed that both of these supporting characters are girls. The main characters are actually Finn and Jake, but they're not really important to this blog post, aside from the point out that the human character Finn is implied to have a rather large crush on Princess Bubblegum (Who, in case you're wondering, is actually part human, part gum. For real).
To actually show you the point to all of this, I'm going to have to add more videos. But it's worth it, I promise.
Recently, a new episode of Adventure Time aired, entitled "What Was Missing" and featuring another one of Marceline's ballads. Only... this one is kinda, well... you'll see.
If you don't want to watch the entire 11-minute video, you're a lazy ass and too bad for you. No, not really. The important bits are Marceline's song to Bubblegum at 3:00 and a bit at the end between the two of them in which Bubblegum confesses that she wears a shirt of Marcelline's as pajamas. Amid blushing.
Look, if you watched those two clips and come to the same conclusion I did, which was that the two girls' relationship is both Filled With Tension and also Certainly Not Platonic, you would not be alone. The fanbase pretty much flipped over this episode; "Bubbline" shippers are all over everywhere these days. Heck, even one of the creators and artists on Adventure Time draws "fan art" of the two in various romantic poses.
What fueled this fan outburst? Well, other than the blatant lesbian crushing going on in Fig. #1... there's this.
It's an official recap of the episode, and folks, it ain't exactly subtle about the romantic interest between the two very female characters. In fact, it suggests that such a pairing would be "adorbz"- a first, I'm sure, for any reference to lesbian relationships in a kid's show.
So, naturally, the guy in charge of said video was fired, all counts of possible "gayness" in the show have been written off as fans reading too much into it, and the video itself has been taken down- only to be put up again by all the frenzied youtubers who don't want it to disappear because it's inconveniant for Cartoon Network.
In summary, when are gay characters going to be allowed in kid's shows? In this same episode, Jake refers to Finn's "special time with a wad of Princess Bubblegum's hair". Uhm, excuse me? This essentially ruins the "oh-our-show-is-for-kids-no-mature-themes-or-subtext" in one fell swoop.
And also? Gay people doesn't equal mature themes. Bottom line. There are plenty of references to heterosexuality in both Adventure Time and in almost every little kid's show on the planet- would be nice to see a network for once not being a bunch of total wusses and actually sticking with the decisions they obviously made but hoped, what, that nobody would notice? *sigh* I guess that's too much to ask, so have some fan art.
Bubblegum and Marceline by ~vernavulpes on deviantART
Maybe next time.
What is this crack?
It's an incredibly random, slightly troll-esque show that is supposedly aimed at kids- this is Cartoon Network we're talking about, after all- but ended up having a much larger teen-and-adult fanbase than anticipated. It's deliciously off and funny in an incredibly awkward way.
Moving onward, one of the characters and my personal favorite is Marceline the Vampire Queen.
She is just your typical angsty slightly antisocial teenage vampire. And she's pretty good at writing emotional ballads.
Aaaaand moving on, there's also this other character, Princess Bubblegum. She's not my favorite but she's hilarious in her own right.
Now, if you're paying any attention at all you'll have noticed that both of these supporting characters are girls. The main characters are actually Finn and Jake, but they're not really important to this blog post, aside from the point out that the human character Finn is implied to have a rather large crush on Princess Bubblegum (Who, in case you're wondering, is actually part human, part gum. For real).
To actually show you the point to all of this, I'm going to have to add more videos. But it's worth it, I promise.
Recently, a new episode of Adventure Time aired, entitled "What Was Missing" and featuring another one of Marceline's ballads. Only... this one is kinda, well... you'll see.
If you don't want to watch the entire 11-minute video, you're a lazy ass and too bad for you. No, not really. The important bits are Marceline's song to Bubblegum at 3:00 and a bit at the end between the two of them in which Bubblegum confesses that she wears a shirt of Marcelline's as pajamas. Amid blushing.
Look, if you watched those two clips and come to the same conclusion I did, which was that the two girls' relationship is both Filled With Tension and also Certainly Not Platonic, you would not be alone. The fanbase pretty much flipped over this episode; "Bubbline" shippers are all over everywhere these days. Heck, even one of the creators and artists on Adventure Time draws "fan art" of the two in various romantic poses.
What fueled this fan outburst? Well, other than the blatant lesbian crushing going on in Fig. #1... there's this.
It's an official recap of the episode, and folks, it ain't exactly subtle about the romantic interest between the two very female characters. In fact, it suggests that such a pairing would be "adorbz"- a first, I'm sure, for any reference to lesbian relationships in a kid's show.
So, naturally, the guy in charge of said video was fired, all counts of possible "gayness" in the show have been written off as fans reading too much into it, and the video itself has been taken down- only to be put up again by all the frenzied youtubers who don't want it to disappear because it's inconveniant for Cartoon Network.
In summary, when are gay characters going to be allowed in kid's shows? In this same episode, Jake refers to Finn's "special time with a wad of Princess Bubblegum's hair". Uhm, excuse me? This essentially ruins the "oh-our-show-is-for-kids-no-mature-themes-or-subtext" in one fell swoop.
And also? Gay people doesn't equal mature themes. Bottom line. There are plenty of references to heterosexuality in both Adventure Time and in almost every little kid's show on the planet- would be nice to see a network for once not being a bunch of total wusses and actually sticking with the decisions they obviously made but hoped, what, that nobody would notice? *sigh* I guess that's too much to ask, so have some fan art.
Bubblegum and Marceline by ~vernavulpes on deviantART
Maybe next time.
Ahh Nellie! I aspire to sit down and write a blog post as interesting and in-depth as yours are. This is great - and I absolutely love Marceline too.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to write a very stern email to Cartoon Network about this... I hope the LBTQA community gives them hell for this
ReplyDelete