Or rather, queer characters who hit a lot of stereotypes or otherwise are very clearly played for some kind of laugh at their expense, but you still love them for some reason. I came up with the thread based on issues close to me but please feel free to include other examples in similar circumstances.
So what got me thinking about this topic was reminiscing about an anime called Gurren Lagann, which then brought me to Leeron.
Leeron's a gay dude who hits on the male characters to their gross discomfort, which is constantly played for laughs. It happens seemingly at least once an episode where he has any significant focus and he has a theme song dedicated about how much he wants to fuck dudes. It's sometimes implied he plays it up to annoy the team for his own amusement but even watching Gurren Lagann when I was 15, before knowing the truth about myself, it was hard not to dissociate from the idea that Leeron was a joke.
Leeron's also the smartest person on the whole planet and single handedly responsible for jumpstarting a technological revolution for all of humanity where they go from blasted underground caves to a massive futuristic city in about seven years. One of my favourite moments is when Simon, the hero, shakes off his funk and dramatically returns to battle and everyone stares at him in awed disbelief except Leeron, who's standing there confidently nodding along to Simon's speech, like he was the only one who believed in Simon and knew he'd come back eventually, and throughout the whole show he's depicted as the brains behind the rebellion, and later human government, as the one who reverse engineered the Gurren mechs and created all the amazing technology the heroes use to fight. If Leeron didn't hit on the male characters, who then proceeded to freak out like it was the end of the world the way straight dudes act like they're being violated breathing the same air as a queer man, he'd probably still be fondly remembered as an important queer guy in a genre that traditionally had no part for them, but if he wasn't a Wacky Gay Man he probably wouldn't have been in the show to begin with.
I definitely don't want this thread to end up as "yeah this character is a big stereotype, but he sure is funny!' Like, I really want to talk about the idea of finding values in characters who probably weren't made for you but rather at your expense, but for one reason or another you ended up seeing value in them. I've never tried to have this conversation before, so I would appreciate any feedback.
So what got me thinking about this topic was reminiscing about an anime called Gurren Lagann, which then brought me to Leeron.
Leeron's a gay dude who hits on the male characters to their gross discomfort, which is constantly played for laughs. It happens seemingly at least once an episode where he has any significant focus and he has a theme song dedicated about how much he wants to fuck dudes. It's sometimes implied he plays it up to annoy the team for his own amusement but even watching Gurren Lagann when I was 15, before knowing the truth about myself, it was hard not to dissociate from the idea that Leeron was a joke.
Leeron's also the smartest person on the whole planet and single handedly responsible for jumpstarting a technological revolution for all of humanity where they go from blasted underground caves to a massive futuristic city in about seven years. One of my favourite moments is when Simon, the hero, shakes off his funk and dramatically returns to battle and everyone stares at him in awed disbelief except Leeron, who's standing there confidently nodding along to Simon's speech, like he was the only one who believed in Simon and knew he'd come back eventually, and throughout the whole show he's depicted as the brains behind the rebellion, and later human government, as the one who reverse engineered the Gurren mechs and created all the amazing technology the heroes use to fight. If Leeron didn't hit on the male characters, who then proceeded to freak out like it was the end of the world the way straight dudes act like they're being violated breathing the same air as a queer man, he'd probably still be fondly remembered as an important queer guy in a genre that traditionally had no part for them, but if he wasn't a Wacky Gay Man he probably wouldn't have been in the show to begin with.
I definitely don't want this thread to end up as "yeah this character is a big stereotype, but he sure is funny!' Like, I really want to talk about the idea of finding values in characters who probably weren't made for you but rather at your expense, but for one reason or another you ended up seeing value in them. I've never tried to have this conversation before, so I would appreciate any feedback.
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