ParaNorman

[Seifer]

So, as many people may know, today was Take Your Child to Work Day. At our office, the children got to meet everyone, mill about for awhile, and then go upstairs to watch a movie and eat popcorn. It turned out the movie they watched was ParaNorman.

When they came back, I asked one of my coworkers' son (who is under 10 years old) how he liked the movie. He said it was good until the end, where it got "weird." I asked him how it was weird, and he said that one of the male characters was revealed to be a homosexual. A coworker of mine overheard and said that it's ridiculous to have such things in children's movies, since children are so impressionable (i.e. ParaNorman can somehow "teach" kids to be homosexual).

This argument bothered me. Now, I can understand a parent not wanting their kids to see situations in movies that could be considered sexual. A lot of parents, especially religious parents, don't want their kids being exposed to homosexuality, either. Okay, their kids, their rules. However, those same parents have no problem with their kids watching movies like Cinderella, where the entire plot of the movie revolves around a heterosexual relationship. No one is screaming about how Cinderella teaches kids to be heterosexual, yet an offhanded comment in ParaNorman about a male character having a boyfriend is somehow considered inappropriate?

I hate that homosexuality is still viewed in main stream media and society as being "weird." If it weren't set up as something to be feared or wary of, would this coworker's son have found it so strange and off-putting when it was mentioned in the movie?

[Hyena Dandy]

It's this weird thing where homosexuals don't have relationships or lives, we have a sex and lifestyles. They hear that a character's gay, and all they think of is hearing how much sex he has. He doesn't say he's going to have a lot of gay sex, he says he has a boyfriend. That's as much a statement about his sex life as saying he has a girlfriend.

If I'm not mistaken, this comes after a girl is trying to go out with him, right? So how is that much more vivid depiction of heterosexuality appropriate, but even MENTIONING a boyfriend is weird and sexual?

[Seifer]

It's this weird thing where homosexuals don't have relationships or lives, we have a sex and lifestyles. They hear that a character's gay, and all they think of is hearing how much sex he has. He doesn't say he's going to have a lot of gay sex, he says he has a boyfriend. That's as much a statement about his sex life as saying he has a girlfriend.

If I'm not mistaken, this comes after a girl is trying to go out with him, right? So how is that much more vivid depiction of heterosexuality appropriate, but even MENTIONING a boyfriend is weird and sexual?

Exactly. The simple mention of a main male character having a boyfriend was enough to change this boy's opinion about the entire movie. His family is religious, so I'm sure he gets subtle (or not so subtle) clues at home about how he's "supposed" to feel about homosexuals. (The child's parent also shared some opinions about the issue, and I can tell she also agrees with this idea that somehow seeing homosexuality will "turn" someone gay.) I'm willing to bet that a child from a more open family wouldn't have been so squicked at the idea of a homosexual character in a movie.

**Special Note: I'm not making the statement that all religious families are against homosexuality. This particular family comes across as one that is against homosexuality.

[Akasa]

I saw ParaNorman and honestly I didn't think it appropriate for a kids movie. It had a lot of "WTF?!" moments. Honestly the guy being gay was tame. He only turned down the girl who was throwing herself at him by mentioning his boyfriend likes chick flicks.

[Ladeeda]

It's more appropriate for kids than a Victoria's Secret commercial or string bikinis.

Hey, your average PG action flick or video game could be argued that it teaches women are to be objectified and violence is the answer. It's as vapid an argument that the offhand mention of a boyfriend from another guy is in any way harmful.

Would it have been SOOOO inappropriate if he'd mentioned his GIRLFRIEND liked chick flicks? No?

Than haters to the left and bring me the firehose.

[Gravekeeper]

I saw ParaNorman and honestly I didn't think it appropriate for a kids movie.

It's not a G rated movie, it's actually PG:

PG — Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children. A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of the Rating Board, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision. The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture.

So....yeah, no problem whatsoever with it.

Also, "turning gay" makes me stabby. If being exposed to gay people in the media could turn people gay, there would be no gay people because they'd already have been converted by the overwhelming amount of heterosexual media.

[Ladeeda]

Even if it was G rated, aren't there mentions of girlfriends and boyfriends in those? Who are, at best, SLIGHTLY less likely to be fucking than their same-sex couple peers. [And, if they're super religious, more likely to be butt-fucking.]

The problem is SOME people hear "gay" and think "sex". Nothing else, just dirty, filthy, immoral, homosexual, dear God it's so hot I love it and hate myself sex.

Those people have filthy minds. And not the fun kind.

[Gravekeeper]

The problem is SOME people hear "gay" and think "sex". Nothing else, just dirty, filthy, immoral, homosexual, dear God it's so hot I love it and hate myself sex.

Yeah, that's the thing that gets me. The fundamentalist conservative type that apparently spends more waking hours obsessing over gay sex than actual homosexuals do.

Its a sexual orientation, guys, not a form of tourette's where you can't help but talk about butt sex all the time.

[Ladeeda]

Its a sexual orientation, guys, not a form of tourette's where you can't help but talk about butt sex all the time.

The medical term is Yaoi-Slash Fangirlism.

No advances have yet been made in curing these poor souls.

[Kheldarson]

The medical term is Yaoi-Slash Fangirlism.

No advances have yet been made in curing these poor souls.

Are there meetings for this disease? Cuz I think I have a mild case of it... (Oh hai MacManus twins...Kurama and Hiei...what are you doing over in that closet??)

But even Yaoi-Slash Fangirls recognize that there's a relationship...which is more than what groups like Westboro and others want to do...

[Ladeeda]

Yeah, but they always devolve into X-rated fanfiction writing seminars.

[Duelist925]

Yeah, but they always devolve into X-rated fanfiction writing seminars.

Poorly written x-rated fanfic writing at that.

[HYHYBT]

If being exposed to gay people in the media could turn people gay, there would be no gay people because they'd already have been converted by the overwhelming amount of heterosexual media.

Ah, but you're hampered by starting from rational premises. They see it more like rot: one bad apple can spoil the bunch, but no amount of good apples will unspoil the bad one.

[Ladeeda]

Ah, but you're hampered by starting from rational premises. They see it more like rot: one bad apple can spoil the bunch, but no amount of good apples will unspoil the bad one.

By that logic, I should be SO homo by the amount of same-sex media I've consumed. Yet I tragically remain a born female who likes cock.

I think I need more gay porn so I can justify the closeted rebellion of other people's so called sinful desires.

One of these days, I'll hate women. I promise!

[Kheldarson]

By that logic, I should be SO homo by the amount of same-sex media I've consumed. Yet I tragically remain a born female who likes cock.

I think I need more gay porn so I can justify the closeted rebellion of other people's so called sinful desires.

One of these days, I'll hate women. I promise!

No, no, see, it's working already! You watch same-sex stuff, and that has to be guy on guy (because everybody knows girl on girl doesn't count), and they like cock so you like cock!

See? It worked!