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Perspectives: “The Same Thing We Do Every Night”: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons

2003; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 31; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01956050309603674

1930-6458

Jeffery P. Dennis,

Cinema and Media Studies

Abstract The author analyzes animated television programs from the 1950s Ruff and Reddy to the present for codes suggesting same-sex desire, identity, and relationships. Animated sitcoms such as The Simpsons and Daria tend to acknowledge gay and lesbian identities, while presenting same-sex desire as ludicrous or beyond the realm of possibility. Conversely, surreal cartoons such as Rocko's Modern Life and Spongebob Squarepants tend to ignore gay and lesbian identities but present same-sex desire as ordinary and even vital and worthwhile. One explanation for the disjunction may be found in the heterosexualization of the cultural texts.