Gay People Choose "Gay Babadook" (A Cartoon) To Represent Them During Pride And I’m Officially Throwing In The Towel
Source - Queer communities of the internet are embracing an unlikely icon this Pride Month: the Babadook. The top-hatted monster, from the Australian horror film of the same name, has been hailed as a LGBT figure in corners of social media since the end of last year, when it was jokingly floated on Tumblr that he was gay. In recent weeks, the Babadook-as-queer-icon has gone from a internet in-joke to a Pride Month figurehead, with remixed representations of the monster he appears in a storybook in the film featuring in celebrations online and off.
“Gay Babadook” was born when a somewhat ironic post to Tumblr in October went viral: “Whenever someone says the Babadook isn’t openly gay it’s like?? Did you even watch the movie???” A jokey back-and-forth about the deeper meanings of Jennifer Kent’s 2014 independent film that prompted one user to complain it was “JUST A MOVIE.” “A movie about a gay man who just wants to live his life in a small Australian suburb?” replied the original poster, “ianstagram”, from Boston. “It may be ‘just a movie’ to you but to the LGBT community the Babadook is a symbol of our journey The Massachusetts attorney-general, Maura Healey, tweeted on Saturday the Babadook waving a pride flag: “We believe in equal rights for everyone – and we mean everyone.”
Tim Purcell, the actor who played the monster in her film, told New York magazine’s Select All that the character demanded he wear not only the hat but a heavy jacket, contact lenses, a prosthetic mouth and “crap all over my teeth”. “I didn’t feel like a gay icon at the time, I can tell you that much.
How does this happen? Of all the icons to choose from gay people pick a fictional Edward Scissor Hands look alike named Baba-fucking-dook. Why, why, why, why, why?
No one asked me for my vote. I’ll never understand how something becomes the symbol of a community. I mean black people have Michael Jordan, Chinese people have Jackie Chan and English people have Austin Powers I get that, but Bababook? No. It’s not cute or funny, it’s weird. Is it too much to ask to pick a real life human being? The people who are into this are the same people who watch anime and go larping.
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I know there’s a silent majority of LGBT people who agree with me, there has to be. I’ve never been a fan of our “icons.” Call me crazy but as a twenty-seven year old guy I have negative interest in Cher, Bea Arthur and Liza Minnelli. Still, I’d take them over this shit any day. There’s a thought process among younger gay people that acting a certain way and liking certain things is what defines their sexuality. Weird I know- so I’m glad we’re trying something new with Babadook but I think it’s a step in the wrong direction.
“It may be ‘just a movie’ to you but to the LGBT community the Babadook is a symbol of our journey”
No he’s not. He’s a cartoon. Maybe I’m missing the point and this is just a big “jokes on you” to troll straight people. “You better get behind this cartoon or you’re a homophobe!” Some of them are already taking the bait.
I’m looking at you, Maura Healy…
Outrageous tweet coming from the Massachusetts attorney-general. I originally thought that Babadook was the product of some sort of gay illuminati but the more I think about it the more I realize that’s not the case. Riggs viral sunscreen tweet proved that things can pick up steam on the internet even when you don’t mean for them too.
“the character demanded he wear not only the hat but a heavy jacket, contact lenses, a prosthetic mouth and “crap all over my teeth”. “I didn’t feel like a gay icon at the time, I can tell you that much”
I’m sure that the director wasn’t trying to create a gay icon. If he was he would’ve given Babadook a six pack and white teeth. Regardless, none of that matters because we’re stuck with Babadook, for now. I hope the fad burns out quick but there’s no telling. The best thing we can do is not encourage it, maybe buy a real pride shirt instead of a costume one. Then hopefully I won’t have to explain this to my friends next weekend:
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