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Velma, dear reader, has always been a lesbian. Yes, it is true that “news” is officially announced this week, through Spread clip are from new cartoon Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!but fans, especially sapphic lovers, have know this for decades. That’s how things go when you’re weird: If you don’t see yourself in what you’re watching, find the character that feels closest to your sensibilities and identifies with them. When enough people do the same thing, those characters become weird symbols whether they intended it or not. Fandom manifests it, it is so.
Except the case with Velma. Scooby The creators have been trying to find her for years. Even back in 2001, when James Gunn did the live-action Scooby movie, he was try to write Velma is gay, “But the studio just kept watering and watering it.” Then in 2020, Tony Cervone, production supervisor on Mysteries are combined , posted a picture of Velma in front of the Pride flag. “We made our intentions as clear as ten years ago,” he wrote in Instagram caption, “Most of our fans already understand it. For those that aren’t, I recommend taking a closer look. “
Look closer. Interesting thing, that. It shows the difference between what happened one, two or three decades ago and what is happening now. Maybe it’s the call to include more LGTBQ+ characters, maybe it’s just that streaming is giving the directors and hosts more space to develop the story, but the timing The present is all about recycling old stories. Doesn’t necessarily make the previous cishet characters weird, but takes characters that were previously coded as LGBTQ+ and makes their identities clear.
Consider, if you wish, Interview with Vampire, the latest adaptation of Anne Rice’s iconic 1976 book, premieres this week on AMC and AMC+. (It’s pronounced AMC-positive in this context because of blood. Don’t argue with me.) Vampires have always been weird, a lot; That’s basically the whole point of the metaphor — they’re like the X-Men. Rarely, however, is the subtext clearly presented. Real blood did it. Kill first try. (RIPPING OFF, Kill first.) But with Interviewnot only Louis de Pointe du Lac (Game of Thrones‘Jacob Anderson) and Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) are truly in love in a de facto relationship, they also speak seriously about the strange reality in New Orleans in 1910. Rice’s novel never now refers directly to the strange identity, but it’s definitely a love story. The 1994 film adaptation — you know, the one where Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst give a creepy twist My two dads—Seems short-tempered, but dislikes depictions of actual homosexuality. AMC’s Interview just like campy, and Louis and Lestat bones before finishing the pilot.
See more: A tournament of its own. The people of Queer have loved Penny Marshall’s 1992 film about the All-American Women’s Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) for decades, despite the fact that it doesn’t feature LGBTQ+ characters. New Amazon series on AAGPBL, co-created and starring The city is wideAbbi Jacobson’s, there are almost too many to count. While none of the characters are quite the same as Marshall’s movie character, each character feels like an embodiment of what fans expect of her ballplayers. Ideas that were simply codified into the 1992 film, or projected into it, were turned into reality in its new incarnation.
The new program also rewrites a previous erase. This past June, Maybelle Blair, who played in AAGPBL and is an Amazon consultant A tournament of its own, appeared at the series premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was there that she made it public first. Blair, 95, said she had been in hiding for “75, 85 years”. The League broadcast in 1992 does not reflect her story; the one in 2022 will have. Velma would be proud.
