#just in case p

so i know there was this kinda kuweer anal-uh-sis floating around this obnoxious platform back in 2012 bout paranorman being an egregiously gay kids film, but like yeah that’s still just a major element that the film’s storytelling hinges on lol, and i don’t think it’s even a subtextual thing

chris butler, the guy who created and wrote the movie’s story (and proudly based norman off of himself as a child) is an openly gay man whos art is painfully well observed and also unabashedly based off of his lived experiences. yeah the Misfit Kid trope isn’t even a little unique, but the grimy suburb blocks and self-assured assholes who fill norman’s neighborhood are unique in how blatant, well-observed, and tangible they feel

i feel like it’d be intentionally obtuse to pretend that the inclusion of an unambiguously gay character, the theme of social ostracism for a harmless but “strange” characteristic you cannot change, and that whole owchie-owie-ow-it-hurts-scene where norman says he didn’t ask to be born the way he was and his shitty dad who hates “limp wristed” hippies says That Line (you know the one) weren’t on-the-nose to the point of it almost certainly being intentional. like, you don’t write something that fuckin gay, that seated in the gay experience, unless you’re a little aware of what that experience is

paranorman is laika’s best movie, is what i’m saying, and frankly it wouldn’t have nearly as depthy storytelling if it weren’t for the Homosexual Experience that tinges every. single. line. and every. single. plot point. btw teehee protag’ last name has Cock in it ex dee el oh el!!!!!!!!!!!!