Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: adventure time, animation, Comics, entertainment, LGBTQ media, Lumberjanes, tv

Tales From The Four Color Closet – Bubbline Lives!

Published Fri, 15 Aug 2014 15:00:00 -0500

by Hannah Means Shannon

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By Joe Glass

Something that has always struck me as the most important tool in improving attitudes to LGBTQ people, especially amongst younger generations who are the future of our society, is education. I have also always been of the opinion that media educates us as much as any school or parental system. So it's always been something of an important issue to me that media aimed at younger audiences should include the LGBTQ community.

There are several reasons for this, which should be pretty obvious. It serves to naturalise the LGBTQ community amongst the audience, so that they are not led to believe there is something odd, unusual or not 'normal' about them. It can also serve as representation for those in the audience who are LGBTQ; after all, whilst most come out when they are older, they've actually been LGBTQ all their lives, and presenting them with true representation from a young age can help avoid years of personal and private grief and dilemma.

So it is with great pride that I can yet again laud the efforts the efforts of Adventure Time, a show that I personally consider the be hands down one of the best 'kids' shows on TV today.

At a recent book signing event for The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia, Olivia Olsen, the voice actress who plays Marceline the Vampire Queen on the show, reveals that it is considered canon amongst the show creators that Marceline and Princess Bubblegum used to date.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EleCNWfwTY[/youtube]

Many fans, myself included, had thought this to be the case for some time. For a show that is bandied around under the notion it is a 'kids' show, Adventure Time contains a lot of 'mature' and complex concepts like heroism, justice, parenting and feminism to name but a few, but it also treats concepts like love, any kind of love, as perfectly natural and simple ideas that phase no one, and can be understood by anyone at any age.

It's never pandered to its young audience or assumed that they wouldn't or couldn't understand these things, but rather gave them the benefit of the doubt, and I think it's part of how the show has worked so well.

Marceline and P.B.'s relationship in particular exemplified this. There were subtle hints and some not so subtle that seemed to hint at either a current of historical romantic connection.

And it shows that LGBTQ can fit into children's TV without any problems. Unlike what some would like to believe, LGBTQ isn't necessarily an explicit thing. Showing queer love does not have to graphic or sexual, because we're not one-dimensional sexed up beings like that. Rather, we are people, and we can be an ages old rock-music loving vampire girl or a princess made out of candy just as much as anyone else.

This has also recently been seen in the amazing all ages comic Lumberjanes, that includes LGBTQ, notions of gender and gender roles for comics reading audiences young and old alike.

On a slight downer to this though, Ward himself apparently believes the relationship will never be shown explicitly on the show, as some countries in which it airs, being LGBTQ or being seen to promote LGBTQ is illegal. Which is a terrible shame in this day and age, but not entirely unexpected.

Personally, I would love it if they went ahead with an episode of the show centred on their relationship and just accept that in these countries, these episodes may get banned. At least they would have tried.

But bravo to the team behind Adventure Time and Cartoon Network for making steps towards inclusivity in this manner.

Joe Glass is a Bleeding Cool contributor, and creator/writer of LGBTQ superhero team comic The Pride, which is available on Comixology and at The Pride Store. He is also a co-writer on Welsh horror-comedy series, Stiffs, which can be bought at the Stiffs Store and is now also available on Comixology. You can follow him on twitter and tumblr.