>> Time to make history indeed! First married gay couple on a Nickelodeon cartoon!
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« Ça y est, il est temps d’écrire l’Histoire », comme le déclare Lincoln, 11 ans, personnage principal de la série d’animation « The Loud House », créée par Chris Savino, qui narre de manière décalée les péripéties du petit garçon, cadet de famille entouré de ses 10 sœurs.
Et pour le 20ème épisode, diffusé le 20 juillet dernier, Lincoln reçoit son meilleur ami, avec lequel il doit passer une soirée pyjama. Et c’est en effet la surprise lorsqu’il nous présente les parents de Clyde : Harold et Howard McBride, le premier couple gay marié à intégrer la grande famille Nickelodeon.
Car si la chaîne de jeunesse américaine avait déjà sublimé dans le final de la « Légende de Korra », la romance entre l’héroïne et son amie Asami dans une symbolique visuelle très explicite, c’est bien la première fois qu’elle fait paraître une famille homoparentale dans un de ses programmes. Et plutôt que de s’attarder sur la sexualité du couple, la scène souligne davantage l’instinct de surprotection des deux papas qui enchaînent les conseils et consignes :
« Pas de noix ni aliment avec gluten ou trop sucré. Pas d’excès sur le jus d’orange. Humidificateur et boule Quies, pour un sommeil plus zen, et des solutions d’urgence en cas d’allergies », sans oublier la photo de famille avec toute une liste de numéros de téléphone, ainsi qu’une petite larme au passage : « Ils grandissent si vite ! »
Mais le rôle des parents n’est-il pas d’aider leurs enfants à devenir des adultes forts et indépendants ?!
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Time to make history indeed! First married gay couple on a Nickelodeon cartoon!https://t.co/CI5NPmd7JU
— ㅤ (@Ieodavinci) 16 juillet 2016
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Une initiative plutôt bien accueillie, si l’on réfère aux commentaires élogieux partagés sur les réseaux sociaux depuis la diffusion de l’épisode, et le renouvellement de la série pour une prochaine saison.
Terrence Katchadourian
stophomophobie.org
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>> « This is it. Time to make history, » Lincoln Loud, a character on Nickelodeon’s animated series Loud House, says in a clip from the show circulating on Twitter. He opens the front door to meet his best friend’s parents – an interracial gay couple.
Mr McBride and Mr McBride, as Loud calls them, will make their debut on Wednesday as the network’s first married gay couple on the show. But it isn’t the first time that Nickelodeon or kids’ television has featured LGBT characters.
Fans praised the show for its casual portrayal of the two dads, voiced by the comedians Wayne Brady and Michael McDonald. Rather than linger on their sexuality, the episode focused on their traits as overprotective parents. In the segment titled Overnight Success, the parents drop off their son for a sleepover with a humidifier, white noise machine, ear plugs, allergy medicine, a photo of the family and multiple phone numbers in case their cellphones fail.
« No nuts, no gluten, no sugar and be careful with orange juice. You know how you get with pulp, » Brady’s character warns his son before leaving. The other Mr McBride laments tearfully: « They grow up so fast. »
When reached for comment on the show, a Nickelodeon spokesperson said the network would rather let the episode speak for itself. The spokesperson said the episode has already aired “in some US markets (Asia, France, Italy), and this clip among others, as well as screen grabs from the series have been posted by fans around the world”.
Judging by responses on Twitter, the reaction to the show’s new characters was overwhelmingly positive.
« The Loud House has an unambiguous gay married couple that isn’t an excuse for a punchline, God bless Nickelodeon, » one user wrote.
« Thank you Loud House, for these wonderful gay dads, » tweeted another.
Negative responses encouraged parents to forbid their children from watching the show or said the characters seemed forced.
Loud House, which tells the story of a boy with ten sisters, premiered on Nickelodeon on 2 May. Variety reported that it pulled in 1.8 million viewers before it was renewed for a second season on 25 May.
Other shows have shown LGBT characters and parents in the past.
In 2005, the PBS show Postcards from Buster, which showed the rabbit from the cartoon Arthur interacting with real kids, pulled an episode which depicted gay parents, according to the Associated Press. The show’s last episode aired in 2012.
On Disney Channel, the live-action show Good Luck Charlie, which aired from 2010 to 2014, featured lesbian parents in an episode in its final season and faced backlash from conservative group One Million Moms.
Cartoon Network’s current animated series Clarence, which debuted in April 2014, featured a gay couple kissing on the cheek – though reports state that the kiss was censored and originally intended to be on the lips. Later episodes of the show featured Jeff, a friend of the titular character, and his two moms, EJ and Sue.
In the past, Nickelodeon and other networks have featured characters which were confirmed to be part of the LGBT community by creators or actors off screen.
Mike DiMartino, cocreator of Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra, confirmed on his website in February 2014 that two of the show’s female characters were in a relationship. The series ran from 2012 to 2014.
Olivia Olsen, a voice actor from Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, told fans that two female characters were once in a relationship.
With the introduction of the McBrides, Loud House joins a recent wave of diverse programming including Nickelodeon’s Sanjay and Craig, featuring a biracial Indian boy and his pet snake, and Disney’s Doc McStuffins, a show about an African American girl who fixes her stuffed animals.
