These were also the only two R-rated animated films released during this time. In South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, the characters Satan and Saddam Hussein are gay lovers and in Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, the character Frylock declares himself a transsexual lesbian trapped in a man's body, and the end credit scene shows Frylock as a woman. The fact that an unabashedly gay character like Mitch made it on the big screen speaks to a shift in American culture that is reflected in its animation.īesides ParaNorman, there have been only two American animated theatrical releases in the past two decades 1 that overtly dealt with any LGBTQ characters or themes. At the same time there has been a decrease in the social censorship of potential LGBTQ themes. This has lead to an increase of gay-tinged humor and ambiguous characters. There have been very few examples of any out characters in American theatrical animation, but looking at the past twenty years we can see a change in the types of animated movies being made, and a widening of the target audiences. He had a rounded character defined by more than his sexuality, and his jock persona played against social stereotypes. Mitch was one of the secondary protagonists. In 2012, ParaNorman featured the first out gay character in an American, family-targeted, animated theatrical release.