Funky Winkerbean's Not-So-Hilarious Anti-Gay Bullying
January 26, 2010
It’s No Name Calling Week, an annual event sponsored by GLSEN to promote acceptance and safer environments in schools.
In honor of this, I decided it’s time to talk about Tom Batiuk‘s Bullies Are Funny week in the comic strip Funky Winkerbean. These six consecutive strips appeared from December 14-19, 2009. I’ve been waiting for follow-up on the situation, but it’s been a month, and any follow-up wouldn’t undo the damage.
Cody, a newer character in the strip, seems to be a Les Moore stand-in when it comes to bullying. His first appearance last September, in another series about bullies, was more generalized than December’s, but I don’t think I’ve seen him in a strip that didn’t feature him as a victim.
Of course Batiuk doesn’t use the word fag, or even the barely-code sissy, but the implication is clear. Knowing a show tune is wrong, all the characters know it’s wrong, and Cody has gone from happy in the first strip to ashamed and afraid when someone hears him in the second.
Not only is Cody afraid, his fears seem to be justified. He’s been taunted by Seniors, and now his best friend Cory has joined in the fun by threatening the loss of his friendship.
(Incidentally, kudos to Batiuk for naming the characters Cory and Cody. It’s not confusing at all.)
Joking or not, loss of friendship is a fear shared by every young gay boy and lesbian, and even the straight kids who are just perceived as gay. The last panel below speaks volumes as Cody does his level best to hide his true self.
I had hoped Batiuk would redeem Bullies Are Funny week with an “I Learned Something” moment. Something as simple as Cory joining in on the song as the bullies walked by would have been enough; it wouldn’t even have been out of place in the world of Funky Winkerbean, where cancer and death mingle with laugh-free punch lines all the time.
But alas, it was not to be. The final strip in the series is below. This strip, in which Cody tries to decide whether to go back into hiding or embrace his new reputation as a fag by joining the drama club, which is apparently where all the sissies and fags hang out.
The message, if that’s what Batiuk was going for, is that fags should either try to run from their selves or hang out with other fags so they can be abused and alienated more effectively.
If Batiuk was going for funny, that fag sure does know a lot of faggy stuff about fag music and fag mythology. Ha ha. Fuckin’ fag.
I guess.
Thanks to GLSEN for continuing their marvelous work to keep gay kids safe in our schools. With their help, we’ll have fewer suicide victims to bury.
(Please read the comment tips before joining the conversation.)
The problem is, if not for the context (and commentary) you provided, I would not have inferred at all that the dark-haired geeky guy was gay. I guess if you feel like perpetuating the stereotype that the only people who are into old musicals at all are Gay, then OK – but I have seen Oklahoma both on stage and on video, had friends who were in the stage version (just a local summer-stock performance), I was in high school at the time, and I'm pretty sure I'm not gay (or at least, I'm a 3 or less on Kinsey's straight-gay chart). The character in the strip betrayed no other typical “gay” characterisations that I know of, and I've never seen this comic before so I wouldn't know if he's established as much. It would seem to me that he's getting picked on for singing an old-timey showtune, not for being gay.
“Batiuk attended Kent State University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in painting. He went on to teach art in junior high school.”
A thirty second perusal of the Wikipedia article that you linked might have have led you to consider, even for a second, that Batiuk is plausibly familiar and empathetic to the plight of students who are picked on for their appreciation of the arts, and that this empathy lies at the heart of his motivation for introducing this character. I don't read the strip, so maybe I lack a broader context, but like the commenter above me, I would not have made a connection between this character and homosexuality if you hadn't tried so very hard to make one. Sorry, but I think this connection exists squarely within the confines of your brain and nowhere outside it.
Hi Roger. Thanks for commenting!
I have to disagree with you. In fact, I did look through that article and as many other sources as I could find in preparation for this post. I was hoping to find a quote about future plans to address these concerns. I didn't find one.
And I disagree with your suggestion that art teachers are necessarily more sensitive to the plight of kids perceived as being gay or effeminate. The world would be better if it were that simple, but sadly, that hasn't been my experience.
Hi Roger. Thanks for commenting!
I have to disagree with you. In fact, I did look through that article and as many other sources as I could find in preparation for this post. I was hoping to find a quote about future plans to address these concerns. I didn't find one.
And I disagree with your suggestion that art teachers are necessarily more sensitive to the plight of kids perceived as being gay or effeminate. The world would be better if it were that simple, but sadly, that hasn't been my experience.