Babadook. Really? WTF Are We Doing?

In another post this titled How Do We Educate Our Youth About LGBT History, I admitted that I wasn't the strongest at knowing LGBT history.  There's a great deal I do know but there is so much more I don't know about our fight for our rights, the leaders of our movement early on, etc.. But I'm not a dunce on the subject by any means.  Am I oblivious to our history?  Not at all, but as a former high school teacher, I would not be comfortable teaching the subject.  We aren't really "normally" exposed to learning about LGBT history unless you live in California (California Approves LGBT History Lessons For Classrooms).  We have to reach out on our own to learn about the history of the rainbow flag, the reason we have pride, why it is in the form of a march, etc.  So if we have to self medicate ourselves, how do our allies and straight members of the community find out who we are and where we came from? 
 
Besides the debate about if police should be able to march in parades, where Black Lives Matter is now after making all the demands last year, or if the Israeli rainbow pride flags can be carried … in other words … besides those discriminatory actions of pride organizers around North America, probably the most odd and embarrassing story from the pride month was the Babadook. People were promoting the sci fi / horror movie character as the best representative of LGBT culture. Here's one of the many attempts to explain why.
 
The Babadook is a gay icon now. Okay, took me a while to understand this one, but now I am fully behind it. Stemming from a hilarious mistake on Netflix’s part, when they wrongly categorised the film as LGBT interest in late 2016, Jennifer Kent‘s The Babadook slowly built as a meme on the likes of tumblr, twitter and Instagram to rise as an unlikely queer icon …
 
After all, the Babadook is the disruptive influence caused by ignoring the truth, until it comes bursting out, quite flamboyantly, and has to be accepted, sometimes in an uptight household in a very begrudging way. It’s an experience many a young gay man can relate to, perhaps …
 
And if not, what the hell! It’s all a bit of fun, and who can blame the LGBTQ community for wanting a bit of fun and humor in their lives. So this year, perhaps the Babadook may well just be THE hero of Pride Month 2017. – bleedingcool.com
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The wave of creativity circling this idea that a demonic movie character represents our community even spawned a music video by drag performer Pissi Myles.

 

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When asked why she created the music video Myles said, “My husband and I both love scary movies, so when Babadook “came out” we wanted to bring this new side of the character to life.”

Will Babadook go away now that pride season is over?  Please, please, PLEASE !!!  The fact that we latched onto this NetFLIX blunder and placed a creature from the shadows onto a pedestal to represent us is insulting.  When we have so many other people, living and dead, that need to be honored, praised, ones that could represent our community because of their fighting, activism, sacrifice … no wait, a threatening film character from a B, C, or D movie would be better than any living or dead human being.

I didn't pay attention to whom the Grand Marshal was in the Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade was this year until her car approached me.  Sharon Gless looked great and her escorts did as well. Seeing someone that has been a big part of our lives as a very accepting mother in "Queer as Folk" and her activism for our QUEER community put a smile on my face. Seeing the police march in our parade was great, too.

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Ever since I moved to the Greater Fort Lauderdale area and found that there were two prides, one in February (Fort Lauderdale Pride) and June (Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride), I thought that maybe we all should have a pride on the same weekend to celebrate Stonewall, the fight for our rights. 

None of us have really talked about the … what was it called again? The Pride March? March for Pride?  Capital Pride?  D.C. Pride?  Did we not talk about it too much because it was a failure or it wasn't as large as we thought it would be?

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One fault our humanity h . . . hey look, a squirrel. We have a short attention span and then we are distracted so easily.  Wait, is that two? Squirrel again.

When it comes to PRIDE, we all need to be in it to win it.  We should not stretch our resources or attention in a different direction that seems funny, cute, comical, or ironic.

Please let Babadook die and come back to what is important.  Don't put lipstick on a pig (sorry Fred) and call it the next best thing for our community. We are losing too much right now and we have too much to fight for to be distracted by a baba-don't.

 

h/t: bleedingcool.com

“Babashook” was co-written by Myles and humorist Topher Cusumano, with an original track by producer B. Ames. The video was directed by Joe la Scola with drag photographer David Ayllon serving as creative director.

5 thoughts on “Babadook. Really? WTF Are We Doing?”

  1. I understand what you’re

    I understand what you're saying about wanting to honor the heroes we already have and not let them fall to the wayside. The work they've done and what we've accomplished because of them is substantial. At the same time, I don't see any harm in having a little fun on the journey. I don't think anyone ACTUALLY thinks the Babadook is the hero of the year, but I think in a year of some really terrible things going on that we could be incredibly saddened and mentally debilitated by, if people want to choose to have fun and celebrate in humorous ways instead I think it can make morale a little higher. If all we choose to let in is the serious, heavy subjects and never give ourselves something to celebrate or have fun with then what are we even fighting for?

    Reply
  2. Author notes that they don’t

    Author notes that they don't really know about LGBTQ history. Proceeds to offer hand-wringing concern trollery that ignores the role of camp and satirical appropriation as long standing tools of the movement. 

    Good job, Instinct. I'm guessing you'd embrace the Babadook if they had abs and a prominent 10" member. 

    Reply
    • Sure Johnny, we would embrace

      Sure Johnny, we would embrace him as long as he actually did something positive for our community instead of being a shitty piece of satire that has nothing to do with us besides being filed inappropriately on a web page dedicated to LGBT movies.

      If you're fighting for the prominence of Babadook, then there is a grander issue here. In a serious time as this, 2017, let's promote a dumb character from a non-LGBT movie. Fuck off Harvey Milk, screw you Marsha P Johnson.  Who is James Baldwin and Barney Frank?  Sorry, we're busy putting on our Babadook make up.

      Reply
      • Such hate Adam, I guess I

        Such hate Adam, I guess I would have expected a little more from the writers for Instinct. I can't imagine the pain you live through every day carrying that burden. Best of luck to you.

        Reply
        • No hate here Jackson and no

          No hate here Jackson and no pain either.

          I'd expect a little more … best of luck to you …?  Yawn. Such a banal response.

          Reply

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