ParaNorman

I fell in love with the movie, ParaNorman the moment I saw it. It was a fantastic film. Creative, funny, and overall just plain great.

Since someone will complain if I don't say so SPOILER ALERT!

There was an endless stream of complaints about the fact that at the end of the movie it's revealed that the Jock character as gay.

As expected there were complaints from your normal everyday homophobes. That's just to be expected. As noted by the theory that "sex" is secretly written all over Disney movies, if a character were to sneeze and it could possibly be speculated into them saying something inappropriate, someone would complain.

What you wouldn't expect however is the people who called the screenwriters homophobic for the way they wrote it. In one article I read, the author said that they should have showed the characters' progression with the realization and that "the filmmakers felt having an openly-gay character would undermine the enjoyment of the film." They then called the filmmakers the homophobes.

I take issue with that. Personally I thought it was done brilliantly and I do believe it was shown quite well throughout the course of the film. At the very least, I saw it coming. (To be fair i see everything coming.) Throughout the entire film I kept thinking, "that guy is totally gay." I didn't actually expect it to be blatently stated on screen. That was the surprising part for me and I wanted to stand up and cheer. (Which I could've since my friend and I were the only ones in the theater). Let's face it, not even the meat-headiest of straight men could be that oblivious to a woman hitting on them as obviously as she was. Believe me, I know, I've been friends with some of them.

As for it not being mentioned sooner, why would it be? At what point in that situation would an openly gay person just blurt that out. Sorry to tell you, but gay people don't spend every waking moment thinking about the fact that they're gay. Just like straight people don't think about the fact that they're straight and women don't just think about tthe fact they have boobs. When was the last time you heard a straight person just bring up their sexuality for no reason? It would have made no sense for someone who is comfortable being gay and already out to bring it up at random points in time especially a point in time when they are a bit more preoccupied with zombies.

The way they revealed it at the end was brilliant as well. It was very nonchalant. In real life, you either find out someone's gay by your impeccable gaydar, they tell you because you asked them out or it just  came up in conversation, or they casually mention their boyfriend/girlfriend just like you'd mentioned yours.

To be honest, the fact that it's straight up said in a movie with a rating under PG-13 is alone amazing. For once, the multitudes of fans don't have to write countless fan fictions and subpar arguments for it to be true. We should just be glad that a children's movie has an openly gay character in it, rather than complaining about it.

I won't blame you if you didn't see it coming, but I will blame you for expecting it to be a big deal within the context of the film. Why does every movie with a gay character have to focus on that fact?