#336: Link wants to talk about trans characters in media, specifically Barney from Dead End: Paranormal Park. The crew discusses how trans characters get portrayed and the types of stories they generally exist in, and how the representation matters.

Josué Cardona 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:21
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:23
you were taking a sip. So I thought I would catch you know,

Lara Taylor 0:25
nope, I took a small sip because I knew you were gonna do that

Josué Cardona 0:30
Marc Cuiriz

Marc Cuiriz 0:31
Hello,

Josué Cardona 0:33
And Link Keller

Link Keller 0:36

Josué Cardona 0:36
ew

Link Keller 0:38
just kidding. Hi. Hello. Welcome back. My friends, I have missed you.

Josué Cardona 0:45
All of us?

Link Keller 0:46
All of you

Josué Cardona 0:49
marc take a sip now. After them. Link, what? What are we talking about? Today,

Link Keller 0:55
we are talking about a show called Dead End paranormal Park, which is a cartoon available on Netflix. It is lightly spoopy. If you liked Gravity Falls, it has a lot of things in common with that. But mostly I wanted to talk about the trans character Barney and more specifically, Episode Seven, where Barney has a meet up with his family. And it’s very uncomfortable. But it is, I think, a really good conversation starter for talking about trans people and their family dynamics around that. young trans men in particular. And yeah, I just I thought it was a fun show to talk about. Now, I specified to you guys when I brought up this topic that episode seven was the one I wanted to talk about specifically, but I know some of you watched more than that. So anybody want to pipe in and talk about your experience watching dead end paranormal Park.

Josué Cardona 2:12
I had to renew my Netflix subscription which I wasn’t super happy about. But I did

Lara Taylor 2:22
anything for the podcast.

Josué Cardona 2:24
anything for the podcast

Marc Cuiriz 2:24
anything

Josué Cardona 2:25
Yep. I have a question link.

Link Keller 2:28
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 2:29
In that episode, which will we’ll get into more they reference a previous dinner with a grandmother.

Link Keller 2:37
mmhmm

Josué Cardona 2:38
Is that also shown in an episode? cuz that I did not see?

Link Keller 2:41
I think there is an earlier episode where they do like a quick little flashback. But they do not show the scene in its entirety. Just it’s like a spooky scary thing is happening to Barney. And it is shows that it’s a family dinner, and Grandma is very threatening and scary. And so you you get the setup early on as like that was a traumatic event that happened, which potentially assuredly is related to why Barney is now run away from home and is living in the park.

Josué Cardona 3:19
Yeah. Part of like a larger conversation are there. Are there other trans characters in animated shows that that come to mind that might be able to compare and contrast as you continue the conversation.

Link Keller 3:41
I wasn’t ready for that question. Oh, no.

Lara Taylor 3:43
Neither am I.

Link Keller 3:44
uhhh,

Josué Cardona 3:47
because I can’t think of any other characters that I’ve seen on any animated show.

Link Keller 3:54
Let me Google

Josué Cardona 3:55
got to Google something. Okay. Oh, pull up the Please hold.

Lara Taylor 3:58
I mean, they’re there. I don’t think explicitly trans characters, but there are allegories and like representations.

Josué Cardona 4:05
Yeah, yeah, we got tons. Yeah. 300 episodes of those.

Lara Taylor 4:10
Exactly.

Josué Cardona 4:13
Yeah. And again, because like Barney is explicitly trans. Like that’s, again, this episode that we’re that we want to talk about that. That’s it. That’s a big part of the conversation. See, I didn’t want to come in and be like, This is the first ever trans character animated show. I was like it is it is it is the first one for me. But

Marc Cuiriz 4:42
yeah, I was gonna say I was the first one for me because I don’t think I’ve ever really dealt with Oh, I really any form of media that I can think of off the top of my head where there’s like an explicitly like trans character.

Josué Cardona 4:57
We have talked a lot about like a live action trans representation.

Lara Taylor 5:03
absolutely

Josué Cardona 5:03
I can name a bunch. And we talked about those but never animated.

Link Keller 5:08
So there is a Wikipedia page list of fictional trans characters. And there are quite a few

Josué Cardona 5:16
in animation?

Link Keller 5:16
in animation

Lara Taylor 5:16
I tried to pull up and nothing and nothing came. It’s like a blank page for me.

Link Keller 5:22
You have to click the Show button where it says characters for it to drop it down. I had a moment to where I was like, but I know there’s at least two, three. There are definitely more trans women than trans men on this list. But um I just I had a moment just now oh where did it go?

Lara Taylor 5:49
Rachel’s bighead on Rocco’s modern life?

Link Keller 5:52
in the like remake version, that was like a subplot in it, which actually was pretty cool.

Lara Taylor 6:01
That’s That’s right. I do remember that

Josué Cardona 6:03
Rocco got a remake what?

Link Keller 6:06
There are several trans women characters in Bob’s Burgers. There’s a trans man in wonder Egg priority.

Marc Cuiriz 6:15
I actually remember there. There is a there is a trans woman and Family Guy actually.

Link Keller 6:21
There’s a couple of trans characters in Futurama. There’s a trans man and she RA and the princesses of power. Jewelstar

Lara Taylor 6:30
I don’t remember who Jewelstar is

Marc Cuiriz 6:33
Yeah, great. And I had to think about that.

Lara Taylor 6:36
But I’m like, did that person have any lines? I doubt it.

Josué Cardona 6:42
In wonder egg? who in wonder egg?

Link Keller 6:46
me scroll back down. Sorry, Kaoru Kurita. trans boy hatched from momos egg.

Josué Cardona 6:58
Oh! That’s true. That’s true.

Link Keller 7:00
It is designed with colors replicated the transgender flag.

Josué Cardona 7:04
Okay. Yeah. Yep.

Link Keller 7:07
Oh, oh, I should I wish I hadn’t read more of that. That’s a real bummer.

Josué Cardona 7:12
that show is a big bummer.

Link Keller 7:13
Anyway,

Josué Cardona 7:14
yeah. Don’t. big content warning for that show. From beginning to end.

Link Keller 7:18
For reals. But yeah, so there are definitely a few here. Okay. Okay. Notably, not a lot of main characters, right. Barney is absolutely main character. Yeah.

Josué Cardona 7:34
top Billing.

Link Keller 7:37
And I appreciate that. The way that they introduce Barney as being trans is like, not the defining feature of who he is. It is, I think, the second or third episode where he explicitly says it. Which I do appreciate the things that it is explicit, but it’s not. You know, episode...