Research Log Two
Research Log Two
Bridging and Bending Genres
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Image Credit: Panel in On a Sunbeam Chapter Twelve, illustrated by Tillie Walden.
Gothic horror fantasy or magical space opera? It’s a difficult decision, but luckily both are well equipped to be LGBTQ+ inclusive.
This dilemma between horror fantasy and space opera is currently the biggest issue on my mind right now in regards to which source to choose for my upcoming essay. It took a while to eliminate all the different primary texts I wanted to analyze, However, in the end I narrowed my options down to two for the Preliminary Evaluation on Primary Sources: The Owl House, a 2D animated Disney show directed by Dana Terrace, and On a Sunbeam, a webcomic turned graphic novel both written and illustrated by Center for Cartoon Studies graduate Tillie Walden.
As a side note, I would like to offer an explanation for the textual format of this entry. I’ve been quite busy the past week and I haven’t had time to edit a video together. Hopefully I’ll return to video format in the next research log, but for the time being the visual design of this entry will be slightly more unique compared to the other articles on this website.
Dana Terrace, and poster of final season of The Owl House. Image Credit: Getty Images and Owl House Wiki.
Tillie Walden and her novel On a Sunbeam . Image Credit: goodreads.com and Amazon.com
Part of this lag has been caused by indecisiveness; it’s been difficult to come up with a topic that I believe will have enough secondary sources written about it and its genre, while also not being a primary source that has been excessively written about in general. I know that in the end that nearly anything you write has likely been written about hundreds of times, and it’s been a struggle to come to this compromise. With The Owl House and On a Sunbeam, it feels like I might have the opposite problem; where am I going to find a scholarly source discussing children’s horror fantasy or queer graphic novels? Well, I remember from attending the research symposium that many of the award-nominees originally struggled to find topical scholarly sources, so at least it’s not an issue that can’t be surpassed.
In any case, of all the possible sources I had considered, I really have a passionate appreciation for these texts’ and their LGBTQ+ representation. While they may not be my favorites in comparison to other sources I’ve discussed previously, I feel like these two primary sources have the best example of unique fictional worldbuilding. The way these sources flounce bridging, subverting, and breaking the old rules of their genres to me mirrors their excellent representation of queer characters.
The Owl House likes to poke fun at mainstream fantasy, Video credit: ToH Season one ep. 13, uploaded by username nitsan vine.
Image Credit: Panel in On a Sunbeam Chapter Sixe, illustrated by Tillie Walden.
Contributing to the show's macabre, the setting ofThe Owl House is the colossal corpse of a fallen demon. Image Credit: Owl House Wiki
As I wrote in my Preliminary Evaluation, On a Sunbeam literally creates a “safe space” for queer female and nonbinary characters as it flips sci-fi and space opera genres. In On a Sunbeam’s universe, characters can breath in space, plants grow in zero-atmosphere biomes, ancient castles and cities crumble elegantly on small asteroids, and fish-shaped spaceships with soft, cozy interiors glide through the kaleidoscopic nebulae; all of this opposes science fiction’s typical portrayal of space as a dangerous and hostile environment, but the author doesn’t stop there. More important in the creation of a “safe space”, even though it's less noticeable, is the complete absence of homophobia, men, and discrimination against diverse gender expressions.
Meanwhile, The Owl House’s main themes include embracing your “weirdness” and coming to accept others’ identities and actions that have been labeled strange, weird, or scary. Like On a Sunbeam, The Owl House never includes any homophobic (as well as transphobic) characters, but though homophobia or transphobia are never antagonistic forces played against the protagonists, the show’s entire theme of fighting labels of conformity parallels real life struggles for gay rights and representation. The magical world of The Owl House, with its use of the grotesque and eerie, refuses to identify with the idyll of typical fantasy worlds and even mocks the audiences’ expectation for fantasy cliches that have dominated the genre. In the end, the show’s refusal to adhere to clean-cut fantasy, and the characters’ full hearted embrace of the magical realm in all its bizarreness could be seen as another message of acceptance and celebration of queer identities.
Anyways, at this point I’ve written more than I planned, so it’s time to wrap up. Hopefully you can tell that these two sources mean a lot to me, more than just two other pieces of entertainment media. Their wonderful LGBTQ+ representation and refusal to commit entirely to dominant genres and narratives make them both great pieces about exploring one’s identity, and if I didn’t have to choose just one, I’d love to compare the two.
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