Paranorman and the Homosexuals

First off, if you're planning on seeing the new film Paranorman, I suggest you stop reading this blog post now, as it will have a few spoilers.

Recently, a friend and I went to go see the new kid's film Paranorman, about a young boy who has the capability to see and talk to dead people (I know right? What a description for kid's movie). Anyway, it ends up this kid has to go on a journey to save the town from an evil witch ghost, and in the process his girly teenage sister and his friend's jock teenage brother get involved. The teenage girl develops some feelings for the teenage boy, and at the end, tries to ask him on a date, to which he replies, " Yeah, yeah, I think this could work! Oh, man, I can't wait until you meet my boyfriend, you two would get along great!"

After that line, much of the audience erupted into laughter, myself included. But I also felt a wave of excitement. To me, this is progressive. Whereas when I was a kid, the idea of homosexuality was so hidden in society, I honestly didn't even know the idea of it could exist, this kids movie easily brings it up lightly as a way to annoy an overly-whiny teenage girl. That's right, it's no socially acceptable to bring up homosexuality in films. It's normal, it's okay. And it's okay for kids to understand it, too. Gay is simply love for someone of the same gender. It's not blasphemous, satanic or strange, it's simply a detail about a human being, like brown hair or blue eyes. And the idea of the guy you like being gay isn't a sign of OH MY GOD GET AWAY! It's more a "God dammit. Gotta find someone new, then."

 Though some could interpret this joke as offensive towards homosexuals, I disagree. The joke in no way insulted his character. The boy himself was nowhere near the stereotypical homosexual male. He was an airhead, football loving sports dude. The only reaction from the movie was a look of annoyance from the teenage girl, over losing her "love" so quickly.

Slowly, slowly in society, I'm seeing the idea of gay being more okay. It's evident in politics, as more states are allowing gay marriage legally and Obama himself has claimed to support it, but even more than that it's becoming evident in  pop-culture and local culture. The end of Carly Ray Jepsen's new hit "Call Me Maybe" ends in a similar way as the relationship between the two teens in Paranorman, new TV series such as "Modern Family" and "The New Normal" display homosexual couples as part of the comedic team, and even at school, physical abuse against homosexuals has declined dramatically (granted, verbal abuse is still high, but that for me is a different blog post on it's own). In short, Gay is Okay.

So what do you think. Do you think Paranorman is a sign of progress in social acceptance of homosexuality, or was the joke crude? Do you think gay rights in general is moving forward? What's your opinion on gay marriage? And if you've seen the film Paranorman, did you like it?

Thanks for reading!