Why did the villain have to be gay?
What was the point of making King Candy effeminate? Would he have been any less effective a villain had he been straight?
shareWhy does there have to be a reason? What's the problem with it?
shareHe's the only non-hetero-normative character in the film. If they made the hero gay there would be some big public outcry that Disney were trying to indoctrinate children with positive gay images, but apparently it's just fine for children to be indoctrinated with negative gay images.
shareWow, I don't think that thought has ever crossed my mind. King Candy seemed like a regular villain to me, and if it's the voice people are picking up on, I didn't think it sounded gay, if anything, it reminded me of Doom from Roger Rabbit, when his toon character was revealed.
shareI agree, though I'll the the voice reminded me more of Snacklepuss
shareHe's supposed to sound like Ed Wynn (Uncle Albert from Mary Poppins). He did a character referred to as "the perfect fool." King Candy was an homage, and a funny voice doesn't necessarily equate homosexuality. Something else does, but they wouldn't show that in a family movie.
A giddy cartoon character?
He also looks like the Mad Hatter from Disney's cartoon " Alice in Wonderland", which I believe was also voiced by Wynn.
shareYes, Ed Wynn was both the voice and visual model for the Mad Hatter.
Misc. Trivia: The March Hare (Jerry Colonna)was a regular on Bob Hope's radio show in the 40's. And, Ed Wynn's firechief character in The Absent-Minded Professor was a nod to Wynn's character on radio in the early 30's, The Texaco Firechief. (I'm an oldtime radio nut)
I agree. He sounded just like Ed Wynn. I had to look up who was doing such a great impersonation of him. Love Alan Tudyk.
I didn't once think it sounded "effeminate" or "gay". It was just a villain who sounded like he should have been on the side of "good".
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
THAT'S THE GUY! Thank you so much for pointing that out for me here. I knew that voice felt so bloody familiar, and now i get why. Easily the stand-out performance in the movie, and the more I watch it the more I'm impressed with not only the voice acting but how maddeningly reminiscent the king is to other older Disney characters.
Then I saw who played King Candy and literally exclaimed "Holy ****!", twice. He nailed it.
Guess again. Hollyweird liberals have no problem putting their agenda in kids movies. How to train your dragon 2 has a gay character. It was announced the other day Craig Ferguson's was gay.
shareYeah gay never crossed my mind either. The only person he reminded me of was the Mad Hatter.
65 Roses = Cystic Fibrosis
I agree with DW. When I first watched it I thought he sounded like Burt's father on Mary Poppin's. I don't remember anything that made him seem gay.
shareSo don't have gay people in film. Isn't that worse, also gays can be good or evil like straights. Your ULTRA PC is borderline bigotry.
HI F-ING YA
Nicholas Cage Deadfall
> gays can be good or evil like straights.
I agree. It would be great if there were some equivalence of representation of gays in both negative and positive roles. But where are the representations of gays in lead hero roles? Oh right, there aren't any.
> Your ULTRA PC is borderline bigotry.
Kindly explain how.
Brokeback mountain, Paranorman, many art-house films(Go watch a Jarman film). You mean 50/50 most movies have men as villains, so does that mean films are sexist towards men?
HI F-ING YA
Nicholas Cage Deadfall
Bruno? (Sorry can't do the umlaut.)
Sure he was an ass but you felt for him by the end.
And for the other guy, Paul may be the only recent flick I can think of that had a female antagonist.
There's a slogan written here. 'Happiness Will Walk Away'...
He was just as camp as Fix-It Felix.
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I wish we could "like" or give a thumbs up to certain posts. If I could, I would give you a huge thumbs up. I was thinking the same thing. People get so damn offended at everything. We've become a nation of pansies, no pun intented.
"I've noticed that everybody who is for abortion has already been born." Ronald Reagan.
Can I thumbs this up?
shareWow, I never heard anyone comment that the Toymaker in "Babes In Toyland" was gay or the Gatekeeper in the "Wizard of Oz." I thought the King Candy sounded just like them. All those characters were flamboyant for sure, but does that equate to gay? Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't make a bit of difference to the plot of the films, and if parents weren't complaining about it in the 30's and 40's and all the subsequent years those films have been classics, why the hell are we talking about in in 2013??
shareIt's not playing the villain as gay or straight per se. The characterization was based on Ed Wynn, who played the Toymaker in "Babes in Toyland," Uncle Albert in "Mary Poppins," and the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland," among dozens of other tv and movie roles, not to mention his large amount of time spent on the stage before moving to moving pictures. Wynn was straight, despite the vocal and visual cues that we now associate with being "gay."
shareWell, we are talking about this in 2013, (whether you're referring to the old classics, or current movies,) because it is important to us. When these older classics came out it was tabboo to talk about them. Being gay was seen as a very negative traight. Those of us who are tired of the bigotry don't beleive that it is ok to brush it under the rug anymore. If things are going to be equal, then they need to truley be equal. I'm sure that many would say that I fall into that category of people who are just too overly sensative. Well, that's fine with me. Things will never change for the better, if we don't make them change. If that means bringing up "silly," things like the voice of a villian in a cartoon movie, then so be it. Those of you that think we are just being overley sensative.....well, just get the hell over it! Isn't that what you'd say to me!
shareHow do you know he's gay? I didn't see him involved in any gay activities. How do you know Ralph isn't gay?
I think what you meant to say is 'camp'... not necessarily an indicator of whether someone is gay.
Why on God's Earth do you think he's gay? Did he suck a dick in a deleted scene or something? He's just cuckoo, lol. He's the stereotypical "King" in a sugary, gay (as in happy) environment. I mainly thought of him as some kind of Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. A strong, normal, generic bad guy wouldn't have fitted the gleeful tone of the movie.
It's great how kids just see a sweet movie and adults immediately interpret everything as offensive, sexual, violent, abnormal.
I have no issue. It's a movie, meant to be entertained, not to be offended by it
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