Why ‘Velma’ Is the Internet’s New Punching Bag

The latest from HBO Max entry into the Scooby-Doo Act, filmHe has some kind of ancestry that he usually refers to a hit. The executive producer is veteran TV writer Mindy Kaling, who also voices the title character of the animated series. It’s a show about one of pop culture’s most beloved nerds. Likes Riverdale Before, film It also takes a staple of children’s entertainment and gives it a tongue-in-cheek new twist for adults. Despite everything, the show continues to be the internet’s new favorite punching bag.

The tweets upend the show’s attempts to poke fun at the biting humor that pokes fun at the culture wars. Parodies Aim on his plot lines. Forbes has had great success chronicling the backlash in a big way: showrunner Charlie Grundy, “frequent collaborator of Kaling’s” and “son of an ex love boat The star has apparently been “accused of a nepotism affair,” according to one post. Another also put it succinctly: “Everyone hates film. ”

The full truth behind this fallout is complex, as usual. Despite the vitriol, people watch the show; According to HBO Max, Velma was his The greatest animated movie show Start. The problem is that they view it through the lens of the entire story of Velma and the Scooby-Doo franchise as a whole.

for one film She opted for the colorblind cast whose title character is now a South Asian woman. Secondly, this Velma movie is portrayed as completely weird. But while it might be easy to attribute the usual racism and/or homophobia that accompanies things like this to a backlash against the show — and there’s probably a little bit of that on the show here — what’s wrong with that? film Works deeper.

The biggest criticism of the series doesn’t seem to be that it addresses diversity issues in the Mystery Inc. gang. Rather, the show does so in a shallow, unanimous way. And when it comes to Velma’s sexuality – something that’s been a topic of debate in Scooby-Doo rhetoric for years – any attempt to address the matter takes depth.

For decades, the writers behind the character have implied that Velma is gay through various Scooby-Doo traits. It was definitely coded as gay in its first iterations, and James Gunn, who wrote two live-action Scooby-Doo movies in the early 2000s, claimed a few years ago that Velma was “openly gay” in his first script back in 2001. Is.” But the studio kept toning down, becoming obscure (the comic version), then nothing (the released version) and finally a friend (the sequel). “During Pride Month in 2020, Tony Cervone was the supervising producer on the series. animation Scooby Doo! Integrated secretOn Instagram, she posted that her Velma “is not bi. She is gay.”

But Velma V’s sexuality Integrated secret, which aired from 2010 to 2013, is only hinted at. Then, late last year, in an animated movie Scooby Doo!, the subtext became text: Velma liked a villain, and the Internet loved her. when Washington Post reported that a teenager in Ontario was one of the first to spot confirmation, and Her gushing tweet quickly went viral: “OMG LESBIAN VELMA CANON FINALLY LET CANON IN THE MOVIES GOOOOOO.”