Beth David and Esteban Bravo’s Ringling College graduation animation “In a Heartbeat” is a viral sensation, a fantastic Pixar-esque short film. Via Short of the Week:
While we’ve seen LGBTQ storytelling invade most every other genre imaginable, this is the first time I can recall seeing it in a kid-centric animation, and it is honestly not a surprise that there is so much pent-up demand from audiences. This kind of animated storytelling is so dominant in youth-targeted media that Disney has, in many ways, a monopoly over the imaginations of children. However depicting queerness in these stories has been a terrible taboo—when present at all, it is only barely hinted at. This is understandable on a business level, while we’ve come a long way in the acceptance of sexual preference as a society, there are still large segments of the populace whom decry the normalization of Queer sexuality, and the large budget films of Disney or Pixar are trying to appeal to as broad of audiences as possible. It is ironically unfortunate however, because childhood is obviously when the initial formation of sexual preference emerges, and the fear of ostracization is highest amongst LGBTQ persons. Positive depictions of LGBTQ characters inarguably would be MOST valuable in children’s animation, if the goal is to reassure these individuals of their acceptance by society.