The Sub-text of Jonny Quest
Posted: Tuesday, June 20, 2006
by Steve Sommers
Rexroi, and Evil Super-Villains need Love, Too
I got the first years episode of the cartoon series Jonny Quest, which I just watched this weekend and holy crap! Is this stuff gay or what? Adult Swim did a neat satire of Johnny Quest with it's Birdman Attorney at law series which I thought was a little harsh, until I revisited my memories with the actual videos. Jonny Quest was a cartoon show where blond - and very pretty - ten year old Jonny travels the world with his bachelor scientist father, Dr. Benton Quest, and Dr. Quest's large blond muscluar companion, Race Bannon. Bannon serves as Dr. Quest's man Friday doing everything including flying jets, teaching Jonny self-defense, rescuing them from cannibals ... you name it. The three of them travel the globe having adventures until a few episodes into it they find a pretty brown boy named Hajji whom they invite along. Then it's a threesome having adventures while rarely being troubled by the presence of girls. It's never explicitly stated that Dr. Quest and Race Bannon are gay lovers, just as it's never explicitly stated that Hajji has been taken along as a catamite to sate their twisted desires. But what else could it be? There is a female character named Jade who shows up in Hong Kong and has some connection to Race. But it's real clear that he wants nothing to do with her. The same goes for Jonny and Hajji because - ewww girls are icky. Perhaps the lack of meaningfully developed female characters on the show could also be due to old-fashioned patriarchal mysogeny. It's a toss-up, but either way - no chicks are allowed in this club. I never really got exactly what kind of Doctor Dr. Quest really is. He is a medical doctor, because he does medical things, but he's also a scientific researcher. His scientific research involves pretty much anything. Like, he's an anthropologist but he's also a physicist, but it turns out that he's also a chemical engineer, and he's a linguist, and a biologist. All this in addition to practicing medicine. He's probably a chiropractor, too. So, I guess they must have thought that Doctor means you can do every type of job that might mean doctor. These guys travel the world doing their best to extend the American empire and take on their white man's burden. Constantly they are running into 'primitive' cultures who are beating their drums while saying 'Ooogah-Boobah' more or less. Don't worry. These types can be easily tricked into worshiping our heros as Gods by means of cigarette lighters or handily placed loudspeakers. Or Race painted purple to imitate a Water God. Silly non-American savages! The shows are totally unapologetic with their stereotypes and believe me, if somebody has a German or a Chinese accent you can tell which side of the Good/Evil equation he's on. (Hint: Evil) I do wonder why Race wasn't ever fired from his job. In two seperate episodes he has to land their wonderful special jet someplace remote because he has forgotten to do some sort of maintenance. For instance, because Race neglected to put fuel in the jet the whole crew has to land at a landing strip in the Andes where a fugitive Nazi has his castle. What is wrong with Race Bannon? He almost kills everybody because he's too lazy to fuel up the jet. How did he not think about this? Or another time he crashes the jet in a jungle somewhere while remarking that he thought her heard some noises in the engine when he was doing the pre-flight. So why did he take off instead of trying to fix the problem? There can only be one reason why he wasn't canned for these gross incompetencies. Dr. Quest didn't want to fire his boyfriend.
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)Dude, you're reading waay too much into a harmless show from a different time..
As a kid, I didn't understand it. As a blooming homosexual, I had forgotten about it, but when Cartoon Network did a Mother's Day Johnny Quest marathon in the 90's [CN hinted that Race was the mother] I totally got the gay vibe on Johnny Quest
I suppose if you try hard enough, you could read a gay subtext into any show featuring two men in a "buddy" relationship.There was one JQ episode with a big Swedish guy name Lars. After escaping a particularly close call, Lars says, "Ja, too close, even for Lars!"
You know I agree its goy, or has "gay" overtures and innuendo.But to me, I say so what, cool! I mean gay ppl. DO exist in our society, and I'm pretty sure they always will.As an Afro-American growing up during the 70's and 80's I never had reflective images in much of "pop-culrure" with a universal acceptance, that wasn't riddled with rude rude stereotypes sprinkled there in.II think its a positive thing that gay images (better than thinly) or thinly vailed images is a good theing. I t increases awareness and sensitivity to a segment of our population.And if all the rest were aside, the show w/o just WOULDN'T be the same. And don't we JQ fans simply like and..."accept" them just the way they are.
I think we're living in a world full of rotten minds that they just think all the time is less in what they do: SEX. If judging the person's sexual behavior is discriminatory and segregating, we must think of those who wasted their time to judge the sexual behavior of a child cartoon character ...? Perhaps the best definition for that person is just Childish. And a child should not talk about that do not know. I just hope that your confusion does not become so serious and wanting to finish an appointment with Jessica Rabbit. ((;AtteArmando Roig
There is no question this show had a heavy-gay subtext and if that wasn't the intention, it still comes across like that anyway.
You must be smokin some strong stuff...your contention is ridiculous.
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