Monster High Gen 3 Is Very Queer And Disabled

So the first season of Monster High’s Gen 3  cartoon has officially wrapped, and honestly? I can safely say it was, for  the most part, a definite win. Especially the queer rep. [intro] A while back I did a video on Monster High’s  Gen 3, back when it was still relatively new. Now, the first season of the cartoon has wrapped. It actually wrapped last year, but  let’s not pay attention to that. I was honestly pleasantly surprised  when I watched the rest of the season. Of course I knew there was

gonna be some queer rep  through Frankie, and Finnegan has always been a good example of contextual disability, but I  never expected all that this season gave us. So let’s get cracking, shall we? Starting with the most unexpected  aspect of the series, for me. The openness about mental  health and neurodivergence. Usually when I talk about an aspect like  that in a cartoon, especially one for kids, I have to make my own assumptions and  lean on coding to support my points. And, sure, I still ha

ve my own headcanons  that aren’t explicitly reflected in the text but the fact that I do have actual,  textual examples to point to? That’s… honestly amazing. Heath goes to therapy, Spectra has  at least some level of anxiety, Twyla is autistic, Lagoona has anger issues… Hell, Draculaura’s perfectionism literally  almost killed her in one episode. Which is extremely messed up and  I’d like to explore that further, but the show doesn’t seem quite as  concerned about that one as I am. It’s not pe

rfect, but I feel like it definitely  fits with the core of what Monster High is. The show and toy line have always  had that vibe of understanding and holding space for people who’ve been  pushed out of mainstream society. It makes a lot of sense to open that up to more  explicitly take on mental health issues, too. Heath and Spectra are both so minor in this  aspect that there’s not really much to talk about, aside from the obvious positives of  presenting therapy as a good and normal thing an

d the depiction of a school environment that is willing to give a student having  issues with anxiety space and grace. Lagoona, at the start of the season, is presented  as a fearsome man-eater and Toralei’s lackey. As it turns out, though, while she  is definitely fearsome there’s also a softer side of her that she tries  to hide to keep up her reputation, which allowed Toralei to take advantage. It’s only after Draculaura discovers this  that Lagoona starts being incorporated into the friend g

roup and putting  boundaries in place with Toralei. - Sorry Toralei. When I used to sit with you, you blackmailed me. I will now be enforcing  a healthy boundary on our relationship. - But-! - Healthy boundary! We love to see it. Now in the company of people  she actually values as friends, Lagoona is aware that her temper and  the resulting “chomps” aren’t healthy or conducive to fostering a good environment. She actually has childhood trauma about it, because her family fell apart due to anger

  issues being a family trait, apparently. So she over-corrects and goes full on people pleaser in her effort to never let  anyone know she’s actually upset, which of course only makes things worse. These are all valuable lessons  that children can learn from, and I do like that we have a character  who embodies this on the cast. She’s also bubbly, imaginative, and caring. A bit of an idealist and a dreamer, which especially gets her into  trouble when she first meets Gil. Her initial reveal wit

h her new personality  combined with the fact that from Honduras drew a fair bit of criticism, given it was treading  dangerously close to ‘spicy Latina’ territory. Obviously, given I’m not Latino,  I can’t exactly comment on if the further context of the first season has  served to ease those worries or not. So, sound off in the comments I guess. Regardless, I really appreciate how  the person who talked to her about how to handle feelings that are too big was Twyla. Twyla was a pleasant surpri

se for me. I wasn’t aware we were getting any explicit autistic representation  in this show before I watched it. I’m actually kind of used  to autistic representation not really being explicit almost ever. Just something the show-runners or writers mention  on their socials or a popular reading by fans. Twyla, though? Twyla actually says it. - Okay. Here it goes. I'm  autistic, and loudness bothers me. I love her. She reminds me… quite a lot of myself, actually, which probably biases me  a bit

towards her but hey. I love that she has a favourite stimm bracelet, I love that she loves reading and hides  in the shadows when things get too much. I love that she uses noise-cancelling  headphones and hides out in the library during daylight hours because it’s empty  and becomes like her own little sanctuary. I love that she avoids eye  contact and speaks softly. I love that she needs time to  herself and her friends respect that. Obviously this is not what autism  looks like for everyone, b

ut I, at least, felt very seen by Twyla. I would have loved to have a  character like her when I was growing up, and I’m so glad that the  autistic kids of today do have her. A fair number of the characters  also deal with family issues. Which isn’t exactly new, that was a  thing especially with Cleo before, too. But this time around they’ve really expanded that and broadened the kinds of families  and familial issues on display here. Take Heath, for example. Who I have some issues with, but  th

ose are perhaps better saved for a more mythology and folklore specific video. Heath goes to therapy because his dad was,  uh… shall we say emotionally unavailable? Yeah, let’s go with that. He’s also, apparently, been advocating  for his dad to get therapy, too. And he actually successfully convinces him to do in the one episode where he  actually appears on-screen. Because, as it turns out, Heath’s dad- Who I will not be calling Hades for reasons  I might go into in a different video- actually

does want to bond with his son. He just doesn’t know how and needed someone to smack some sense into him so he’d  start acting like an actual adult. In Deuce’s case, on the other hand, it initially  seems like his Momdusa is your classic, controlling parent who is putting ungodly  amount of pressure on her kids to succeed. And she is. Medusa is far from the  perfect mother, but she does care. That much becomes obvious when we find out  she was the first Gorgon at Monster High, and was severely

bullied during her time there. The pressure she puts on Deuce  comes from a want to help her son, even though it’s doing the opposite. I still think getting his snakes to conspire  against him was way beyond the pail, though. Even with the best of intentions,  that’s just messed up. Deuce is a classic example  of how parents can love you, and want the best for you, and still mess you up. Cleo’s parents, on the other hand, give her  almost anything she wants… except their attention. She’s perpetu

ally playing second fiddle to  her older, obviously more beloved sister. Which is made no easier by the fact that this time around Nefera is actually a genuinely  nice person and caring older sister. So Cleo can’t even resent her in peace, because it’s not Nefera’s fault their  parents don’t actually listen to her and think material goods and money are a  good substitute for parental validation. Abbey’s mother took her own hurt  and used it as a justification for cutting her family off from soci

ety,  isolating Abbey for much of her childhood. She loves her daughter, and  was trying to protect her, but ended up stifling her instead  to the point that Abbey ran away. And Toralei? God, talk about the Queen  of toxic parent-child relationships. She starts the show as the mean girl, but just like Cleo in Gen 1 she goes  through a bit of a redemption arc. Part of which is exploring her  relationship with her mother, Catarina, the current Ruler of the Were-creatures. Catarina demands perfecti

on from her daughter. She wants Toralei to be a mini-me, but she’s always so busy with work she  never actually spends any time with her. Toralei exists in a space I’m sure a lot of us  with less than stellar parents can relate to. That space where you remember how  it used to be, when you were little. That is used to be better, they used to be good, and you desperately want that  back but… it won’t happen. And that’s something you just  have to come to terms with, now. We haven’t seen how Toral

ei is going to handle  being separated from her mother going forward, but I hope future seasons give  that arc the weight it deserves. But that’s still only in the realm of speculation. So, let’s turn to the physical  disabilities of the cast. I already talked about Frankie in this  regard, so I’ll save y’all the repeat on that since the rest of the season didn’t  really bring up any new points with them. I still headcanon them as autistic, though. If the show ever decided to make that explicit,

they could serve as an  interesting contrast for Twyla. Because where Twyla is shy and  withdrawn, Frankie is loud and excitable. To the point where, when they  first meet, there’s actually a bit of a clash between Frankie’s issues with  volume-control, and Twyla’s noise sensitivity. There are other characters  to talk about here, though. Finnegan, as I already said  at the top of this video, has always been a great example  of contextual disability. In the water he is not disabled. It’s his el

ement. He’s literally evolved for it. On land, however? Well, a fish tail isn’t exactly  conducive to moving on land. So Finnegan, for the majority of his  appearances on screen, uses a wheelchair. More than one, actually, seeing as he goes on  a camping trip in an all-terrain wheelchair. Gen 1 Finnegan was a very sporty kind of guy. Gen 3 has shifted his interest  more in the direction of music, so I appreciate that they took this  opportunity to show he still has interests that are somewhat ta

ngentially  related to his Gen 1 characterisation. Hiking and camping aren't exactly an extreme  sport, but it is active and outdoorsy, both things that people don’t tend  to associate with wheelchair users. From what I was able to observe it seems  like all of his wheelchairs are motorised. Or the magical equivalent of it, anyway. I don’t entirely understand why he’d  make the choice to use a motorised chair instead of a manual one, given he  seems to have good upper-body strength, but maybe th

ere’s something about his anatomy  that makes a manual wheelchair less practical. I am also pleased to report that he’s  voiced by a disabled voice actor, who is also a wheelchair user. And while I do like Cole  Massie’s performance in general, I will say we were robbed of having  Finnegan actually have an Irish accent. In my last video on Monster High, I comment on Ghoulia and my disappointment  with the changes in her character. Since then she’s made her debut in the cartoon. And I’m still not

thrilled by  the changes they’ve made here. I loved that Gen 1 Ghoulia was, from the audience’s perspective  at least, basically non-verbal. That Zombies all spoke a different language  from the majority because they couldn’t speak like others, but most people learned that  language so they could communicate anyway. That learning a second language for the sake of a portion of the population  was just the cultural norm. I loved that we could actually see how  slow Ghoulia, and other Zombies, wer

e. The new cartoon has really stripped  away most, if not all, of that. Sure, Ghoulia says that Zombies  aren’t as fast as other monsters, and she uses her skateboard to get around  faster a lot, but we never actually see it. Her skateboard could have been a really cool  example of a non-traditional mobility aid, but because we never actually see the Zombies of  Gen 3 move markedly slower than any other monster, it just serves as a reminder of wasted potential. When Ghoulia moves, she moves  at

a pace with her friends. And, of course, she speaks. The only slight caveat is the  concept of a ‘brain freeze’. When a Zombie gets so nervous  and overwhelmed they become more shambling and can only groan out ‘brains’. This concept has potential, but I’m not  super thrilled by how they handled it. As someone who occasionally loses my mouth-words, I do understand Ghoulia losing  the ability to speak in the face of someone she really admires but I feel  like they fumbled the landing on this one.

Especially since Ghoulia says this  has never happened to her before. It’s a Zombie thing, but she’s never  experienced it before? I’m calling shenanigans. It also feels like she's setting  herself apart from other Zombies as better because she’s never  dealt with a brain-freeze before. Which could have been an interesting angle to  explore, but that’s not what they did either. Alternatively I would have loved for this to  be something she experiences more regularly, and not just because of extr

eme emotion. Maybe sometimes she loses her words just  because she’s exhausted? I know I do. Then we can spin it as something she’s hidden  from her friends because she’s embarrassed. Ghoulia used to be a character with an  atypical communication style and visible mobility issues who was still recognised  as the genius she was by her friends. Who had friends who valued her as a whole person. Given the usual pickings when I look around for  characters who speak slowly or lose their words, she was

very comforting to a young me for  reasons I couldn’t properly articulate back then. They had a golden opportunity  to refresh this concept for a modern audience and they just didn’t. And I’ll always be a little  bit disappointed about that. Skelita’s ‘feelings in her bones’ can  also definitely be read as a disability. Or at least disability adjacent. The feelings serve almost  as a kind of oracular power, predicting that something is about to happen. Though it happens both for good and bad th

ings, which makes it somewhat useless  as an actual guide to the future. When she get these feelings her bones shake  and she can, quite literally, fall apart. Frankie, naturally, relates to  her in this and helps her out with carrying some stuff when Skelita’s  joints are too shaky to handle it. Hell yeah, disability solidarity. And finally, Cleo. And Nefera, I guess, but Cleo’s the one we  actually see the example put into action with. Gen 3 has introduced some new,  fresh mummy lore to the se

ries. That being, if a mummy is ever too far  away from one of their jarred organs? That organ ceases to function for them. Some are more physical, others metaphorical. Cleo’s heart, for example, doesn’t pump blood  for her, but she does need it to feel emotions. If her inner ear gets too far away,  she loses all sense of balance. I’m sure you could think of a bunch  of other organs and what negative effects being away from them might have on her. The brain seems particularly vital. This leads t

o her always carrying around  a bag filled with her jarred organs. Kind like someone might need to carry  around medical equipment with them. My only gripe is we never see Nefera with a  similar bag, when she really should have one. This does also mean that Cleo and Frankie are a  disabled power couple, and I love that for them. Speaking of, the final point to cover here  is the queer themes and representation. Monster High has always had queer themes,  obviously. Gen 3 really ups the ante, thou

gh. Obviously Frankie is nonbinary, and I’ve already  gone into why I love how they handled that. Deuce has two mothers. Medusa,  obviously, and Lyra, a siren. Cleo is some flavour of not-straight,  considering her interest in Frankie. Queer background characters  are peppered in here and there. We have an episode featuring a skeleton  Drag Queen voiced by Trixie Mattel. And Monster High has an  established Ghoul-Wraith Alliance. - A safe space for queer peers and  monsters of all kinds to chat

and interact! Then there are the more allegorical elements. Obviously the monsters themselves have always been  ripe for exploration through a lens of queerness. A group of societal others who are forced into  hiding because of nothing more than who they are. In that sense, I think Gen 3  has fumbled the ball a little. Previous generations have never really presented  the monsters as a genuine threat to humans. Sure, Zombies eat brains and  (most) Vampires drink blood, but where those were sourc

ed  from was never really touched on. Kind of had-waved away and up for interpretation. Gen 3, though? Medusa has a statue garden she  wants Deuce to work with her in, several students spent the  better part of an entire episode genuinely wanting to eat Clawdeen’s dad, and Lagoona talks about sinking ships and snacking  on humans like it’s just another Thursday. I know it’s an attempt at dark humour  but you can’t simultaneously position monsters as a minority who needs to hide away while also m

aking the majority’s fear  of them completely valid and justified. Well, I say can’t, I really mean they did  and it has some uncomfortable implications. Then there’s Witchcraft. Witchcraft is something of  a taboo in monster society. It’s a primarily human practice, which means monsters both deride  it as ‘beneath them’ and fear it. It’s an expellable offence at Monster High  after the actions of one Witch long ago, which honestly reeks of a situation  where tensions already existed and the pow

ers that be jumped at the chance  to use the actions of one to exile all. Draculaura’s primary conflict this  season is that she is a Witch. And the queer allegory is strong with this one. - I'm so sorry, Lagoona. We all  have different parts of who we are, and we don't have to share them with the world  if we don't want to. Or if we're not ready. She struggles with how to tell her father, who  has his own ideas of who she should grow up to be. When she eventually is forced to do so,  or let Tor

alei take the fall as the Witch, he reacts as many parents unfortunately  do when their kid comes out. He tries to dissuade her. He loves her, certainly, but he doesn’t  understand this and it scares him. He’s scared for her future, because  being a Witch could put her in danger. He’s concerned, but his concern turns  into rejection in Draculaura’s ears, because that’s at the heart of it what it is. It’s only after a talk with Clawdeen’s dad  that Dracula comes to the conclusion that, instead of

trying to change his daughter, he should use his position of power within  monster society to change her circumstances. Draculaura is extremely fortunate  that her father is so powerful, and loves her enough to change his views for her. It’s not something a lot of people can  claim to have, but I’m glad for her, and I’m curious where next season will  take her now that her secret’s out and she’s still guaranteed a place at Monster High. All in all I think they’re  doing a descent job so far. Th

ey’ve made some choices I’m  definitely not thrilled with, but no piece of media is ever perfect and to  me at least the good far outweighs the bad. Thanks for watching this video, if you liked  it consider liking it and maybe subscribing. A massive thank you to the Entmoot, Pastel  Pink Firefox and Ronja Addams-Ramstedt. I will be back here Thursday after next. Bye. [rustic music]