Critique on "Queer Duck"
By Anindita Basu
Queer Duck was a flash animation series by Icebox which consisted
of five episodes. The story is about a gay male nurse, who happens
to be a duck, and his negotiations between his world of gay male friends
and his parental and work communities. Each episode is approximately
three to five minutes in length with one central and stereotypical
gay male crisis, such as coming out or getting tickets to a Barbara
Streisand concert.
The series uses every gay male stereotype available, from Queer Duck's
speech patterns and flamboyant hand gestures to his array of gay male
friends, such as Oscar Wildcat and Bipolar Bear. Every so often the
show seems flat from the sheer quantity of stereotypes in each brief
episode, but for the most part, Queer Duck is successfully irreverent
and funny.
The show does not try to be politically correct and over-careful
around sensitive issues. Over a course of two episodes, Queer Duck
comes out to his parents, who in response send a handsome minister
to try to save Queer Duck through religion. The minister tries to
brainwash Queer Duck and a few other "recovering homosexuals."
The issues surrounding these episodes are quite serious, but the show
deals with them lightly, having Queer Duck subvert these attempts
at conversion by convincing the other, more easily influenced gay
men to use their musical theatre skills to put on a "Christian"
show. The show takes the situation head-on and mocks it. While poking
fun at the straight world, Queer Duck also makes fun of gay culture
by pointing out many of its stereotypes, such as the love of Barbara
Streisand and musical theatre. The balance between the self-referential
teasing and external mockery keeps the show from feeling too clean-cut
and cautious.