In the Least Surprising Thing Ever, Velma from Scooby-Doo Comes Out of the Closet
Source - The upcoming film Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! appears to confirm fan speculation about Velma Dinkley’s interest in women.
HBO Max’s new movie was made available for purchase via digital platforms Tuesday, and footage from it has circulated widely on social media. A number of viral posts focus on fans’ elated responses to scenes showing the bespectacled sleuth, as voiced in the new movie by Kate Micucci, expressing interest in female character Coco Diablo, voiced by Myrna Velasco. ...
After widespread fan speculation over the decades regarding whether Velma identifies as LGBTQ, Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated producer Tony Cervone wrote on social media in 2020 that the character was written as gay for the Cartoon Network series that signed off in April 2013 after two seasons. Cervone wrote that Velma and fellow character Marcie Fleach would have pursued romantic feelings for each other had the series’ run been extended.
In 2020, James Gunn, who is credited with writing the screenplay for 2002’s live-action Warner Bros. film Scooby-Doo that starred Linda Cardellini as Velma, tweeted that “Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script” but that studio intervention led to any sense of this being removed from the version of the movie that hit theaters. (His tweet has since been deleted.)
One of the most overused tropes of my lifetime is that you can divide female attractiveness into two categories. Personified by characters on perhaps the most dumbed down, sophomoric show in TV history, Gilligan's Island. Simply put, that you're either a Ginger person, drawn to sexy glamorous movie star, or a Mary Ann person, into the wholesome country girl archetype. (RIP, Dawn Wells.) Though frankly, when you get to a certain age, Lovey Howell starts to have some appeal too:
Less talked about, but by no means less true, is that you can divide people into those who are attracted to Velma or to Daphne. And I am firmly on Team Velma. And not just limited to Velma as portrayed by Linda Cardellini in the live action Scooby-Doo films. Though she clearly is the character perfected:
Advertisement
When you can go toe-to-toe with peak Sarah Michelle Gellar playing the supposedly "pretty" one, you've earned the support of the great masses.
But again, it's not limited to just Cardellini's portrayal. There's a high demand for the brainy, resourceful, emotionally stable problem solver chick in fiction. As opposed to the self-possessed flake who's fixated on her appearance. (With all due respect.) And I'm not alone in this, judging by the amount of cosplayers you see on Instagram sporting the glasses, orange sweater, plaid skirt and knee socks look.
All that said, since everything is required to be terrible now, I'm sure news of cartoon Velma coming out as openly lesbian is going to be a new front in the tedious, insipid, soul-sucking culture war we're all fighting. One side is going to accuse HBO of trying to groom our kids and destroy families. The other side will talk about how stunning and brave this is and how happy they are that this will Own the Ultra-MAGAs. I have no doubt both sides will be doing prime time segments on CNN and Fox, respectively.
But is it too much to ask that we see a well established character who is on probably her thirdgeneration of viewers crushing on a woman her age and just say:
After 50-plus years, is anyone really stunned that Velma is a lady who is attracted to other ladies? I mean, in all this time, has she ever demonstrated even the slightest interest in a man? Granted, Fred is spoken for and Shaggy is a filthy hippie who wouldn't appeal to anyone. But has she ever dated? Flirted? Had a one-on-one conversation with a man who wasn't a detective trying to get to the bottom of strange occurrences or the caretaker of some haunted house who ends up being the phantom because he was trying to scare people away from finding a treasure? Not that I can remember.
Velma is more than someone who appeals to those of us who have a Sexy Librarian fetish. She's a rich, deep, compelling character with a complex inner life and an interesting backstory. Probably. At least that's the impression I always had. What's it to anyone if they explore that side of her and give her a life outside of simply running in and out of doors along a hallway being chased by ghosts? And while maybe a devout hetero like me has no business saying this, but that doesn't make her a trailblazing social pioneer, either. She's just saying what we've all suspected all along. Acknowledging the painfully obvious. So good on her and fictional strong, competent, mystery-solving, lesbian intellects everywhere. Keep living your best life.