Ask the Flying Monkey (November 04, 2008)

Q: Is it just me or does Alex of Homophonic look an awful lot like AfterElton.com Associate Editor Brian Juergens? -- David, Cleveland, OH

A: While it’s true that the Flying Monkey has never actually seen Alex and Brian together at the same time, he has it on good authority that they are, in fact, separate people. That said, they do look remarkably alike. In addition to the beard, the key is the expressive eyes and the delightful, even more expressive eyebrows. (In reality, Brian is considerably taller than Alex.)

Brian Juergens (left) and Alex of Homophonic

But Brian is not the only AfterElton.com staffer to share a resemblance to a “separated at birth” alter ego. Associate Editor Dennis Ayers shares more than a passing resemblance with Brothers & Sisters star Balthazar Getty.

Balthazar Getty (left) and Dennis Ayers

And Editor Michael Jensen is frequently mistaken for Farrah Fawcett, circa 1976, at least when he smiles.

Farrah Fawcett-Majors (left) and Michael Jensen

Meanwhile, the Monkey can’t count the number of times he’s been mistaken for Australian rugby player and model Nick Youngquest.

Q: Oh Omniscient Monkey (kudos if you catch the allusion), were Disney's The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa gay? Growing up, I always considered them to be just friends, but in recently watching The Lion King 1 1/2 and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride with my niece, I'm suddenly uncertain. Throughout the series, they're singing, dancing, hugging, crying on each other's shoulder, going in hot tubs together, and sharing the same bed. In The Lion King, it seems as if Simba's just another friend in the group, but in 1 1/2, Timon flat-out calls the years with Simba "parenthood.” Later in the movie, not only does he wear drag to do the hula, but also proposes to Shenzi the hyena to the utmost shock and disdain of Pumbaa (of course, this is all a distraction, so it is circumstantial). Perhaps the most convincing evidence, however, is that in Simba's Pride, the two repeatedly act like an old married couple. Is it possible that Ryan Evans wasn't Disney's first gay character? -- Darren, North Carolina

A: The Monkey is reluctant to bring this up for fear that some bigot will use it as an excuse to re-start the Disney boycott, but Ryan in High School Musical was far from the first “coded” gay character in Disney’s kids’ movies, especially their animated ones. In this respect, Disney is just as subversive as the fundamentalists claim. Frankly, it’s often not even subtle.

Simba (left) with the sexually ambiguous Timon and Pumbaa

The Monkey doesn’t think it’s a stretch to see Lefou and Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast as coded gay characters, nor Wiggins, Percy, and Ratcliffe in Pocahontas. There’s another gay couple, Pleakley and Jumba, in Lilo and Stitch. And when you throw in animated characters of “unknown” sexual orientation that are performed by gay actors such as Harvey Fierstein’s Yao in Mulan, the list grows longer still.

Next page! Why the gays like family bands.