Am I worth it yet?

The former embraced the allegory, unintentional as it was. What you take from something is arguably more important than the intention.

The Tumblr fanbases of both of these shows, and even quite a few folks over on Twitter, both see these as two differently written trans allegories. Neither was intentional, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t there.

My Life As A Teenage Robot starred a main character constantly dealing with a parent trying their best to sequester them off into an identity they did not agree with, even going so far as to change their name and try to publicly portray themselves as their chosen identity rather than the one given to them at “birth”. One of the key things that happens quite a lot? The “Jenny” vs. “XJ-9″ argument held constantly in the show between mother and daughter. A lot of people see this as an allegory for publicly transitioning as trans, especially with the “dead name vs. chosen name” arguments in-show, and while the creator did not intend for this, they have gone on record saying they could easily see how this could’ve been seen and are happy as could be that people are finding their own meaning in a work to help their own struggles feel easier and more visible, as seen here:

That’s what “death of the author” is: it isn’t just removing the context of the given piece of media, it’s finding your own meaning in something even if it was not the intention, and ultimately it’s your own personally found meaning in a work that’s more important than what was ultimately intended: a fun, quirky, stylish show about a robot kicking alien butt while trying to fit in with humans. As Rob put it? “Art is open to the audience’s interpretation.”

Which brings us to Danny Phantom. Arguably the same basic premise (a high schooler fighting against an invading threat while trying their best to fit in with friends and family), but done differently: Danny hides his powers to a point where many fans have seen this in the light of this being an allegory for being in the closet. And because his powers have to do with transformation, the fanbase has latched onto him being trans in the closet. Which makes sense, many trans people have family that have been extraordinarily vocal in their displeasure with the “special snowflakes” and “fake identities” they view as a threat or morally wrong. Look at Danny’s parents: his second identity is as a ghost, and they hunt ghosts with enough vigor that they gleefully show off how deadly and effective all their inventions are.

Butch Hartman, creator of Danny Phantom, has gone on record either denying or skirting the issue entirely when pressed about this allegory. And his response has been to push as many “Christian Value” stunts as he could with a lot of thinly veiled “family-friendly” stunts that, to the trained eye, look a lot like something lgbt-phobic folks will hide behind to push bigotry. I’d link his Kickstarter that’s been completely radio silent for an entire year or quite a few videos detailing his… many responses to the theories and allegories, but I want this to be clear: he does not believe it exists, and thinks that his word is law as the creator.

All you have to do is search “danny phantom trans” to see at least the lighter side of all the many, MANY theories detailing the allegory, though (searching “my life as a teenage robot trans” leads you to the exact tweet I screenshotted up above, too!). So despite what Butch has tried quite hard to not sound like a complete asshole about denying? The community, despite not everyone believing it, highly favors this theory due to the many parts of it that lead to the conclusion. Again: death of the author. Art is open to the audience’s interpretation.

TL;DR: Basically put? The above posts are from those in the fandoms of those shows that see a trans allegory in their texts. The creator of My Life as a Teenage Robot embraces this. The creator of Danny Phantom most assuredly does not.

Thank you, @theatrepup, for the tag!’☺️💖✨

1. “Friend Machine” Nation of Language

2. “Time Travel” Blouse

3. “No Human Can Drown” Clan of Xymox

4. “Talk About the Weather” Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

5. “Twist” Tones on Tail

6. “Dead and Buried” Alien Sex Fiend

7. “Cross Fade” Ultravox

8. “Car Jamming” The Clash

9. “Dreamdate Narcissist” Ariel Pink

10. “Requiem” Killing Joke

10 Songs I’m Currently Obsessed With:

1. Weight of the World (Cover)- Amalee ft. Peter Hollens

2. For Good- Wicked OBC

3. Spirit of the Wild- BruhnuhVille

4. See Me Fight- Two Steps from Hell, Linea Adamson

5. If You’re Still in I’m In- The East Pointers

6. Eric the Half-A-Bee- Monty Python

7. CWJBHN- Jake Scott, Josie Dunne

8. True Love- P!nk ft. Lily Allen

9. Look on the Bright Side of Life- Monty Python

10. Movement- Hozier

10 Songs I’m Currently Obsessed With:

1.) “Heart it Races” Dr. Dog

2.) “i was all over her” Salvia Palth

3.) “I Listened” Apes of the State

4.) “Kids” Current Joys

5.) “Astronaut” Amanda Palmer

6.) “Runs in the Family” Amanda Palmer

7.) “Spring and a Storm” Tally Hall

8.) “Tear You Apart” SHE WANTS REVENGE

9.) “Never Ever Getting Rid of me” Waitress

10.) “The Record Player Song” Daisy the Great

1.) Will Wood - “Laplace’s Angel”

2.) The Front Bottoms - “Be Nice to Me”

3.) Phantom of the Opera - “The Point of No Return” (all versions but mostly the original Crawford version) + most of the phantom soundtrack lol

4.) Tally Hall - “Banana Man” (mostly the demo version + a cool cover)

5.) JerryTerry - “The Boys Are Back in Town (to Kill You)”

6.) Kitsch Club - “Museum”

7.) The Addam’s Family - “Let’s Not Talk About Anything Else But Love!”

8.) Caustic - “I Play Computer!”

9.) Glass Beach - “Cold Weather”

10.) Counting Crows - “Accidentally In Love” (im sorry, the Shrek 2 soundtrack is a BOP)

+ honorable mention; the entire Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack,,,

1.) “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” - Queen

2.) “Turn It Off” - Book of Mormon

3.) “Rattlesnake” - Kabaret Sybarit

4.) “Snuff Out the Light (Yzma’s Song)” - Emperor’s New Grove ((it’s some deleted song that i freakin love oh my god it’s so good kajlhglsdkjghsdhgl))

5.) “I’d Rather Be Me (With You)” - SUF

6.) “Lower Your Expectations” - Bo Burnham

7.) “Don’t Rain On My Parade” - Funny Girl

8.) “Wild Side” - Beastars

9.) “T.M.I.” - Island Song

10.) “Queenfish” - Emezie

1) Mars Argo - Mrs Stadler

2) Rex Orange County - Never Enough

3) The Scary Jokes - Icicles

4) The Neighbourhood - Sadderdaze

5) Miracle Musical - Labyrinth

6) Caravan Palace - Dramophone

7) Emillie Autumn - Misery Loves Company

8) Metric - Lost Kitten

9) Marina And The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot