#Ironically I'm he/him'ing the creature because thats what they use in the show

[nelliesnellie]

How have I seen zero posts about Hilda functionally being described as canonically queer in season 3 of the Netflix show??? A spoilery rant from a transfeminine adult with big feelings about a kids show lol.

When Hilda and Johanna meet the freaky lake monster, Hilda asks what the creature what he is. He responds:

I'm from a time when creatures didn't have to be so clearly one thing or another. I have no word for what I am. I just am.

Anyone who is/has friends who are queer are probably already picking up what I'm putting down. This is such a familiar philosophy to so many of us—the idea that we just ARE, without needing handy little labels to identify ourselves if we don't want to.

AND THEN he follows his statement up with the line,

But I guess you, too, understand what that's like.

Like, HELLO??? This creature (non)defines himself in literally the queerest way I can imagine, and then fucking Uno reverses it onto Hilda??? PLUS the subtitles read, "you two" rather than "you, too." Which doesn't feel correct to me but it so, he's applying this to Johanna as well.

To be fair, the show is, in the text, referring explicitly to species taxonomy. What is this creature? Are the girls fairies or what? etc. BUT THENN when Johanna tries to come up with her own term for the monster, Hilda cuts her off, saying,

Mum, he prefers not to be labelled.

Which invokes the terminology of labels, the exact word that is used when having these conversations about gender and sexuality. I could be wrong, nothing's for certain. But it sure fucking sounds like the writers are trying to indicate something here.

Which I LOVE because there's so much queerness in this show, between the lines. And NONE of it is explicitly about gender or sexuality. Which is awesome in a kids show. Like. It's such a great example of "show, not tell" age appropriate teaching about some of this stuff. Even if there could be more explicit stuff going on. Trans a character. Give Kaisa a girlfriend. Let Hilda's dad and the bell guy hold hands. But even in 2024 we have to use coded language so things can be approved for release, much of the time.

Anyway, just an excerpt from my inner rantings about Hilda and queerness and generally lefty ideals.