Toy story 4 was cute and fun and sad but one thing has been bothering me: how can you give an obvious gay icon like forky a heteronormative love interest lol
And they’re not entirely wrong. I mean I ship a Woody-Forky sub-dom relationship. And Forky’s all-consuming anxiety coupled with the rainbow on their foot is definitely a pointer that something queer is happening here. However, I think there are some major indications that Forky is way more into subverting the gender binary than the traditionally gay “twink” label would have us believe.
For starters, Forky literally sits between the binary of spoon and fork. There were even some hot takes when the poster came out (image 1) that Forky was going to be an openly transgender character, deciding between the spoon-fork gender binary.
Ultimately though, Forky’s existence between the two acknowledges the difficulties transgender (trans) and non-binary (nb) folx face everyday, which often results in them feeling like, you guessed it: trash (image 2).
Remarkably, though, Pixar doesn’t stop there. In the same way many nb and trans folx have to subvert multiple binaries in their discoveries of themselves (race, sexual orientation, gender presentation), Forky also must deal with the binary of trash and toy. While the establishment (embodied here by Woody) insists to Forky that “[Forky] is a toy!,” Forky does not seem compelled to believe it. In fact, it is only after Forky has the all-to-relatable conversation with Woody in which Forky defines for themselves what is “trash” that they feel okay accepting Woody’s labels.
In the scene, Woody asks Forky why they like trash so much, to which Forky replies, “It's warm. It's cozy. And safe, like somebody's whispering in your ear, 'Everything's gonna be okay.’” And Woody equates that feeling to how Bonnie feels about Forky. “She thinks I'm warm and cozy and sometimes squishy?" This realization makes Forky want to return to Bonnie and be her “toy,” not because Forky self-identifies as such (although they do at the end of the movie), but because the lines between trash and toy have been sufficiently blurred. This is true for Woody as well, who, as Forky suggests, will end up in a landfill when Bonnie is finished with him. Forky identifies the feeling associated with being a “toy,” although they don’t necessarily know or claim the language to articulate that feeling. These linguistic anxieties can be appreciated by many queer folx.
Also in the trailer, Forky rejects Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” screaming, “I don’t belong here” (video 1). Which again, many queers can appreciate.
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Video 1: Joni makes Forky anxious. And I mean. TRUE.
Forky clearly subverts the binaries within the Toy Story world, but is that enough for them to be considered a non-binary queer icon?! There are also some important behaviors Forky exhibits to mark this fact. When Forky is with Gabby Gabby, for example, Forky uses their charm and charisma to curry favor with their captors. They know how to keep themselves safe while in dangerous territory, and recognize that territory guarded by 1950s heteronormativity is definitely dangerous.
They also are physically less able than many of the toys around them because of their gum and popsicle legs. This could definitely be Pixar trying to include the many disabled or differently abled queer folx in our ranks. It also could symbolically be a representation of how white cis men like Woody and Buzz have historically had it easier, while queer, nb, and trans folx have struggled to walk the same path. Forky asking Woody to “Pick me up,” while they are walking in the woods together is akin to the modern LGBTQ+ movement asking allies to step up and fight alongside us, and occassionally carry us when we ask.
Forky also practices survivance, and deals with existential crises constantly (image 5). This “existence is resistance” attitude is front and centre in the modern LGBTQ+ movement, as we fight for representation on stage and screen even as black trans women are killed in the street and queer latinx teenagers are held in cages. When Knifey appears at the end of the movie and asks Forky how they are alive, Forky answers, “I don’t know.” This is perhaps a nod to the fact that queer folx’ continual survival is a mystery even to ourselves.
And just a note: anyone who is concerned about Knifey and Forky being a hetersexual romance; are we really going to assume, in 2019, that a femme-presenting knife self-identifies as female? That shit is queer as fuck ARE YOU KIDDING ME THEYRE A KNIFE IN A DRESS.
Lastly, Forky, a DIY dyke-made project, was quickly turned into a plush doll by the capitalist patriarchy. And if there isn’t more proof for queerness than a homemade, vintage, queer icon being commodified by Target, welp, I can’t help you.
I think @abbyemonteil says it best.
@kaymyers_ ......forky should be a non-binary intersectional gay feminist icon and toys are already gendered enough I’m tired!!!
Happy Pride everyone.
Sophia Metcalf is an author and performing artist interested by the queer and/or female body’s radical occupation of public and performative spaces. She is currently completing her MFA in Acting at UC Irvine. www.sophiakmetcalf.com
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