Gargoyles

S1E1 "Awakening, Part 1"

Disney's Gargoyles are socialists.

This is my thesis that I present to you, the reader, upon watching the pilot to this underrated Disney Afternoon cartoon.

As a kid I always thought that Gargoyles was a ripoff of Batman: The Animated Series and that's not wrong. The show was definitely created in a vain effort to reach that market of kids who were obsessed with the Burton Batman movies. But while Batman isn't quite a hero of the proletariat, the eponymous gargoyles definitely can be interpreted as such. Most of this episode takes place in medieval age Scotland where we learn that the gargoyles protect the Scottish peasantry from the Viking hordes. However, the gargoyles are feared by the aristocracy who paint them as monsters and troublemakers. Only one of the gargoyles is named in the episode, Goliath, a name given to him by the humans as a sign of respect. The other gargoyles don't have names because they consider themselves part of a friendly collective. The gargoyles are not evil but can be aggressive towards humans because they are labeled as monsters and frequently treated as such. The military eventually betrays Goliath and lets the Vikings destroy his comrades while he is distracted.

There's a lot of strong Marxist-Leninist ideology within the show whether intentional or not. Medieval Scotland is a metaphor for the "old country" of feudalist Europe and the gargoyles represent the organized working class. Goliath and his comrades could also be interpreted as a metaphor for Lenin and his Bolshevik colleagues who broke away from the militaristic wing of the Menshevik party. The gargoyles want to protect the lower class but are dismissed as monsters to them by the upper class echelons of society. The Vikings represent the forces of creeping fascism which are more acceptable to the military and aristocracy than the socialist gargoyles. It's also worth noting that the gargoyles are a democratic collective with an appointed representative to the humans (Goliath).

This might be too deep of an analysis for a kids show but the creator Greg Weismann has a history of producing content with at least liberal/leftist themes (see Young Justice, Rebels) . It's not out of the realm of possibility to recognize that the gargoyles deserve to be socialist icons even if they are owned by a massive corporation. Methinks it's time to reclaim these characters and do a deep dive into this series to uncover its progressive themes and stories.

All 78 episodes of Gargoyles are available on Disney Plus.