Mauricio de Sousa wants a gay character in Turma da Mônica, but says he fears reprisals

If it depended on the will of Mauricio de Sousa, 87, there would already be an LGBTQIA+ character in the Turma da Mônica comics. This is what he says, in an interview with F5the cartoonist, who, however, prefers caution before taking this step, as “part of society may react aggressively”.

The creator of the group of friends from the Limoeiro neighborhood says that he seeks to follow the advances and behaviors of the world we live in to guide his work. In his stories, with more than six decades of existence, inclusion is already present in characters who are blind, deaf, black and wheelchair users, for example.

He avoids, however, setting a deadline for the inclusion of a gay character. “I don’t know when, but there will be. We are studying the case, the consequences. It is natural that we have”, he assesses. “I’m learning with Mauro [Sousa, filho, assumidamente gay] How far can we go to avoid reprisals”, he reinforces.

According to Mauro, who inspired the character Nimbus and now works as a director at Mauricio de Sousa Produções, conversations about the subject take place daily at the company. He recalls the graphic novel “Tina Respect”, which features a lesbian character, and guarantees that “anything is possible” in the coming years.

“It’s everyone’s concern. We understand that this is important for us to have in our projects and the LGBT+ universe is not out of the picture, nor is any minority group. .

Meanwhile, Mauro says that the company is eating by the edges, as in the show Circo Turma da Mônica, which celebrates the 60 years of the title character and opens this Saturday (1st) at Teatro Bradesco. Here, diversity appears behind the scenes, with a team made up of LGBTQIA+ people and other minorities, covering ethnic-racial, body, gender and generational diversity.

In the play, which arrives in its third edition (the first after the pandemic), the public embarks on a complete journey into the character’s universe with special effects, sensory experiences, light games, great scenography, circus acts, extreme sports and magic acts. and illusionism. Several phases of Mônica, Cebolinha, Cascão and Magali are part of the show, such as the toy and adolescent versions.