Elizabeth says: In 2002, young millennials EVERYWHERE were starved for representations of queer youth culture to connect with until the live action Scooby Doo was created to WHET our appetite for CAMP. Enter Freddie Prince Jr. (Friendly Twink, Fred), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Femme Queen, Daphne), Matthew Lillard (Bi-curious, Shaggy), Linda Cardellini (Canonically Lesbian, Velma) and Scooby Doo – in drag. The altered James Gunn script stripped the 2002 film of explicit queer content, but censorship from the studio execs could never remove the inherent queerness these iconic characters had as lgbtq+ community darlings – the straight washing didn’t stop little gay children and teens from recognizing their identities reflected back to them by Mystery, Inc. Twenty years later, at the close of the film’s anniversary, we see these characters finally live out their truth, featuring new Scooby content with explicitly queer identities and storylines. Today, having a theatrical experience of this film is a celebration of reclaiming queer coded content of the early 2000’s – as if we couldn’t already see the way Velma looks at Daphne or peg Fred’s ascot and catty behavior. (Disclaimer: these opinions and interpretations of each Scooby Doo character are my own, except for Velma – she is factually very gay.)