Disney is all set to introduce their first on-screen gay character in their forthcoming film ‘Strange World’. The character will be voiced by Jaboukie Young-White. This animated film revolves around the Clade family. Sexual diversity is par for the course with Disney Movies these days.
However, people are pointing out that Disney has not promoted this queer-inclusive animated movie like their rest of the animated movies. There are no Strange World toys at McDonald’s right now. YouTube isn’t bombarding us with trailers. Reviews dropped two days before the film’s release, generating no conversation.
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What Is ‘Strange World’ About?
‘Strange World’ focuses on the Clade family, a “legendary family of explorers”. The family involves Searcher Clade; his father, Jaeger; Searcher’s partner, Meridian; and Callisto Mal, the leader of the exploration party. Young-White voices their Searcher’s 16-year-old son, Ethan.
The character is openly gay and biracial. He is drawn to his crush, Diazo. Ethan’s introduction has garnered a wide variety of reactions on Twitter. “#StrangeWorld is beautifully done. The LGBTQ representation is huge for Disney. Massive. I smiled so hard, #RepresentationMatters,” said one user.
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Is Disney Boycotting Its New Animation?
While some welcomed it, others called out the company for not marketing the animated movie well. “With Chapek’s view on animation, Disney’s tiny marketing for Strange World makes sense. He clearly sees animation as kid distractors on Disney+ rather than big theatre events like Marvel,” said one Twitter user.
Another asked, “If Strange World is the “biggest movie event of the year” then why aren’t you marketing it, Disney?” Meanwhile, some users claimed that Ethan is not Disney’s first gay character on-screen. “Happy there’s an openly gay character in Strange World but they’re not Disney’s first, the Owl House is FULL of them,” said one user.
Speaking to Yahoo, Young-White corroborated that the film is not Ethan’s coming out story. “That’s just who he is, and it’s not underlined or made to be a big deal. It’s an aspect of Ethan and one of the many things that makes him who he is. I thought that was amazing,” he said. The film will be released in India on November 25.
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