Ashley Glovasky
Contributor
It has taken Disney several years to produce a film featuring an African-American princess. Now that sexual orientation is becoming widely accepted, when will Disney release a film featuring a queer character?
In modern society, the queer community is steadily becoming more accepted and yet Disney has never featured a movie with an overtly gay or lesbian character.
I was an avid viewer of Disney movies as a child. I followed Ariel, Snow White, Belle, and Cinderella in their journeys to find love and my favourite movie of all time was Beauty and the Beast.
As a child, I worshipped these princesses and their ideals. Today, I am a hopeless romantic in spirit, and I believe it due to the fact that I was addicted to romances found in Disney.
Children are taught at a young age by Disney that in order for a princess to be happy, she must find her prince. Releasing a Disney film featuring a queer character would change the ideals of children, and potentially teach kids that they don’t have to be straight to be happy. If these children were to watch Disney movies promoting queer relationships, they may become more accepting and understanding of non-heteronormative relationships.
Also, Disney would not damage its reputation by releasing a movie featuring a gay couple. In fact, it would strengthen the fan base. It would draw more press attention to the company. When Disney released The Princess and the Frog, a film featuring an African-American princess, it created press. Many newspapers featured articles about how Disney was finally broadening its representations.
By doing this, the company also has the potential to change the way children’s programming is made. It would be the first major media house to release an animated film about an openly queer couple, or a single queer character.
The company has never been on a high pedestal to begin with. Despite the objections of many people born in the ‘90s, it has always represented an unrealistic lifestyle and all mature viewers know this. In Disney’s world, as long as you’re attractive, you will rule the world and get whatever you want. By creating a movie with queer characters, Disney will be showing the world that it’s trying to strive towards representing reality the best it can.
And it doesn’t even have to be a new movie, it could be a sequel of a movie, a well-known movie that everyone is already a fan of. If there were to be a sequel in which Ariel’s daughter is lesbian, Ariel will not be banished from the hearts of children. It would be hypocrisy if she were, since they already value Ariel’s kind nature and everything else she stands for. If Aladdin runs off with another man, no one will care as long as Jasmine finds happiness as well.
Disney has the potential to show everyone that the company has grown and is taking one step closer to becoming a more accepting company. There is nothing better than teaching children that a princess can find her princess or a prince can find his prince and live happily ever after too.
