Onward’s gay character still leav Disney behd s petors - Polygon

Contents:

• DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)
• LIST: 'STRANGE WORLD' REVIEWS ABOUT DISNEY'S FIRST OUT GAY, CHARACTER, BIRACIAL QUEER TEEN
• ONWARD’S OPENLY GAY CHARACTER STILL LEAV DISNEY BEHD S PETORS
• THE 8 FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTERS OF DISNEY
• DISNEY JT CAST ITS FIRST OPENLY GAY MOVIE CHARACTER, BUT THERE’S A CATCH
• POP QUIZ: WHO IS DISNEY'S REAL 'FIRST GAY CHARACTER?' IT'S COMPLITED
• DISNEY'S FIRST FILM FEATURG OPENLY GAY MA CHARACTER FLOPS AT BOX OFFICE

DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)

The pany has never been known for s great LGBTQ+ reprentatn or polics, but 's e unr even more scty than ual after fans learned that the pany was donatg money to legislators Florida backg that state's ntroversial "Don't Say Gay" bill. Especially when the news broke that Pixar has been censorg gay ntent out of s films for years.Has Disney really been producg enough spirg ntent to unteract s donatns and lack of a statement?

Here are 17 tim Disney was celebrated for cludg a "first" LGBTQ+ character or characters s movi.RELATED | 11 Gay, Bi, & Lbian Creators Who Ma Disney What It Is Today.

When this live-actn remake me out, Disney touted LeFou (played by Josh Gad) as beg their first gay character and even said that he had an "exclively gay moment" the film. When turned out that gay moment was a flash of him dancg wh another man a group scene, fans weren't so exced.

LIST: 'STRANGE WORLD' REVIEWS ABOUT DISNEY'S FIRST OUT GAY, CHARACTER, BIRACIAL QUEER TEEN

Disney and Marvel Studs proudly announced that 2019 they had troduced their first gay character the Marvel Cematic Universe, only to have fans fd out that was an unnamed character one scene played by the movie's straight -director.

MacGregor, played by Jack Whehall, was supposed to be Disney's "first major gay character" when Jungle Cise was set to be released way back 2019, but bee of the global panmic, the film was layed until 2021.

ONWARD’S OPENLY GAY CHARACTER STILL LEAV DISNEY BEHD S PETORS

Marvel's first gay superhero and the first married gay uple the MCU both happened 2021, which was que the year for "First Gays" for the pany.

Artie is one of several characters advertised as the pany's "first major gay character" after both LeFou Bety and the Beast and MacGregor the layed-for-several-years Jungle Cise. In one of the episos season 2, Seb is worried that Carlos is only datg him bee he's the only other gay kid he knows.

THE 8 FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTERS OF DISNEY

After news broke that Disney not only donated to legislators backg anti-gay bills, but also repeatedly cut queer ntent om their movi, Pixar cid to rtore a scene the Lightyear film where a female character named Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) kiss her female partner. Comedian Jaboie Young-Whe will be voicg a new character the upg animated film Strange World who is volved "the first openly gay teen romance a Disney feature" acrdg to Twter er Matthiew Saghezchi, who saw a clip om the film at the Annecy 2022 ftival. Screenshot: DisneyArtie is never explicly picted as queer Disney’s new villa orig story, which ma all the hubbub that he was the latt “First” gay character at the stud all rather silly.

That and the fact took three trailers for him to get a le of dialogue, but Whehall’s McGregor at least gettg a scene that humanized his relatnship wh his sister bee of the fact she didn’t abandon him for beg queer like the rt of his fay—even if the scene did dance around sayg the word “gay”—was actually pretty solid, if fleetg. It really do jt feel like yterday when we were promised the live-actn Bety and the Beast’s “exclively gay moment, ” only to be given Josh Gad dancg wh another man a ty agment of the film’s climactic dance sequence.

Ever sce John Boyega and Osr Isaac’s Fn and Poe swapped jackets and lip-b their way to the galaxy far, far away’s hottt ship this si of the In T-65 X-Wg, Star Wars fans have wanted to see some gays space. Alas, after the Brothers Rso patted themselv on the back Endgame’s pre-release prs tours that they had brought the first on-screen explicly gay character to the MCU—after some fumbl along the way—we got... It's the first Disney movie featurg an out-gay character named Ethan Cla, played by gay edian Jaboie Young-Whe.

DISNEY JT CAST ITS FIRST OPENLY GAY MOVIE CHARACTER, BUT THERE’S A CATCH

" Below are 11 excerpts om media webs and the different tak crics had on the gay character, characters Disney, Marvel? Photos of 8 Disney, Marvel characters who are gay, lbian or bisexualUSA TODAY lls 'Strange World' 'extremely morn'"Fans of pulpy 1930s and ’40s hero such as Doc Savage and Flash Gordon will dig the over-the-top actn vibe, yet “Strange World” is extremely morn s them. It taps to real-world issu of nservatn and staabily of natural rourc, and there’s a strong sense of cln – Ethan’s a biracial gay teen, Legend mak up for a missg leg wh boundls energy – and the most wele aspect is that 's all pretty normal.

(Ethan tak after gramps the adventurg partment, but he’s also sensive and openly gay a way that has never been more explic a Disney movie.

Feels timid'"Ethan is the stud’s bajillnth 'first ever gay character' (and his fay is one of a few terracial fai all of Disney), but as progrsive as is, even that feels timid: His csh appears one scene at the begng of the movie, and apart om a short nversatn is not mentned aga — easily cut to appease the ternatnal censors that provi Disney wh so much of s revenue. )"Vulture: 'Ethan is Black and unmistakably queer'"That Strange World’s sendary hero, Ethan, is Black and unmistakably queer (no “exclively gay moments” here — he do some sweetly awkward flirtg wh his csh one of his earlier scen) is noteworthy.

POP QUIZ: WHO IS DISNEY'S REAL 'FIRST GAY CHARACTER?' IT'S COMPLITED

"The Guardian: 'Wokens' and avodo toast"Ethan is Disney’s first openly gay teenager and, predictably, rightwg activists have lled for a boytt. In addn to Ethan beg gay, has that environmental msage and – oh, the wokens – a scene which avodo on toast is served. In rponse, the last few years have seen the stud attempt to tout var first “gay moments” and queer characters that for the most part were ’s a pleasant surprise that Ethan and his obv csh on his iend Diazo arrive wh mimal fanfare (pecially pared wh “Lightyear” and some Marvel stallments).

"AP: 'Strange World' plot is more than a 'gay moment'"There’s also the not-signifint fact that Ethan has a same-sex csh.

That’s a b of a stretch, bee this buddg romance is a si plot, referred to by a number of characters, but by no means a major topic of maybe that’s the pot — if ’s not a major plot pot, nor is a sneeze-and-you-miss moment like, for example, that quick glance “Bety and the Beast” 2017 that was herald as the first Disney “gay moment. Sure, some untri will lose their mds over there beg a gay character a Disney movie, which mak all the more urageo that producer Roy Conli emed time to expand the stud’s “Someday My Prce Will Come” ia of romance. "Hollywood Reporter: 'Strange World' character's sexualy is a fact of life"A particularly tenr sequence which Searcher meets Ethan’s csh, Diazo (Jonathan Melo), sets up, wh ltle fanfare, a historic moment for the nservative stud: Ethan is the first out gay teenager a Disney animated and Nguyen treat Ethan’s sexualy as a fact of life stead of a battleground on which he mt seek faial acceptance, a move that reliev Ethan of the banaly of beg an avatar.

DISNEY'S FIRST FILM FEATURG OPENLY GAY MA CHARACTER FLOPS AT BOX OFFICE

"Deadle lists among 'Biggt Bombs' of 2022"Some might say Disney’s embrace of a gay character the film turned off red-state dienc, while crics found the fantasy pic to be clunky and prehensible, and the animatn retro and stale. This one le, livered passg wh no follow-up, marks the first verbal regnn of a character’s gay relatnship an animated Disney movie.

Whether animators vertly add those gay moments, or ’s jt fans projectg, the bt-se scenar for Disney is to let LGBTQ muni celebrate potentially gay characters whout the pany havg to acknowledge their queerns. Disney’s dience is huge, and unfortunately, clus vol homophob — both the Stat and ternatnal markets, cludg untri where beg gay n land you jail — as well as queer viewers sperate for reprentatn.