Should Disney have a gay princess?

[nintendofan85]

have they ever explicitly said that the disney princesses are cisgender and heterosexual?

I know that's the case, but I just think it would be interesting if they made a storyline about a princess being bisexual, finding either a nice prince or another princess to be with. Again, I just wish there could be as many bisexual characters in media as there are gay characters.

 

[duckykate]

of course they should, as long as it has a god story and isn't just about her sexuality

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

Yes there should be, but I think it needs to be handled well. A gay Disney princess just for the sake of being gay and "pandering" isn't going to be helpful. I want to see them create a gay princess/prince character that is genuine so that lgbtq kids can have a realistic role model rather than a caricature or stereotype. Too many times in movies, a character is just gay to perpetuate those stereotypes and that just can't be how it's done if Disney is going to pull this off well.

 

[John Wick]

Why does it have to be a Princess?
Why not a gay Mufasa, or Nemo. ^_^

 

[Mink777]

Don't know or care. Don't even see why it matters.

 

[Rhapsody]

If you'd asked me this question a few years ago, my answer would have been a resounding yes, absolutely, if they can. But nowadays? I'm concerned about the way Disney would actually handle it. The problem is, after Frozen, Disney's been a little iffy with me. It was clear that they made that movie to elbow you hard in the ribs and say "look, see, look, we can write avert dumb romance tropes, look at how great this is!" while not being self-aware enough to realize that they still fell into the same tired tropes they've always done. In fact, the movies that are best of theirs are the ones that don't focus on romance or sexuality at all, but instead on some other sort of message that they want to send (such as Zootopia, Coco, and Wreck-it Ralph, and yes I know romance was in the latter two but it wasn't the focus).

I feel like Disney and subtlety don't work well together, and if they had a gay plot at all it should either be the B plot or out of focus, or else they'll do the same thing they did with Frozen: try to earn themselves brownie points by addressing criticisms directly, rather than being focused on telling a good story, which is what we come to Disney for in the first place.

Commercially, though, if they did do a focus film like that, it would certainly sell well. Frozen did, and it even fooled critics into believing that it wasn't doing what Disney's always done. So on that front, maybe it would still be a good thing simply by principle of making a gay princess story mainstream.

 

[duckykate]

Don't know or care. Don't even see why it matters.

well it matters because it's important to represent different sexualities in media, and because we should teach kids that you can love whoever you want to. and, maybe instead of commenting that you don't care you could just...not reply?

 

[Rhapsody]

Don't know or care. Don't even see why it matters.

Wasn't originally going to respond to this but I decided to after seeing someone else do so in order to give my two cents.

It matters because if Disney produces a film with a gay princess that winds up becoming successful, that will indicate to Disney as well as other film companies that gayness is profitable, and thus leading to more gay characters within media. For those who really want to see more gay characters in films, this would be huge to them.

While this isn't exactly equivalent (for gay people it's more about representation rather than simply an interest, but we'll work with it), to help you better understand, if there's a specific topic or genre you'd like to see more in films, seeing it pop up in a hit Disney film would be fantastic for you, because that would mean you'll get to see more of it. For instance, do you want to see more dragons in films? Disney releases a film about dragons, and everyone wants to get on the bandwagon if it sells well. Some people want more films Disney creates with no romance at all; if they produce something with no romance and it sells well, again, the bandwagoning effect will happen.

Companies follow sales, and Disney is one of the highest grossing film companies there is, so if they make a film, it's very likely others will follow in their lead.

 

[Fleshy]

Honestly, I don't know. If they did, they'd only be doing it for pressure / to please the masses. All this ""LGBT Representation" makes me feel more profited off than it does represented.

Maybe they could pull it off, but I doubt it.

- - - Post Merge - - -

When everything comes down to being diverse just for the sake of being diverse, it's not diversity or representation, it's pandering.

 

[Chele]

I agree with half of this question. Having a gay prince/ss? That’s fine by me. Kids need to learn about diversity and how each person differs in their tastes, and also about people’s sexuality. The reason they need to learn about it is that so when they grow up, they don’t become somewhat confused and closed to gay people. That’s almost what happened to me when I grew up. When I grew up I didn’t know anything about these people, and when I heard news about LGBT stuff, I was so shocked as to why people were doing this and I didn’t understand it. But soon, I had to learn these things by myself and soon I became immune to these news and became used to the environment around me.
The problem is, I don’t think that Disney are the type of company to cover these types of serious topics. I think Disney is the type of humorous, fun, wacky, and ‘happily ever after’ companies and their movies don’t go too deep, which is why the target audience for them are young kids.

 

[Romaki]

Definitely, representation matters to young kids and closeted adults alike and it's especially important to show LGBT without a sexual implication that forces stereotypes on us. Disney is already righting its wrongs with Andi Mack, but they shouldn't stop at the small screen with side characters. Diversity is more entertaining.

 

[tumut]

Why don't we have a gay superhero instead since Disney owns marvel (or dc don't remember which) there's already Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and The Legend of Korra for gay girls in kids shows. Given they did put some gay kid in one their Disney Channel shows so who tf knows. Either way I probably wouldn't be interested in whatever movie they put out.

 

[honeyaura]

Why don't we have a gay superhero instead since Disney owns marvel (or dc don't remember which) there's already Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and The Legend of Korra for gay girls in kids shows. Given they did put some gay kid in one their Disney Channel shows so who tf knows. Either way I probably wouldn't be interested in whatever movie they put out.

Why not both c:

 

[Mink777]

well it matters because it's important to represent different sexualities in media, and because we should teach kids that you can love whoever you want to. and, maybe instead of commenting that you don't care you could just...not reply?

Still don't care.

 

[moonford]

I don't really mind. Representation of a minority community and communities is a good thing. Profiting from something that is obviously trying to appease to the public/that community and will possibly reinforce stereotypes and make a set back for that community, ironically, is not a good thing. Which is something many companies do, not because they want to necessarily, it's because they know they will gain a lot of profit, publicity and a positive response.


I don't like the special treatment that the LGBT+ get at all, I have encountered many LGBT+ people who think they are above other people because they are a minority and that confuses me, they are often the same people who think it's okay to bash those who are "normal" which is hypocrisy and people are afraid to say "hey that's wrong" to them because they are safe in their bubble and aren't allowed to be criticised when they are clearly being hypocritical and disgusting. I also don't like the abuse that we get indirectly or directly everyday either. Are either of these equality? No, we shouldn't be treated in a certain way because of who we are.

If Disney is going to make a film with a gay character as the/a leading character I want it done with equality and respect in mind, making everything about being gay is so crap and I'm sick of it because we don't talk about being gay all the time. Don't get me started on the films were gay people are sexualized or the films revolving around gay sexual activity, there is a lot of them and it needs to stop. I don't want it to come around just because people have asked repeatedly for it, I want it to come around because Disney WANTS to make it, if that makes any sense.

The fact that Disney hasn't made a prominent LGBT+ character is sad but it doesn't look like they want to make a LGBT+ princess, prince or whatever right now.

I think kids need to learn that we should all be equal and viewed as human, the focus should not be on our sexual orientation, gender identity, race, nationality or religion. That's something I will be teaching my own children and something parents worldwide need to teach their children.

 

[honeyaura]

well it matters because it's important to represent different sexualities in media, and because we should teach kids that you can love whoever you want to. and, maybe instead of commenting that you don't care you could just...not reply?

I second this

 

[moonford]

Still don't care.

Darling, if you don't care then you should probably not comment on the subject or any subject relating to the LGBT+ community because of your negative history with topics like this.

You cared enough to make a comment which you knew would get a negative reaction, which you got and now you have went on to comment this because you want a reaction again, which you have gotten once again.

 

[John Wick]

Darling, if you don't care then you should probably not comment on the subject or any subject relating to the LGBT+ community because of your negative history with topics like this.

You cared enough to make a comment which you knew would get a negative reaction, which you got and now you have went on to comment this because you want a reaction again, which you have gotten once again.

100% agree.
If you don't care, why comment?

 

[Tao]

Why don't we have a gay superhero instead since Disney owns marvel (or dc don't remember which) there's already Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and The Legend of Korra for gay girls in kids shows. Given they did put some gay kid in one their Disney Channel shows so who tf knows. Either way I probably wouldn't be interested in whatever movie they put out.

There's already gay super heroes, I'm just not sure what has and hasn't made it to screen since I've sort of stopped giving a crap about superheroes at this point.

- Deadpool is "not straight"
- Iceman is gay
- One of the Green Lanterns was gay
- Catwoman's bisexual
- I THINK they made Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy gay/bisexual
- I remember somebody connected to Wonder Woman 'announcing' she's a lesbian
- Wolverine is gay (in an alternate universe, but felt it was worth a mention)


There's more I don't remember and yes, a few of those are DC, but those are the 'high profile' ones people will actually recognise.

Marvel's last onslaught of new characters were also filled with LGBT heroes, though a lot of them have been recently cancelled so I hear. I'll not leave my opinion on those, just mentioning they exist if anybody wanted to look into them.

 

[Tinkalila]

Absolutely! Contrary to what some may believe, having a gay princess can be as PG as having a straight princess, and is not inherently more adult. Moving forward, I think having diversity in the content that children consume is a must. I've been lucky enough to grow up in a diverse city, but for some, the only way they can be exposed to diversity is through media.