Strange world gay character

Due in theaters on Nov. 23, the movie also demonstrates the Mouse House's renewed commitment to LGBTQ representation by showcasing the first out gay teenager in a Disney cartoon feature. That. Within this thrilling adventure that centers around a courageous family, we meet Ethan Clade, voiced by Twitter comic Jaboukie Young-White.

Ethan is the first openly gay Disney character, which means that, like the Clade family, Jaboukie is a trailblazer. Here's what we know about his journey. Disney’s new animated movie Strange World, co-directed by Don Hall and Qui Nguyen, once again has sparked a debate about sexual orientation. This time, the topic appears on a much larger scale.

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‘Strange World’ Cast and Creators on the Disney Film’s Biracial, LGBTQ Character: ‘You Don’t Have to Normalize Normal. It Just Is’. Jaboukie Young-White, who is an openly queer standup comedian, had the honor of voicing Ethan Clade after also representing the LGBTQ+ community on Disney+’s Baymax series as gay food truck. Social media coverage has been slight, and reviews are only just coming out of the woodwork ahead of its November 23 release.

However, one of its strongest elements has already become a bad joke. Disney often falters when it comes to cinematic queer representation.

Shows like The Owl House and Amphibia continue to carve a path forward in television animation, but so many motion pictures are relegated to brief pecks on the cheek or background details which are hastily edited out or censored to appease less tolerant international audiences. Rise of the Skywalker, Avengers Endgame, Onward, Wakanda Forever, and Lightyear are just a few small examples, all of which were praised as taking big steps forward, but in reality felt like cheap marketing stunts for minority groups who could be brushed aside whenever their inclusion was inconvenient.

How is an audience supposed to take your progressive ideas seriously when so many of your previous attempts have been so shallow and obvious with their intentions? We have come to distrust corporations when it comes to telling queer stories without compromise, so when a rare exception comes along, and you approach it with the same old song and dance of course we are going to laugh it up, turning an otherwise well-meaning piece of character writing into a laughing stock before the film is even out.

Television was able to subvert these expectations thanks to a smaller creative landscape and individual talent being given the freedom to chase their passions, but cinema is so wrought with focus testing and corporate meddling that doing the same thing is impossible. He is tending the fields as his group of friends pull up in a futuristic pick-up truck. They all say hello, and he appears pretty confident, then his crush appears and our protagonist turns into an adorable mess of blushes and smiles.

For a Disney film, this normalcy is rare and welcomed, positioned as a central narrative tentpole instead of representation to be hidden away when necessary. But Disney helped perpetuate this climate in the first place so what can we do except roll with the punches? Strange World is an exception to a stagnant trend, but it might already be too late to change how we perceive it.