Why Is The Owl House So Far Ahead of the Rest of Disney in Queer Representation?
The Disney Channel's The Owl House has bisexual, lesbian, and non-binary characters, but the rest of Disney-produced fiction is wildly failing at inclusion.
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Disney Channel’s The Owl House is back (and the first five episodes of season two are streaming on Disney+), and since it has been back the plot had been moving in fantastic ways, while also providing fantastic LGBTQ representation.
This is nothing new, since it was made clear in season one that the female character of Amity Blight (voiced by Mae Whitman) had a crush on Luz (Sarah-Nicole Robles). Creator Dana Terrace, who is bisexual, confirmed that Luz is bi and Amity is a lesbian through Twitter, but now it is more than just word-of-god canon.
Luz has been blushing and crushing on Amity for a few episodes, clearly flirting. Amity called Luz “my Luz” and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek following her character development hair color change. In the latest episode, “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door,” Luz and Amity officially become a couple, asking each other on a date.
Canon wlw couple, no subtext, dating—not to mention they are perfect and I love them. It is made all the more special because Luz is the protagonist of the series.
In addition to that, we have the non-binary character of Raine Whispers, who is voiced by non-binary actor and voice artist Avi Roque.
Raine Whispers is the “sharp and hardworking Head Witch of the Bard Coven,” a new character who is a rebel bard who uses they/them pronouns and is working with a rebellion to stop the Emperor. They are also the love interest to the character of Eda the Owl Lady (Wendie Malick).
We have seen a lot of non-binary characters in children’s animation lately, with Steven Universe: Future introducing a character named Shep, played by Indya Moore, a trans non-binary actor. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power had Double Trouble, who was voiced by Jacob Tobia. Danger and Eggs, Craig of the Creek, and Kipo and the Age of Wonder Beasts have all made similar headway in having non-binary and queer characters.
It is becoming more normalized, but also not being treated as something meant to stand out in the larger context of the show. For example, on The Owl House, Luz’s goals are to become a witch and find a portal back home. Her being bisexual is just a part of her story, and same with all the other LGBTQ characters we have seen thus far.
So why is Disney so bad at this when it comes to everything else? We have been seeing Disney’s mainstream movies attempting and failing to make some headway with gay audiences for the better part of a decade. They keep having to have “big gay moments” that end up feeling like misses. Even in the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe, with characters that have been gay in comics for years, we are still waiting to really see that as an actual part of their stories on the screen.
If the Disney Channel can give us well done wlw couples and non-binary couples, and children’s animation in general is evolving in this way, how long are we gonna have to keep waiting for Disney proper to figure out how to do it beyond subtext? We know they can do it right. This just means that when they fail to, it is a choice.
Amazing LGBTQ+ creators and allies have been putting in the work and laying foundations. Time for the major companies to step up.
