'Strange World' Disney's 2022 Animated Film

[CaptainMickey]

I tend to think the film would have done well if Disney had marketed it more effectively and if critics had liked it more than they did. I’m not convinced that the brief depiction of a gay crush is enough to have kept significant numbers of parents away.

@LittleBuford Approximately what percentage of families do you think might have some kind of issue bringing their 5-10 years old children to a kids movie that they heard has some kind of gay representation themes in it?

 

[oogie boogie man]

I'd like to see all of the positive comments in the future as well. There may not be many for Strange World though, hahaha.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Earlier I made a comment about it being “a bit too much too fast” and I want to elaborate on that @LittleBuford. Most of us here are Disney super fans so let’s look at this from the lens of parks fan as well. In early 2022 they take the words “ladies and gentlemen” out of the Electric parade. Ladies and F’in Gentlemen! Then they come out with Lightyear and Strange World back to back. Do you honestly think this is good approach? Also understand that people opposed to this kind of stuff lump all of it together. To you, the non binary stuff and the inclusion we see in Lightyear and Strange World may very different things. To many it’s all same. Just being hit over the head with politically correct virtue signaling inclusion and changing everything almost overnight. I think the Gender identity stuff being lumped in with the LGBT movement is the worst thing that could have happened for you guys.

When you take the harmless words “Ladies and Gentlemen” out of a 50 year old parade “you” and any movement/ political party/ ideology that you are associated with have lost me.

Ah, the classic, "LGBT content will be okay eventually".

It's 2022. This should be a non-issue. Still we have people benevolently saying they'll be okay with it at some point and complaining it's been sprung on them too quickly.

Like we haven't heard this all before.

And who gets mad at a parade introduction? Such a trivial thing.

 

[LittleBuford]

@LittleBuford Approximately what percentage of families do you think might have some kind of issue bringing their 5-10 years old children to a kids movie that they heard has some kind of gay representation themes in it?

I have no idea, but I would guess not enough to make the film fail as it has.

 

[LittleBuford]

Earlier I made a comment about it being “a bit too much too fast” and I want to elaborate on that @LittleBuford. Most of us here are Disney super fans so let’s look at this from the lens of parks fan as well. In early 2022 they take the words “ladies and gentlemen” out of the Electric parade. Ladies and F’in Gentlemen! Then they come out with Lightyear and Strange World back to back. Do you honestly think this is good approach? Also understand that people opposed to this kind of stuff lump all of it together. To you, the non binary stuff and the inclusion we see in Lightyear and Strange World may very different things. To many it’s all same. Just being hit over the head with politically correct virtue signaling inclusion and changing everything almost overnight. I think the Gender identity stuff being lumped in with the LGBT movement is the worst thing that could have happened for you guys.

When you take the harmless words “Ladies and Gentlemen” out of a 50 year old parade “you” and any movement/ political party/ ideology that you are associated with have lost me.

Well, my original reply was removed, so let me try again.

Based on your earlier posts and likes (all since deleted), I am not interested in engaging with you. I draw the line at those who voice, or approve of, outright homophobia.

I will note, however, that what you view as “a bit much too fast” is, from my perspective, a bit of long-overdue relief from thousands of years spent in the closet. Rest assured that we queer folk have no interest in taking over the world or forcing straight people to hide as we had to. All we want is a little visibility at long last.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Representation is not a hindrance to storytelling but an obsession with representation is absolutely a hindrance to storytelling.

"I will tell you for the first time we received some incredibly well-written scripts that did not satisfy our standards in terms of inclusion, and we passed on them."

Dana Walden Says ABC Passed on Pilots for Not Being Inclusive Enough

Walden revealed that "for the first time," the network received "some incredibly well-written scripts that did not satisfy our standards in terms of inclusion."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

The problem isn't the diversity we see on screen, it's the mindset of the people behind the scenes. They're making conscious decisions to forego quality to achieve their DE&I goals.

It always seems to me that the people truly obsessed with representation are those who seem to keep screaming out against it. They can't stop talking about it. Making up some fantasy about some woke war machine with some woke agenda that has forced wokeness upon all.

The rest of us have simply said to these companies "hey, can you try and include more people from our beautiful diverse world?" ... and they said "sure".

 

[lazyboy97o]

@LittleBuford Approximately what percentage of families do you think might have some kind of issue bringing their 5-10 years old children to a kids movie that they heard has some kind of gay representation themes in it?

A single character is not gay themes.

 

[mickEblu]

Well, my original reply was removed, so let me try again.

Based on your earlier posts and likes (all since deleted), I am not interested in engaging with you. I draw the line at those who voice, or approve of, outright homophobia.

I will note, however, that what you view as “a bit much too fast” is, from my perspective, a bit of long-overdue relief from thousands of years spent in the closet. Rest assured that we queer folk have no interest in taking over the world or forcing straight people to hide as we had to. All we want is a little visibility at long last.

I think we have different definitions of homophobia. Also just because I “like” a post doesn’t necessarily mean I like every.single.thing that was said in that post or that I would have phrased it the same way. I don’t think anything he said was homophobic though.

So you don’t think you have enough visibility? Gay people make up what, 5% of the population? So you want = visibility? And why does that visibility have to come in childrens cartoons?

Also when did I show sympathy for the Ayotollah?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Like I said to Buford, it's not about avoiding the conversation. It's about having the conversation in a better context than a Disney movie. My 5 year old daughter had a soccer teammate with two dads, so she asked about it and I explained it to her 5-year-old level. My 8 year old daughter knows where babies come from, so she asked about it and I explained adoption. But I had that opportunity in the context of "real life." It wasn't sprung by a movie.

This seems to me kind of an artificial distinction. Why is it ok for a child at that age to encounter same-sex couples out in the world and ask questions but not ok for them to see one in a film and ask questions? Presumably they ask about other things they see represented in animated films and TV series before they encounter them in real life?

As others have said, at that age you're really not thinking about it in terms of sex. My parents were pretty conservative, but my mother's best friend from university in the 1970s was gay and came around a few times with his male partner for dinner when I was a very young child in the 1980s. I don't think it was that fascinating to any of us three children as the concept wasn't that hard to grasp even if we didn't see it that much in the world around us at that point in time. We really didn't consider the mechanics of it any more than we did about any of our relatives in heterosexual relations. That said, my mother also loved Peter Allen and Elton John, so that might have desensitised us!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It always seems to me that the people truly obsessed with representation are those who seem to keep screaming out against it. They can't stop talking about it. Making up some fantasy about some woke war machine with some woke agenda that has forced wokeness upon all.

The rest of us have simply said to these companies "hey, can you try and include more people from our beautiful diverse world?" ... and they said "sure".

How much time do you spend working with senior executives in multinational media conglomerates?

 

[LittleBuford]

I don’t think anything he said was homophobic though.

Then we really do have different definitions of homophobia.

I sincerely hope you come to terms with what is happening, because there’s no going back.

 

[TP2000]

She's not always reliable, but Grace Randolph from Beyond the Trailer said she's heard that Wish will have "strong" LGBTQ representation.

However, she made this statement before the box office failure of Strange World. Ariana DeBose, who is voicing the main character, is "openly queer," so it could have been seen as an opportunity by Disney to have its first lesbian princess voiced by a queer actress. We shall see next November.

Thank you very much for that info!

My response to that, even if it's just rumors that won't pan out, is.... Oh, jeez!

 

[mickEblu]

Then we really do have different definitions of homophobia.

I sincerely hope you come to terms with what is happening, because there’s no going back.

With what’s happening? What do you mean exactly? If you re hoping for more of the kind of representation we saw in Strange World and Lightyear in another Disney animated feature film any time soon you will probably be disappointed. Unless of course Disney has decided their a charity that can keep this up when their core fanbase doesn’t want it.

 

[TwilightZone]

I've been pondering about this, and I think the problems with audience reception to animated science fiction comes down to what the average theater goer wants from the genre: lasers and things blowing up.

I think Wall - e proves a nonviolent sci fi animated movie can become popular. I attribute wall-e's success with a great advertising campaign, a lovable and cute protagonist, a fantastic story, and the fact it was part of a string of already successful films from Pixar.

If I made wall e a check list, here's how strange world would fit. Red x means no, the chick (cause I can't think of anything else) means half, the green checkmark means yes.

Great advertising campaign

Lovable, cute protagonist

Fantastic Story

Part of a string of already successful films

 

[mickEblu]

She's not always reliable, but Grace Randolph from Beyond the Trailer said she's heard that Wish will have "strong" LGBTQ representation.

However, she made this statement before the box office failure of Strange World. Ariana DeBose, who is voicing the main character, is "openly queer," so it could have been seen as an opportunity by Disney to have its first lesbian princess voiced by a queer actress. We shall see next November.

Have they lost their damn mind? Three in a row? Are they going for a hat trick of flops?

 

[Ghost93]

With what’s happening? What do you mean exactly? If you re hoping for more of the kind of representation we saw in Strange World and Lightyear in another Disney animated feature film any time soon you will probably be disappointed. Unless of course Disney has decided their a charity that can keep this up when their core fanbase doesn’t want it.

I suspect Disney will probably back off doing LGBTQ representation in their $180-$200 million animated movies in the next five years, but will continue to have more inclusive representation on their Disney Plus content, as well as in the Marvel Studios movies (where reactions to gay characters have been significantly less controversial).

Then, once the drama has died down a bit, they may take another stab at significant gay representation in animation.

 

[LittleBuford]

She's not always reliable, but Grace Randolph from Beyond the Trailer said she's heard that Wish will have "strong" LGBTQ representation.

However, she made this statement before the box office failure of Strange World. Ariana DeBose, who is voicing the main character, is "openly queer," so it could have been seen as an opportunity by Disney to have its first lesbian princess voiced by a queer actress. We shall see next November.

I very much doubt that Strange World’s poor showing will determine how Disney deals with queer representation in the future. We can look forward to much more of it in the years to come.

 

[Ghost93]

I very much doubt that Strange World’s poor showing will determine how Disney deals with queer representation in the future. We can look forward to much more of it in the years to come.

I hope you are right, but I'm not convinced.

It should be noted that neither Lightyear nor Strange World received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, so Disney could theoretically view the financial disappointments of both films as an indictment of mediocre quality rather than anti-gay backlash. We shall see.

 

[Phroobar]

When Disney doesn't make money, it pivots to something new. It just takes a long time to pivot.

 

[TP2000]

I rewatched Frozen the other night. First time I watched it since probably 2014. What a great movie. Disney needs to go back to making cinema like that again.

There's an army of Sharp Pencil Boys in Burbank who would agree with you.

And they're getting more nervous by the day.