Disney now wants fifty percent of its characters in future cartoon features to be LGBTQwerty, although I’m not sure how hard they would have to try. I wondered what was behind a rash of spoof Disney characters on social media, the most hilarious of which I thought was ‘Cinderfella’ (in fact it’s a genuine musical film). I always thought Prince Charming in Cinderella was, how shall I put it, well dressed. And what chance did the ugly sisters have for a piece of carnal pleasure other than a bit of girl on girl action? I had my suspicions about Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian the singing crab in The Little Mermaid, and don’t even get me started on hunky Gaston in Beauty and The Beast.
Where is all this going to go, I wonder? Will they begin to remake some of the old classics and gay them up a bit? Looking at the A-Z of Disney Cartoons there are plenty of candidates. Here are a few of my suggestions: Peter Pansexual; Lady and the Tranny; Alex in Wonderland; and Finding Doris. Some films need no alteration: The Emperor’s New Groove (you couldn’t make that one up, surely); Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (stop it!); Bedknobs and Broomsticks (ooh Matron!); The Three Caballeros (already there); and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (likewise).
Whatever lies behind this Disney inspired madness is hard to fathom other than political correctness truly gone mad, astronomical wokeness or a genuine attempt to convince children that half the world is gay or transgender. In terms of sexual orientation only 2.7% of teenagers identified as gay or bisexual in the recent UK Census. Maybe things are different in the United States; I’ve been there often, and it wouldn’t surprise me. Or perhaps things are very different within the Disney Corporation – that certainly would not surprise me.
I think gay people have had a hell of time historically, as have transgender people. Prejudice and inequality of opportunity (except where sex at birth offers an advantage such as men in women’s sports) is completely unacceptable. But I can’t help feeling that we have atoned for the sins of our predecessors, certainly in civilised countries. Parts of Africa, the Middle East and a range of non-Arab Muslim countries have a way to go. In most western countries gay people, hot on the heels of what was always going the be the thin edge of the wedge of civil partnerships (a very civilised move in my view), can now marry and enjoy all the attendant rights. We Scots have had a hell of a time historically: Culloden; The Highland Clearances; the Scottish football team; and the SNP but we don’t expect there to be a cinematic increase in the number of people speaking in ‘see you Jimmy’ accents and wearing kilts.
Disney still pumps out a fair number of animated hits such as Frozen and Monsters Inc. (I have grandchildren) but it strikes me that they have some stiff competition such as Illumination which made the highly entertaining Despicable Me and launched a very endearing series of characters in the Minions. The Secret Life of Pets and The Grinch are triumphs of comedy on the one hand and story-telling on the other. Looking at Disney’s filmography there are a fair few of the recent ones that I have never heard of, presumably because my grandchildren and even some of my own younger children think they are ‘pants’. Disney, if it pursues the LGBTQwertyfication of its future and even back catalogues, may well prove the maxim: get woke, go broke.
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
