‘Strange world’: Ethan Clade, the real step towards a diversified Disney

Disney hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to LGTBIQ+ diversity (although at least it has one). In 2017, Bill Condon was proud that he included an “exclusively gay moment” in the remake of “Beauty and the Beast” with Le Fou (Josh Gad) dancing for half a second with another man and veiled messages of his feelings for Gastón (Luke Evans). Then came the kiss of two background extras in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’, the man (played by Joe Russo) who mourned the loss of her husband in ‘Avengers: Endgame’, the lesbian Cyclops in ‘Onward ‘, Emily Blunt’s brother in ‘Jungle Cruise’… All minor characters, easy-to-cut scenes to avoid censorship in homophobic countries, veiled messages in dialogue, grandiose statements about how different they are but no truly meaningful portrayal, no protagonists or at least a detail that implies real weight in the film.

Marvel took a real step forward with Phastos, Brian Tyree Henry’s character in “Eternals”, and this year also Pixar with Alicia Hawthorne in “Lightyear”. In both cases they are characters of weight in the plot, we are shown their family and we see demonstrations of affection towards their partners. In both cases the studios had to fight for that representation. The House of Ideas refused to censor the film so it could be released in countries with anti-LGTBIQ+ measures. In the case of Pixar, it was the employees of the studio, taking advantage of the fact that things were going well with the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the support of Disney with donations to politicians in favor of that law, to reveal that mother House forced them to remove the kiss from Buzz Lightyear’s best friend to his wife. Eventually they were able to include it.

House of Mice had lagged behind, especially in its big animated titles: its classics. Beyond the photo of the ‘Frozen’ salesman and his alleged family, or saying in interviews that Namaari from ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ is queer, without showing anything on screen, Walt Disney Animation Studios didn’t seem to want to disturb the fathers and mothers who try to hide from their children the diversity that exists in the world. But that all changed in late November when ‘Strange World’ hit theaters, now available to stream on Disney+.

The film by Don Hall and Qui Nguyen stars the Clade family, a clan famous in Avalonia because the patriarch, Jaeger Clade, was a famous adventurer who disappeared trying to find out what lay beyond the mountains that surround the territory. Also his son Searcher is well known among the inhabitants of the city and its surroundings for having revolutionized their lives with an important discovery. Searcher’s son Ethan rounds out the trio of main characters that the adventure focuses on, a story of fathers and sons. The three clash because the upper branch of the family tree pushes the lower one to follow the same path as them, even if it is not what they want.. Even if they have other dreams and another vocation. Searcher didn’t want to have adventures like his father, he wanted a quiet life and raise a family. Ethan also doesn’t see the future of him forever on a farm, but isn’t sure what he wants to be.

A teenage crush like any other

Ethan, in addition to being a teenager discovering his own path, is gay. And he is in love with a classmate named Diazo. ‘Strange world’ doesn’t hide it with metaphors or half measures. In the movie we see them interacting, we see how nervous Ethan gets whenever he talks to his crush or is mentioned in a conversation. And no one, absolutely no one, makes comments questioning their feelings or questioning their sexuality. They treat him as naturally as if he had been a classmate. Neither his parents nor his grandfather do anything but tease him because he blushes when he talks about Diazo or gives him tips to win him over.

It’s something we’ve seen all our lives in the case of heterosexual characters: the blush of adolescence, the complaints when parents go too far to be a part of their children’s lives… Ethan Clade is a pubescent like any other . His sexuality is not part of the main plot of the film, nor has it been in hundreds of films and series. Neither is it a drama, nor something that torments him as we have seen in a good number of titles aimed mainly at the LGTBIQ+ audience. Ethan learns a lot about himself during his adventure, but his feelings are very clear. And he lives them with the support of his family, a light-filled message that it’s great to be able to reach so many LGTBIQ+ girls and boys who won’t find much similar representation, and even less in projects as big as Disney’s.. And even for those who aren’t, because you normalize something that should be normal at this point. So that you can see that there is no different between Ethan’s hangout with Diazo and Ariel’s hangout with Eric, Aladdin with Jasmine, Max with Roxanne in “Goofy and son” and a very long list of teenage loves that we have seen in their films. Ethan’s case is told with such innocence that if someone sees something bad in it or proposes to “sexualize children” it would be a thought that arises from the most absolute homophobia.

Characters like Ethan are the very path to that commitment to diversity that The Walt Disney Company claims it has. Stories that we have seen a thousand times, but with the protagonist who has never been the protagonist. For those of us who continue to be the target of the most irrational hatred. They are small steps that can really create a positive impact in the big and small, provide references and foster conversations that add up, that include. Heroes and heroines who come to live a reality without being questioned. They just are, because this is it. If all our lives we have seen boys and girls fall in love on the screen and there was no problem, but there is when there are two boys or two girls, the problem is not with them.