â ď¸ WARNING: DISNEY KNOWS âFIRST GAY CHARACTERâ IS A MEME, AND THEYâRE RELYING ON YOU FOR FREE PROMO â ď¸
I think people genuinely donât know this, or they choose to play dumb about it, so Iâm here to set the record straight! For starters, I am a professional statistician, mathematician, and scientist, as well as professional movie watcher and all around lover of Disney. You can read more about my credentials here
With that in mind, here is a break down of all the people that are, or will be talking about the upcoming Jungle Cruise movie:
People who want more queer representation in movies and are genuinely happy to see this new gay character - .5%
People who love anything produced under the umbrella of the Mouse and will be talking about this movie no matter what - 5%
A bunch of pissed off conservatives who heard there was a gay character and bravely take to their laptops to talk about how the liberal media is trying to make their kids gay - 14.5%
People making memes about Disneyâs ever expanding collection of first gay characters - 80%
As you can see with my completely accurate graph, 95% of these people would not even be talking about Jungle Cruise, were it not for their bold claim of First Gay Character
FACT: Disney no longer cares about being pioneers of story, music, and art. They skate by on name brand recognition, content with being as lazy as possible while churning out generic film after generic film. Uninspired sequels, soulless remakes, etc
FACT: Finding Doryâs main impact was a social media frenzy over Pixarâs claim of a lesbian couple in the movie - which of course ended up amounting to nothing more than two women standing near one another for a second. Disney is not stupid. They know that put a lot of eyes on their film, that probably wouldnât have bothered to watch otherwiseÂ
FACT: If Disneyâs constant announcements of âFirst Gay Characterâ werenât a real life running gag, NO ONE would be talking about these movies. Beauty And The Beast was dull, tired, washed out, boring, and uninspired. Its cultural impact wouldâve all but vanished by now, had they not pulled the stunt of naming LeFou their First Gay Character. This makes people talk. It makes them want to watch the movie, either to make fun of it or to get mad about it. Finding Dory, Onward, Cruella, Jungle Cruise. Movies that would easily slip under the radar and never be thought of again, if they did not contribute to the meme of First Gay Character
FACT: All of these moments are insignificant and mean absolutely nothing. These moments can be easily brushed under the rug, ignored, misconstrued, or cut out completely. Finding Dory, Beauty And The Beast, Star Wars, Avengers, Cruella, Jungle Cruise, Toy Story 3. Did you know there was a lesbian couple in Toy Story 3? No, you didnât, because these things donât mean anything
FACT: Disney relies on their fanbaseâs imaginations to connect the dots and give them more queer credit than they deserve. As established before, Disney does not care about being groundbreaking in any sense of the word anymore. Finnpoe didnât have a snowballâs chance in hell, Elsa will never have a girlfriend, etc. But if YOU see chemistry between Finn and Poe, or if YOU ship Elsa with this new female character, it will make you talk about the possibilities. You will speculate, share headcanons, talk with your friends on tumblr, and of course, make lots and lots of fanfic and fan art. And that means youâre talking about their movies, even if they donât give you what you want. Even if you hate the direction the movie took, youâre still giving Disney the clicks, the views, and the engagement.Â
When you write fanfic for a movie like that, you directly contribute to Disney getting extra views from people that normally might not have wanted to watch those movies. Because those people end up wanting to watch the movies to see what YOU saw in your own stories
FACT: Disney is a multi-gazillion dollar company. Disney is a brand, a business, an empire. They will suck up as many franchises as they can, until eventually everything in entertainment falls under the Disney umbrella. They will not stop until everything is a part of their monopoly. (But of course I am not telling you to disengage with their content completely, or to never write fic or draw art inspired by their films)
BUT WE CAN ALL DO OUR PART TO HELP
Next time you see an article claiming âDisneyâs First Gay Characterâ, DO NOT CLICK ON IT
If a movie proudly touts their inclusion of a gay character, DO NOT WATCH IT
THE INCLUSION OF QUEER CHARACTERS IS IMPORTANT!
DO NOT LET THEM THINK WE ARE HAPPY WITH THEIR CRUMBS!
IGNORE THEIR CHEAP PUBLICITY STUNTS AND DEMAND BETTER!
WE DESERVE MAIN CHARACTERS!Â
DO NOT FALL INTO THE MOUSEâS TRAP!
ITâS NOT TOO LATE TO CHANGE THINGS!
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