“Disenchanted symbolizes that Disney’s still stuck in their old ways and are in desperate need of change such as Non white protagonists, LGBT+ and disability acceptance,”
Do you think Disenchanted would be better with Non-white protagonists, or with LGBT+/disability acceptance? If yes, then how?
Woah this is a really good question and thanks so much for asking it.
I definitely think that Disenchanted would’ve been better with having at least a one POC main character to ease Disney into the new era of the late 2010s- early 2020s. I’ve already created an Asian character and you’ll see them appear in Chapter 3. The whole plot of Tftoml is not going to have the story be blatant Caucasian Conservative propaganda.
I also think Disenchanted would’ve worked with having some good LGBT+ rep that’s represented in a respectful way. Hence I made Morgan AroAce since I’m one of the few people that did not care at all for her poorly developed and unnecessary romantic relationship with Tyson. If Disney wasn’t so painfully Anti LGBT+ (as it is right now) and kept up their theme of having a female protagonist sans a required love interest, Morgan would’ve had a really platonic relationship with Tyson. If Disenchanted kept their whole trope subversion strategy from the first film, Tyson could’ve subverted the ‘Prince Charming’ trope, by slowly revealing that his nice guy act is a facade and he’s been coming down with burn out from his Mother’s huge expectations and would like to be out of the spotlight. Morgan and him being friends would’ve made them grow closer from having to adhere to their mother’s expectations for them, they would’ve spent the movie hyping each other up, so that way in the final battle they could’ve stood up to their controlling mothers as a way to lift the curse. If Disenchanted had Sofie be older than infant and at least in an age range closer to Morgan’s she could’ve subverted the ‘Mean Stepsister’ trope.
This is why I got rid of unnecessary characters like Ruby, Rosaleen, Edgar, Tyson, Malvina entirely to adhere to my ‘less is more’ strategy with developing the main cast. I’ve also mentioned in the first paragraph that you will get an asian agender supporting protagonist.
I’ve even given the whole Philip family one trope to subvert each:
Morgan: Moody teenager, obviously that’s why I’ve changed her personality
Giselle: Evil stepmother, for her whole arc as the deuteragonist
Robert: Physically absent father trope, since most European fairytales don’t have fathers that take action and have the kid protagonist deal with their obstacles on their own.
Sofie: Mean stepsister trope, I’m trying hard to make her feel like an authentic 6 year old.
Here’s hoping that once Disney’s Wish movie comes out, it’ll manage to avoid the pitfalls Disenchanted ended up getting in.
