The Importance of The Owl House {A Thesis (?) on Good LGBTQIA+ Representation in Media}
I don't think I have to talk the lot of you all on Tumblr that The Owl House has good LGBTQIA+ representation, this is a microblogging website for ✨the gays✨ but I have thoughts on the show and its representation, especially because this is "children's show" on the Disney Channel!
The Owl House came out in 202O and was created by the lovely Dana Terrace, who as I understand it worked on beloved Gravity Falls (2012, Alex Hirsch) back in the day, {*Gently Holds* THANK YOU DANA TERRACE, MY BELOVED} and is, as Wikipedia describes it, a Fantasy Horror Comedy.
The show is great! It ticks all the boxes for me, chief, which also means it has good LGBTQIA+ representation! As an Asexual and Nonbinary person, I feel seen!
And yes, other shows have the representation I am looking for. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) have queer representation thanks to Noelle Stevenson, and no matter how to feel about Steven Universe (2013) Rebecca Sugar moved a mountain in queer representation, so shows that wanted to include queer topics could thrive in a cable space! Although they don't do it like The Owl House!
First off, She-ra and the Princesses of Power is on Netflix, and despite the fact that She-ra target audience is children, a stream serves like Netflix can and does get away with "walking the line," plus beside a few references to two women being in a relationship and queer undertones, most of the queer representation happened in the final season.
Secondly, it is public knowledge that Rebecca Sugar at to twist the truth about what Steven Universe was about so Cartoon Network would consider putting it on the air, and dispute fighting for a lesbian wedding later in the series run, language like wife, and girlfriend are never use when talking about queer characters.
Compared to The Owl House, Danna Terrace was open and honest with those at Disney that Luz, The show's main character, would be Bisexual!
“In [development] I was very open about my intention to put queer kids in the main cast. I’m a horrible liar so sneaking it in would’ve been hard,” Terrace wrote. “When we were greenlit I was told by certain Disney leadership that I could not represent any form of bi or gay relationship on the channel.” (Variety) “I’m bi! I want to write a bi character, dammit!” Terrace tweeted. “Luckily my stubbornness paid off and now I am very supported by current Disney leadership.”
To add recent episodes have not to beat around the bush and showed the term "girlfriend" to reference the relationship that has now form between Luz and Amity!
THIS IS A SHOW ON THE DISNEY CHANNEL AND HAS BEEN MAKING HISTORY!
Alex Hirsch had to tell someone that works on Gravity Falls that they couldn't add an old lesbian couple in a few frames because Disney would not approve!
The language and the force are important for that watching! The young queer kids that are consuming the media and the cishet adults that are having to watch it alongside their children. Using the term Girlfriends with "extreme" force like in "Eclipse Lake" shows that these two young female-presenting characters are not "just friends". The use of Them/they pronouns in "Eda's Requiem" and other episodes not only refer to the character of Raine Whispers and other characters that we don't know the identity of, normalize the use of they/them pronouns to refer to a single person!
The Owl House is making history thanks to Dana Terrance's "studdorness", the queer fans that are starved for quality reperestation, and the progressing society that is allowing it to say on the air instead of setting it on fire because it is "abnormal".
Granted there are still people out there that wish The Owl House would not be a piece of Queer media, and are trying to do everything to kill it on sight, although let's enjoy the fact that we have made this far in the world of media and we have a beautiful show with amazing resperantation for LGBTQIA+ individuals!
-Eros/Cupid!
