It isn’t a big surprise when it comes to a Company standing in the way of representation in Television and Media, Two weeks ago in an interview with Rebecca Sugar, creator of Steven Universe was told by Cartoon Network Executives to not speak publicly about Queer Representation on her show, now Dana Terrace, Creator of Disney Channel’s hit show The Owl House addressed when Disney nearly blocked it. In a recent article from Cartoon Brew’s Alex Dudok De Wit, Dana Terrace spoke about the difficulties she faced when proposing to introduce gay and bisexual characters in a recent episode.
“In dev 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 haha. 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. I’m bi! I want to write a bi character, dammit! Luckily my stubbornness paid off and now I am VERY supported by current Disney leadership.”
Dana Terrace, Creator of the Owl House
The Episodes that brought this to the light were “Enchanting Grom Fright” and “Wing it like Witches“. I apologize if I spoil these episodes for anyone who hasn’t watched the episodes yet, Luz has shown to be attracted to male characters but we see a potential relationship explored in Luz and another recurring character named Amity, in the Grom Fright episode we see had the intention to ask Luz to Grom (their world’s version of Prom,) and the two shared a dance.
In the tweet above, The Former Animation Supervisor for the show, Spencer Wan shared the Storyboards for the Dance sequence, while this isn’t Disney’s first time including an openly LGBTQ character in it’s cast, however, up until this moment came up there have been only represented as either non-recurring characters or playing a minor part. For example, in Onward, a character who served as an officer named Spector (Voiced by Lena Waithe) who was a Lesbian, and in May, Pixar had the success of their newest short called “Out“. While on the subject, Disney also had another show called ‘Andi Mack‘ where it was the first show in history to feature a character discovering they were gay. Thank you to Dana Terrace and the Owl House team for this wonderful moment, and for all of the hard work that you all have done. This is just the beginning for this fantastic series.
Information and Facts provided by: Variety, Cartoon Brew, Paper Magazine
Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, news tips, or questions, email them to: webmaster@bigrednerd.com.
Red's Nerd Den 