Blake Myers

Professor Denicolo

ENG 103

10 April 2022

Disney And Queer Media

Disney has had its fair share of backlash over their movies and shows. Most of which

because of the themes that they contain are deemed to be too inappropriate for children, yet they

are still aired to this day. Recently, Disney has taken steps to prevent their movies from

containing any queer content to prevent this backlash and its potential loss of audience because

of the sensitive subject. However, I am asking Disney to start openly incorporating all types of

queer representation into its media.

The first thing you may be thinking is, “What about profits?” There would most likely be

a dip in profits because of censorship in other countries and a small number of homophobic

audiences. According to the article from Game Rant, “Eternals has been removed from websites

in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.” (Dowling, Paragraph 1) Most likely because of the gay

character Phastos. This is to be expected because a few countries still have laws where it is

illegal to be queer. However, according to the article from Forbes, “Walt Disney is reporting that

Marvel’s Eternals has passed $300 million in worldwide box office revenue.” (Mendelson,

Paragraph 1) That is still a huge profit even after being banned in a few countries for queer

representation. Another thing to consider is that the good of having more queer representation

outweighs the small profit decrease. Like most large companies I feel Disney has lost sight of the
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bigger picture in exchange for profits. Instead of creating diverse interesting content Disney has

started to enter the route of censorship and creative stifling for a quick cash grab. This ties into

my second point.

Disney, as a large company, has a significant role in young people’s lives and a power to

change those lives forever. It’s the classic line from our friendly neighborhood Spiderman, “With

great power comes great responsibility” By using their brand for better queer representation

Disney will be helping generations of LGBTQ+ people and those not in the community to be

better allies. Queer media helps children struggling to understand themselves and have a support

network. Vanessa Lee Nic states to The Washington Post that, “Being 10 and being trans can feel

lonely, He doesn’t have on trans friends his age in our small town. So, this allows him that

community.” (Leventry, Paragraph 9) She says this about her son Dylan and his private and

monitored Instagram account. Just knowing that there is someone out there like you whether on

TV or through social media can help people of all ages in coming to terms with themselves.

Disney can help provide that beacon of hope for people by adding more representation, not just

queer, into their stories.

Another positive to having queer characters and their experiences in media is that it can

give people of all backgrounds the language to express what they may be feeling but not

understanding yet. Cole Engstrom-Bolstad, a freshman at Penn State shares their experiences to

The Washington Post. They directly state, “Queer representation on the Internet has helped me a

lot. Not only did I learn more about the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, but I also learned more

about myself and that is was okay to be different.” (Leventry, Paragraph 16) They had found two
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comic strips in particular on social media, Assigned Male Comics and Hello World, It’s Eli, that

helped them to understand more about themself. Cole also states. “Though I didn’t have the

words for it then, I had a lot of dysphoria and didn’t know what to do about it. I felt like it wasn’t

a thing people talked about. However, these comics made me realize that I wasn’t weird and that

you could express these emotions in many ways. They gave me the vocabulary and reassurance

to figure out who I was.” (Leventry, Paragraph 18) Knowing someone else who is feeling the

way you do can help them feel less alone and give them the language to share how they’re

feeling. This makes it easier for someone to come out. It gives them the confidence to know they

are not alone and the ability for them to understand what it is they are feeling rather than it just

staying a feeling.

Another important finding is the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis Theory, otherwise known

as PCH. In short it states that the more people are exposed to interpersonal relationships between

those they are prejudiced against in media the more likely they are to be less prejudiced and

accepting towards those people. In the context of LGBTQ+ people it means that the more people

are shown accurate depictions of those people in the media the more likely they are to be more

accepting and less homophobic and transphobic. This can be done by having more characters

who are Queer being portrayed as normal people without stereotypes in Disney movies and

shows to have the PCH take effect in homes across the world. Representation matters not just for

Queer people but also to those who are homophobic or don’t know much of the community.

(Schiappa et al. 1)
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So, Disney I’m asking that you take even just small steps to better representation in your

media because of all the good it can do. The first step to acceptance and a better community for

queer people is representation and education. By adding more representation into such a large,

well consumed brand, even to the smallest existent we can help a struggling community who is

in need right now. With all the hate being spread in the world Disney can be the one to look to as

a leader to what media should be like.

Works Cited

Dowling, Ahsan. “Eternals Banned in Three Countries After Disney Refuses to Make Cuts”

Game Rant, 6 November 2021, https://gamerant.com/eternals-banned-saudi-arabia-qatar-

kuwait-disney-cuts/

Garino, Kirsten. “Children’s Media Start Embracing Diverse, Queer Storytelling” The Hoya, 31

October 2019, https://thehoya.com/childrens-media-start-embracing-diverse-queer-

storytelling/

Leventry, Amber. “The importance of social media when it comes to LGBTQ kids feeling seen”
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The Washington Post, 19 September 2019,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/09/20/importance-social-media-when-it-

comes-lgbtq-kids-feeling-seen/

Mendelson, Scott. “Box Office: Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ Tops $300 Million Worldwide” Forbes, 18

November 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/11/18/box-office-

eternals-tops-300-million-disney-marvel-china/?sh=6b51c5605ca3

Schiappa, Edward, et al. “The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis” Communication Monographs,

Mar. 2005, https://cmsw.mit.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/The-Parasocial-

Contact-Hypothesis.pdf