• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Disney introduces its first ever openly gay teenage character

Home> Film & TV

Published 02:27 21 Nov 2022 GMT

Disney introduces its first ever openly gay teenage character

Strange World follows a family of explorers, including 16-year-old Ethan, who has a school crush.

Charisa Bossinakis

Charisa Bossinakis

Disney’s upcoming movie Strange World will feature it’s first openly gay teenage character.

According to Movie Web, the Disney flick is set to follow the Clades - a legendary family of explorers.

However, unlike the rest of his family, Searcher Clade has different interests from his family and desires to lead a quiet life as a farmer.

Advert

Despite Searcher wanting nothing to do with his notorious family’s dangerous expeditions, things take a turn when he and his family stumble into uncharted territory, swiftly pulling them into the adventure.

While the epic computer-animated science adventure film will have a ‘slew of ravenous creatures’ and mysterious worlds, it will also feature a gay teen romance, which apparently is a first for Disney.

Ethan Clade, voiced by Jaboukie Young-White, is Searcher's 16-year-old gay son, who longs for adventure beyond his father's farm while navigating a school crush.

Advert

Young-White, who is openly queer, admitted in a recent interview with Yahoo Entertainment that he wished a film like this would have been around while he was a child.

He told the outlet: “I thought that was pretty cool.

"It was a beautiful thing to be a part of, and something I wish I could have seen when I was that age."

As all three Clade elders supported their son’s sexuality, Young-White said that he admires that this film isn’t a ‘coming out story’.

He added: “It's not him looking for acceptance of his identity.

Advert

"That's just who he is, and it's not underlined or made to be a big deal. It's an aspect of Ethan and one of the many things that makes him who he is. I thought that was amazing."

However, aside from including a queer narrative, Disney is also making history, with the Clades being a biracial family.

Co-director and writer Qui Nguyen told Variety: “I have a biracial family, so it was something that was easily relatable to me to [have] two people with very different backgrounds fall in love.

“And now my kid walks both those lines of us — fully Asian, fully Jewish — and that was something I understood inherently.”

Advert

Gabrielle Union, who voices Meridian Clade, also told the outlet the film isn’t trying to ‘normalize’ diversity - it merely exists, which is reflected in Strange World.

She said: “You got to see a loving family that was incredibly supportive of their child’s identity, and their version of trying to steer him to safety or steer him is more in terms of his occupation — and the route he’s gonna go in life.”

Featured Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Topics: News, Film and TV, Disney, LGBTQ

Charisa Bossinakis
Charisa Bossinakis

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

4 hours ago
9 hours ago
16 hours ago
20 hours ago
  • 4 hours ago

    Netflix fans given weeks to watch 16 seasons of 'addictive' drama before it's removed for good

    Viewers are begging for the series to stay

    Film & TV
  • 9 hours ago

    Legendary actor Michael Madsen has died aged 67

    Madsen was best known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill

    Film & TV
  • 16 hours ago

    Netflix viewers rave over forgotten series compared to Black Mirror

    There's been high praise for the Netflix series that first dropped on the streaming platform in 2019

    Film & TV
  • 20 hours ago

    Amazon Prime Video shines light on Idaho murders as friends who discovered bodies speak out

    A new docuseries is coming to Amazon Prime Video, focusing on the grisly murder of four students in their home

    Film & TV
  • Producer of The Simpsons sets record straight after fans rage that main character is 'killed off' for first time ever
  • First openly transgender athlete makes history with confirmed selection for Paris Paralympics 2024
  • True story of man thought to have inspired Disney villain died one of the most 'horrific' deaths ever
  • New Disney film is ‘inspirational true story’ director was ‘shocked’ isn’t taught in schools