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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Should Disney have a same sex couple?

389 replies

EveOnline2016 · 06/05/2016 23:24

Just getting views.

This is something I feel like Disney movies should have.

Being in a same sex couple is nothing to hide from children.

OP posts:
FutureGadgetsLab · 10/05/2016 18:56

Olivia they're not visible in the way heterosexual children are. What reasons are those - if children can see heterosexual relationships why not homosexual ones? Unless you think homosexual relationships are deviant?

No, I won't stop calling out bigoted views. It being your opinion doesn't mean it's immune from criticism

Unicow · 10/05/2016 19:05

The most successful Disney films have been the ones, whose stories/legends/fairy tails already exist. There's no old tails featuring same sex couples and its denied across a lot of cultures that homosexuality was a norm and encouraged/accepted.

Whilst this is true Once Upon a Time for instance messes with the concepts of these tales as have other films. (Also OUAT is technically Disney as they own abc who made it)

This means that There is a precedent to change things up being explored. OUAT has been massively popular and really messes up the traditional stories by blurring the hero/villain lines AND having some fairytale characters portrayed as gay. Although it is an adult show it does show that it's possible and can be well received.

A child friendly fairytale mashup may well happen in the future.

Claraoswald36 · 10/05/2016 19:08

So much deliberate misunderstanding on this thread.

WeatherwaxOrOgg · 10/05/2016 19:18

FutureGadgets "No, I won't stop calling out bigoted views. It being your opinion doesn't mean it's immune from criticism"

The same back to you.

If I believed in bigotry, I'd say that you not accepting people have different opinions makes YOU the bigoted one from my perspective.

HarleyQuinneee · 10/05/2016 19:20

I'd like it. My kids have same sex parents and I think it would be nice for them to see that in a Disney film.

Peyia · 10/05/2016 19:26

So much deliberate misunderstanding on this thread.

Maybe they do understand and disagree, what do you mean?

FutureGadgetsLab · 10/05/2016 19:26

Weather

I accept your opinion. I don't accept your right to marginalise LGB people, which by excluding them from kids films you are doing.

The lives of LGB people comes above your feelings.

startrek90 · 10/05/2016 20:01

Question: What would be the best way to present a gay couple without resorting to stereotypes? I think the best way, if you are going to do it, is maybe have the parents/best friend be in an established couple. I could be wrong though.

I still stand by that Merida and Elsa should remain as they are though Wink

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 10/05/2016 22:59

But the characters in OUAT who are gay (or bisexual I presume - Red Riding Hood had a boyfriend in the first series) are all ones who are children in their own stories.

I think it would have to be a completely new story, or a character you don't know much about. I don't think taking a known fairy tale and just changing the prince to a princess would work.

WeatherwaxOrOgg · 10/05/2016 23:04

Future - luckily for me, what you can accept means nothing to me or my life and I can still show my children what I believe is the best way to live, ie, following God's commands.

Luckily for gay people, what I teach my children does absolutely nothing to either harm or marginalise them.

What I'm interested in though, is why the feelings of a fat person come above my feelings. Surely being the decent person you are, believing in equality for all, you also respect my feelings equally to a gay persons?

Or does my life somehow count for less because I don't agree with you?

WeatherwaxOrOgg · 10/05/2016 23:08

Sorry I meant to type gay not fat :/

Winterbiscuit · 10/05/2016 23:37

Would be nice to see a few fat heros/heroines too though!

LostMySanityCanIBorrowYours · 10/05/2016 23:47

I think people (or maybe just me) are struggling to see where you are coming from Weather.

I don't understand how you can claim being gay is wrong, refuse to 'expose' your childrn to homosexual role models and then otoh say that you are all for equality and respect.

To my mind those two statements are at odds with each other. Either you accept that homosexuality is equal to heterosexuality and therefore normal, or you don't and are therefore a bigot

FutureGadgetsLab · 11/05/2016 03:24

What I'm interested in though, is why the feelings of a gay person come above my feelings.

Gay people cannot help being gay.
There is no logical reason to be against homosexuality.
Homosexuality doesn't affect you.
A homosexual character doesn't affect you.

You choose to believe in something which there is no evidence for.
Not having representation actively harms homosexual people.
Oppressing people based on something that has no evidence isn't okay.

Sorry if this offends you, but that's why. Religion doesn't get special protection from criticism.

WeatherwaxOrOgg · 11/05/2016 06:38

Lostmy sanity, I didn't say I was all for equality, I'm not. I'm for doing what God tells us to do - whether I like the instruction or not.

Future, please don't apologise, you don't offend me at all. I'm pretty hard to offend - I'm just trying to make sense of what you're saying. I agree with most of the points you make in your last post and I certainly don't wish any harm on anyone gay. I wish them to live a happy and quiet life as much as anyone else. All I'm saying is that I'm religious and therefore I wouldn't choose to take my children to a film that promoted homosexuality - in the same way most Muslims or Jews wouldn't. And many, but not all Christians among whom there is disagreement.

I'm happy to be criticised and in fact the Bible tells us to expect it and even rejoice in it, as it marks us out as different.

I didn't complain about being criticised at all, what I actually asked was why you felt the needs of a gay person come above mine. I asked because you appear to be for equality. I would have thought that that meant allowing everyone their own views, even if they differed from yours because as soon as you become annoyed with my views you appear to be contradicting your assertion that everyone is entitled to their own peace in life. I would understand if I meant harm to anyone, but I mean harm to no-one.

You say that I choose to believe something that there is no evidence for and we also differ here. The evidence for our creator is everywhere and overwhelming.

Also, religion does have some protections in many areas. For example the right of Muslims to have halal meat has recently been confirmed by the government that their religious right to eat what they want trumps the animal's rights. Also that the right to prayer trumps the employers right to prevent it and another example would be the laws surrounding washing and cleanliness during operations - a recent ruling means that Muslim women don't have to scrub to their elbows before surgery but can instead wear a cuff to cover their arms.

I disagree with this personally but my point is that religion does have some protecting whether we like it or not.

I was under the impression that the OP wanted to know whether people feel that gay relationships should be represented in Disney. I simply gave my opinion, which had been asked for, which is that they shouldn't.

I don't seek to change your opinion, or berate you for holding the opposite opinion to me. I just gave mine.

In not wanting me to have the same freedom of speech that you enjoy, you're being bigoted.

oliviaclottedcream · 11/05/2016 08:35

Unless you think homosexual relationships are deviant? What am I now then, witness for the defence?

WTF does this visible bollocks mean anyway? Scrubbed up and made presentable for mainstream, public consumption? This 'we need to be doing more for gay people' nonsense does no one any good. There's no longer the entrenched homophobia in Western society so get over yourself. Gay people marry, live together, adopt children have prime time TV shows, etc and no one really cares. I know gay people who are wonderfully indifferent about seeing same sex couples on children's TV. They aren't self haters nor have they internalised homophobia or any of the other PC drivel / jargon you social justice warriors can sum up. They just dont want to be a part of the kind of corporate PC fascism that Hollywood/Disney always wants to promote.

Also none of them have told me they'd wish a gay lifestyle on their own children..Also not all of them support gay marriage either. Perhaps they are all contributing to their own misery? But that's people for you!

This is a diverse, complicated subject, it's as diverse, complicated and nuanced as people are, in this case gay ones... So drop this - 'with us or against us' nonsense, please! It serves no one. This attitude is indicative of a kind of new 'progressive' dictatorship.

oliviaclottedcream · 11/05/2016 08:40

Gay people cannot help being gay Can you prove that? So in that case aren't you the one who is choosing to believe in something which there is no evidence for. ?

Winterbiscuit · 11/05/2016 09:17

Gay people cannot help being gay
Can you prove that?

Olivia I've never heard anyone say they decided to be gay. Why don't you believe the very large number of gay people who say it wasn't a choice?

Moonlightceleste · 11/05/2016 09:22

As a lesbian, I can confirm I definitely did not decide to be attracted to women Hmm

Writerwannabe83 · 11/05/2016 09:30

I purposely just watched the Sauna scene of Frozen to see if there is an insinuation of the shopkeeper being gay and there definitely is.

He's a bit stereotyoically camp though.

VestalVirgin · 11/05/2016 09:51

Even if people decided to be gay, there'd be nothing wrong with it. It doesn't harm anyone.

Cubtrouble · 11/05/2016 09:52

This thread is horrendous.

Have any of you actually been to A Disney park? All are welcome, fat people, thin people, disabled people, little kids, big kids, old people, young people, lesbians, gays and straight people, people of every colour and religion you can possibly think of. No one there is moaning, everyone stands chatting in the lines, no one is a bigot or a bitch.

Why does Disney NEED to change? It's a light hearted kids film production company. Can none of you see that?

What next a Disney princess with acne, greasy hair and a thyroid problem?

It doesn't have to fit every single issue for every single person.

Enjoy it for what it is.

Writerwannabe83 · 11/05/2016 10:16

Well said Cub

Although the ridiculousness of this thread has kept me amused at times Grin

Disney is about ridiculously beautiful princesses, their knights in shining armour and happy endings - that's just what it is and it doesn't need to change.

Since when is it Disney's responsibility to educate the masses about the realities of society and reduce the rates of LGBT suicide by preventing the oppression of it?

It's just a company that makes children's films.

WeatherwaxOrOgg · 11/05/2016 10:37

Well said, Writer, Cub and Olivia.

Sirona · 11/05/2016 10:54

Come to Northern Iteland and see the entrenched homophobia in western society Olivia. We still can't marry, gay men can't give blood and one of our own politicians made a statement about believing children of same sex couples are more likely to be abused Shock