"Queer subtext as a supplement for real representation hides the validity, complexity, and beauty of LGBTQ+ stories. It implies that our stories aren’t as important or worthwhile to tell as those of heterosexual people, and that queer characters can’t be good role models for young children." --Gemma Jackson, Grade 9
Spoiler warning for the Frozen movies, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Andi Mack, the Descendants trilogy, and the High School Musical trilogy
It’s 2022, and Disney content still greatly lacks queer representation. They have yet to feature a canonically queer protagonist, and confirmed queer representation in any Disney content is still extremely limited. Despite this, a large portion of Disney films and TV are filled with queer subtext. Subtext is an underlying theme or message in writing; in film it is also evoked through acting and music. Queer subtext and “queer-coding” consist of scenes and plots that could appear queer, or characters that somewhat evoke or resemble attributes or mannerisms that are stereotyped as queer. Examples would be a character who is not confirmed as gay but is a butch woman or a femme man, or a scene in which two same-sex friends share a meaningful look with their faces close together (a subtextual “almost kiss”). Queer subtext is a common trope in a lot of media, but Disney is especially guilty of it.
This phony queer representation is likely Disney’s way of balancing the ideals of their conservative viewers with the wants of the growing LGBTQ+ audience, which consists predominantly of Gen Z’ers. They don’t want to lose out on the younger queer audience, but they also don’t want to make their conservative viewers angry. According to Morning Consult, 44% of Disney+ subscribers are Democrats, and 23% are Republicans; there are more Democrats, but it would be a major loss if they were to upset 23% of their audience. This results in a sort of pseudo-representation; it’s hidden enough to be tolerable or ignored by those who find it offensive, but just barely shown enough for queer people to find something to get invested in.
As you might imagine, this can seem like bad storytelling if you’re actually paying attention to these queer-coded scenes in the context of the whole film, or analyzing the characters in depth. They don’t really make sense in the general story since they are never addressed or confirmed in the canonical plot. Often, characters made solely to be queer-coded are highly stereotyped and aren’t fully developed. Nevertheless, as a queer viewer, these scenes and characters still get me very invested in the story. It’s just plain fun to imagine a story like yours onto popular Disney characters, and to pretend that Disney would ever feature someone like you on the big screen. But it’s not as fun and certainly not as validating as actually seeing yourself represented as a whole human; an experience the LGBTQ+ community has yet to get from Disney.
The queer subtext of today evolved from the queer-coded villains of the 20th century, which were created to comply with the Hays Code: a set of rules created by the film industry that restricted what could be shown in films between the 1930s-60s. From the first listed principle in the code, we get the message that they wanted no sympathy for queerness on the big screen: “sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil, or sin.” And as most of us know, being gay was considered one of the most heinous sins in the 30s.
Because of this code, Disney’s queer subtext used to be exclusively shown in villains, as this allowed them to criminalize queerness rather than making the audience sympathize with it. A lot of us know that Ursula, Maleficent, Jafar, Captain Hook and lots of other Disney villains from the 1930s to the 1990s are heavily queer-coded because they show styles, mannerisms, or personality traits that are stereotyped as “queer.” For example, Ursula’s design was based on the real-life drag queen Divine, and so her makeup resembles the exaggerated, bold styles of drag makeup.
It’s 2022, and Disney content still greatly lacks queer representation. They have yet to feature a canonically queer protagonist, and confirmed queer representation in any Disney content is still extremely limited. Despite this, a large portion of Disney films and TV are filled with queer subtext. Subtext is an underlying theme or message in writing; in film it is also evoked through acting and music. Queer subtext and “queer-coding” consist of scenes and plots that could appear queer, or characters that somewhat evoke or resemble attributes or mannerisms that are stereotyped as queer. Examples would be a character who is not confirmed as gay but is a butch woman or a femme man, or a scene in which two same-sex friends share a meaningful look with their faces close together (a subtextual “almost kiss”). Queer subtext is a common trope in a lot of media, but Disney is especially guilty of it.
This phony queer representation is likely Disney’s way of balancing the ideals of their conservative viewers with the wants of the growing LGBTQ+ audience, which consists predominantly of Gen Z’ers. They don’t want to lose out on the younger queer audience, but they also don’t want to make their conservative viewers angry. According to Morning Consult, 44% of Disney+ subscribers are Democrats, and 23% are Republicans; there are more Democrats, but it would be a major loss if they were to upset 23% of their audience. This results in a sort of pseudo-representation; it’s hidden enough to be tolerable or ignored by those who find it offensive, but just barely shown enough for queer people to find something to get invested in.
As you might imagine, this can seem like bad storytelling if you’re actually paying attention to these queer-coded scenes in the context of the whole film, or analyzing the characters in depth. They don’t really make sense in the general story since they are never addressed or confirmed in the canonical plot. Often, characters made solely to be queer-coded are highly stereotyped and aren’t fully developed. Nevertheless, as a queer viewer, these scenes and characters still get me very invested in the story. It’s just plain fun to imagine a story like yours onto popular Disney characters, and to pretend that Disney would ever feature someone like you on the big screen. But it’s not as fun and certainly not as validating as actually seeing yourself represented as a whole human; an experience the LGBTQ+ community has yet to get from Disney.
The queer subtext of today evolved from the queer-coded villains of the 20th century, which were created to comply with the Hays Code: a set of rules created by the film industry that restricted what could be shown in films between the 1930s-60s. From the first listed principle in the code, we get the message that they wanted no sympathy for queerness on the big screen: “sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil, or sin.” And as most of us know, being gay was considered one of the most heinous sins in the 30s.
Because of this code, Disney’s queer subtext used to be exclusively shown in villains, as this allowed them to criminalize queerness rather than making the audience sympathize with it. A lot of us know that Ursula, Maleficent, Jafar, Captain Hook and lots of other Disney villains from the 1930s to the 1990s are heavily queer-coded because they show styles, mannerisms, or personality traits that are stereotyped as “queer.” For example, Ursula’s design was based on the real-life drag queen Divine, and so her makeup resembles the exaggerated, bold styles of drag makeup.
Side by side view of Ursula and her inspiration, the drag queen Divine
The heroic counterparts to these villains, on the other hand, are the epitome of heterosexual, white, cisgender culture. Ariel of the Little Mermaid shows stereotypes of straight women (long, straight hair, pink dress), and she wants the typical heterosexual relationship and lifestyle (marry a prince, have kids, etc). Ursula features lesbian stereotypes (short hair, dark clothes) and is trying to gain power and autonomy; she couldn't care less about finding a husband or the “typical” lifestyle. By making Ariel the heroine and Ursula the villain, Disney both exacerbated stereotypes and implied that straight women and the typical “straight lifestyle” are “better” than queer women or an alternative lifestyle. Disney took all these queer stereotypes and shoved them into a character, and then instead of celebrating those parts of her, they made her the villain of a hugely popular movie. Queer-coded villains directly villainize queer people, as they associate these stereotypically “queer” attributes with being evil and villainous and creepy, and the plot of the film makes us root against them.
Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) and Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmations) are two more examples of queer-coded villains; Maleficent is queer-coded because of her “unfemininely” harsh personality and masculine silhouette, and Cruella is queer-coded because of her strong opposition to the classic heterosexual nuclear family (she hates babies and is a spinster). These two queer-coded villains have both gotten recent live-action remakes in which we are meant to feel sympathy for them, and their villainous deeds are justified by traumatic backstories. But even though they are now the protagonists of their own films, Disney still fails to acknowledge the fact that these characters are queer-coded, or to maybe make them actually queer. This again insinuates that Disney finds queerness unforgivable, or that’s at least the mindset that they show in their mainstream films.
Disney’s queer subtext has expanded from exclusively villains to pretty much any kind of character, but it’s more subtle and even more fake. Nowadays, it’s the phony representation, made to get queer people invested, that is most common. Now there are more examples of queer subtext, since it’s not just limited to the characteristics of the villains.
A major example of a character with queer subtext is Elsa, the protagonist in the hit film Frozen, whose possible queerness has been debated in the fandom since the first film came out. Growing up, Elsa is forced to hide an integral part of her identity (in her case, her ice magic) due to pressure from her parents. When she finally lets go of pretending and stops hiding her powers, in the hit song “Let it Go”(1), she sings about how she is letting go of the pressure to hide that aspect of herself, and that is when she truly blossoms.
This character arc is familiar to many queer viewers, as it resembles the coming out journey, even if Disney didn’t intend it. Lots of people thought maybe in Frozen 2 that Disney would make Elsa their first ever queer protagonist, but they didn’t. The queer subtext came across more intentional in the sequel than the first film, with Elsa having a heart-to-heart conversation with a new female character that, through subtext, comes across a bit romantic (2), but it’s still just subtext, not representation.
There are a few canonically queer Disney characters in some Disney Channel shows, since most of those shows are geared towards teenagers rather than shows that conservative people would show their kids. Some examples are Seb and Carlos, a romantic couple from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a modernized version of the 2000s High School Musical film trilogy (3). I think the series does a good job of portraying a mostly not stereotyped gay couple, but Seb and Carlos’s stories still aren’t given as much screen time or importance as those of the heterosexual couples in the show. Andi Mack, a slightly older Disney Channel show, featured the first Disney character to say the words “I’m gay,” (4) but that character was still just a side character.
Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) and Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmations) are two more examples of queer-coded villains; Maleficent is queer-coded because of her “unfemininely” harsh personality and masculine silhouette, and Cruella is queer-coded because of her strong opposition to the classic heterosexual nuclear family (she hates babies and is a spinster). These two queer-coded villains have both gotten recent live-action remakes in which we are meant to feel sympathy for them, and their villainous deeds are justified by traumatic backstories. But even though they are now the protagonists of their own films, Disney still fails to acknowledge the fact that these characters are queer-coded, or to maybe make them actually queer. This again insinuates that Disney finds queerness unforgivable, or that’s at least the mindset that they show in their mainstream films.
Disney’s queer subtext has expanded from exclusively villains to pretty much any kind of character, but it’s more subtle and even more fake. Nowadays, it’s the phony representation, made to get queer people invested, that is most common. Now there are more examples of queer subtext, since it’s not just limited to the characteristics of the villains.
A major example of a character with queer subtext is Elsa, the protagonist in the hit film Frozen, whose possible queerness has been debated in the fandom since the first film came out. Growing up, Elsa is forced to hide an integral part of her identity (in her case, her ice magic) due to pressure from her parents. When she finally lets go of pretending and stops hiding her powers, in the hit song “Let it Go”(1), she sings about how she is letting go of the pressure to hide that aspect of herself, and that is when she truly blossoms.
This character arc is familiar to many queer viewers, as it resembles the coming out journey, even if Disney didn’t intend it. Lots of people thought maybe in Frozen 2 that Disney would make Elsa their first ever queer protagonist, but they didn’t. The queer subtext came across more intentional in the sequel than the first film, with Elsa having a heart-to-heart conversation with a new female character that, through subtext, comes across a bit romantic (2), but it’s still just subtext, not representation.
There are a few canonically queer Disney characters in some Disney Channel shows, since most of those shows are geared towards teenagers rather than shows that conservative people would show their kids. Some examples are Seb and Carlos, a romantic couple from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a modernized version of the 2000s High School Musical film trilogy (3). I think the series does a good job of portraying a mostly not stereotyped gay couple, but Seb and Carlos’s stories still aren’t given as much screen time or importance as those of the heterosexual couples in the show. Andi Mack, a slightly older Disney Channel show, featured the first Disney character to say the words “I’m gay,” (4) but that character was still just a side character.
Seb & Carlos make history as the first gay Disney kiss from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Unlike other Disney content, Disney Channel is doing at least the bare minimum for LGBTQ+ representation. However, there are still examples of queer subtext being used as the primary queer representation in their shows and movies. For example, the Disney Channel film trilogy, Descendants, contains queer subtext. The popular films follow four children of classic Disney villains as they are given a chance at a better life when they move from the island where all the villains were banished to the modern kingdom where all the heroes and their children live. Many fans pair the two primary female characters, Mal (the daughter of Maleficent) and Evie (the daughter of the Evil Queen) in a romantic “ship” (coincidentally their villainous parents are queer-coded in their own films). The two share a deep bond in all three films, but it remains strictly friendship throughout the plot, though they share some moments that are queer-coded. In the second film, Evie and Mal sing a duet about their friendship that shows how much they care about each other. This was likely a move that Disney Channel made to satisfy what the queer fandom wanted, but was still just subtext. During the song, the two go face-to-face and come very close to what queer viewers might see as an almost kiss (5), a common queer subtext device. These two characters are the only ones to share an intimate, emotional duet throughout the trilogy, despite the fact that both Mal and Evie have canonical boyfriends. Despite all of this, the two remain deep in the friend zone throughout the franchise, no matter how much the fandom ships them in a romantic way.
Evie and Mal’s “almost kiss” in their emotional duet, “Space Between,” from Descendants 2
Probably the biggest example of a queer-coded Disney Channel character is Ryan Evans from the original High School Musical series. He has characteristics that are typically stereotyped as being “gay,” such as being interested in fashion and being both a dramatist and a thespian. Kenny Ortega, the director of the film trilogy, confirmed that Ryan Evans is gay in a 2020 interview, even though it was never confirmed in the films. Ortega, a gay person himself, wanted to confirm it in the films, but he didn’t think Disney would be ready to “cross that line yet.”
So, instead, Ortega used queer subtext: “I just took it upon myself to make choices that I felt that those who were watching would grab. They would see it, they would feel it, they would know it and they would identify with it,” Ortega said in the 2020 interview. Unfortunately, the way he “hinted” at Ryan’s sexuality relied heavily on stereotypes about gay men, since the reason he’s queer-coded is that he is dramatic and fashionable. Ryan is not a whole person; he’s just a stereotype. Despite being gay in the mind of the director, in the final movie, Ryan is somewhat out-of-nowhere paired up with Kelsi, the “nerdy” theater girl who wrote the play in the first film. It’s good that Ortega confirmed Ryan as gay later on, but in the context of the film, it’s still only subtext.
So, instead, Ortega used queer subtext: “I just took it upon myself to make choices that I felt that those who were watching would grab. They would see it, they would feel it, they would know it and they would identify with it,” Ortega said in the 2020 interview. Unfortunately, the way he “hinted” at Ryan’s sexuality relied heavily on stereotypes about gay men, since the reason he’s queer-coded is that he is dramatic and fashionable. Ryan is not a whole person; he’s just a stereotype. Despite being gay in the mind of the director, in the final movie, Ryan is somewhat out-of-nowhere paired up with Kelsi, the “nerdy” theater girl who wrote the play in the first film. It’s good that Ortega confirmed Ryan as gay later on, but in the context of the film, it’s still only subtext.
Ryan Evans in High School Musical
The queer subtext that Disney uses as “representation” is not actual representation: it’s little hints deep in subtext that only appear queer if you look for it. It leaves queer viewers wanting for more, imagining and obsessing over the possible queer-ness of these characters. It gets us invested in the story so we spend money on movie tickets and get involved in supporting the franchise. We come back for the sequel, hoping maybe this time Disney will come through with some real representation, just to be disappointed again by the ambiguous heterosexuality of these characters.
Queer-coding relies on and exacerbates harmful stereotypes about the LGBTQ+ community, such as “all gay men wear makeup and are femme” or “all lesbians have short hair and are butch.” There’s obviously nothing wrong with fitting a stereotype, but when that’s all that’s represented as “queer” in media, it becomes an issue. Being queer doesn’t make you automatically act or dress one way, and it’s not a person’s entire identity.
Queer subtext as a supplement for real representation hides the validity, complexity, and beauty of LGBTQ+ stories. It implies that our stories aren’t as important or worthwhile to tell as those of heterosexual people, and that queer characters can’t be good role models for young children. Queer subtext isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it becomes an issue when the largest film company in the world uses it as its only LGBTQ+ representation in the vast majority of their media. Queer “representation” in Disney content has come a long way, but it’s still problematic. It’s turned from queer-coded villains to possibly gay side characters, but in only a few cases it’s more than just subtext.
Disney has a lot of social and cultural power, and they are exacerbating homophobia by depriving the public of real, good representation of LGBTQ+ people. Queerness still often remains “unspeakable” when it comes to children, suggesting that it’s not “family friendly” enough for kids. The recent Florida “Don’t Say Gay” bill that bans discussion of LGBTQ+ issues from grades K-3 classrooms shows that this is true. To the general public and in media, being queer is still not considered “family friendly.”
Society and media still finds a straight “true love’s kiss” more innocent than a gay one, when really all love should be celebrated. This might have changed by now if Disney, the biggest children’s media company in the world, had made the move to integrate queer characters into their children’s content. It would show children that it’s okay and amazing to be queer, and show parents that being queer isn’t immoral; it’s beautiful.
Disney keeps hiding behind stereotyped, cash-grab queer characters and weak queer subtext instead of helping hundreds of children learn to love and accept themselves. This exacerbates the cycle of homophobia and stereotypes, which causes people to become internally homophobic against themselves as they grow up, a mindset that has to be painfully unlearned as they go through their teenage years and young adulthood. The content we consume as children greatly impacts how we see others, the world, and, most importantly, ourselves. All children and humans deserve to know that their stories are worthy of being told, and the clearest way to tell someone that is by actually telling their story. Imagine how much it would affect queer people if Disney featured a queer character as the protagonist, in which their identity is acknowledged and not villified or stereotyped. Imagine how much it would affect queer children to see someone like them get a happy ever after in a mainstream kids’ movie. It could change lives. Disney cares more about money than the wellbeing of thousands of people. Is Disney becoming the real-life villain?
Scenes:
Spoiler warning for all these shows & movies
1. “Let It Go” (Elsa) - Frozen
2.“Elsa & Honeymaren - Singing Lullaby” - Frozen 2
3. "Cyrus's Truth" - Andi Mack
4. “Carlos Asks Seb to Homecoming” - High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
5. “Space Between” (Evie & Mal) - Descendants 2 (1:37 is the “almost kiss”)
6. “Ryan Evans in High School Musical being iconic” (Includes examples of his queer-coded scenes) - High School Musical trilogy
Queer-coding relies on and exacerbates harmful stereotypes about the LGBTQ+ community, such as “all gay men wear makeup and are femme” or “all lesbians have short hair and are butch.” There’s obviously nothing wrong with fitting a stereotype, but when that’s all that’s represented as “queer” in media, it becomes an issue. Being queer doesn’t make you automatically act or dress one way, and it’s not a person’s entire identity.
Queer subtext as a supplement for real representation hides the validity, complexity, and beauty of LGBTQ+ stories. It implies that our stories aren’t as important or worthwhile to tell as those of heterosexual people, and that queer characters can’t be good role models for young children. Queer subtext isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it becomes an issue when the largest film company in the world uses it as its only LGBTQ+ representation in the vast majority of their media. Queer “representation” in Disney content has come a long way, but it’s still problematic. It’s turned from queer-coded villains to possibly gay side characters, but in only a few cases it’s more than just subtext.
Disney has a lot of social and cultural power, and they are exacerbating homophobia by depriving the public of real, good representation of LGBTQ+ people. Queerness still often remains “unspeakable” when it comes to children, suggesting that it’s not “family friendly” enough for kids. The recent Florida “Don’t Say Gay” bill that bans discussion of LGBTQ+ issues from grades K-3 classrooms shows that this is true. To the general public and in media, being queer is still not considered “family friendly.”
Society and media still finds a straight “true love’s kiss” more innocent than a gay one, when really all love should be celebrated. This might have changed by now if Disney, the biggest children’s media company in the world, had made the move to integrate queer characters into their children’s content. It would show children that it’s okay and amazing to be queer, and show parents that being queer isn’t immoral; it’s beautiful.
Disney keeps hiding behind stereotyped, cash-grab queer characters and weak queer subtext instead of helping hundreds of children learn to love and accept themselves. This exacerbates the cycle of homophobia and stereotypes, which causes people to become internally homophobic against themselves as they grow up, a mindset that has to be painfully unlearned as they go through their teenage years and young adulthood. The content we consume as children greatly impacts how we see others, the world, and, most importantly, ourselves. All children and humans deserve to know that their stories are worthy of being told, and the clearest way to tell someone that is by actually telling their story. Imagine how much it would affect queer people if Disney featured a queer character as the protagonist, in which their identity is acknowledged and not villified or stereotyped. Imagine how much it would affect queer children to see someone like them get a happy ever after in a mainstream kids’ movie. It could change lives. Disney cares more about money than the wellbeing of thousands of people. Is Disney becoming the real-life villain?
Scenes:
Spoiler warning for all these shows & movies
1. “Let It Go” (Elsa) - Frozen
2.“Elsa & Honeymaren - Singing Lullaby” - Frozen 2
3. "Cyrus's Truth" - Andi Mack
4. “Carlos Asks Seb to Homecoming” - High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
5. “Space Between” (Evie & Mal) - Descendants 2 (1:37 is the “almost kiss”)
6. “Ryan Evans in High School Musical being iconic” (Includes examples of his queer-coded scenes) - High School Musical trilogy
