Kingdom Hearts & acknowledging LGBTQ+ content from Disney source material ReMIX

[Darkspawn]

This may have been known already, but Asha in Wish has seven friends inspired by the seven dwarfs. Their names even start with same letter as the dwarf they represent. From left to right:


Hal (Happy)
Simon (Sleepy)
Safi (Sneezy)
Gabo (Grumpy)
Asha
Dario (Dopey)
Dahlia (Doc)
Bazeema (Bashful)

Hal is voiced by Niko Vargas who is a non-binary performer. Maybe their character will be as well? Either way, it is awesome to have a NB voice artist in a Disney film!

 

[WaltK]

Hal is voiced by Niko Vargas who is a non-binary performer. Maybe their character will be as well? Either way, it is awesome to have a NB voice artist in a Disney film!

If he/she/they are, I hope it's handled better than it was in Elemental.

 

[Darkspawn]

If he/she/they are, I hope it's handled better than it was in Elemental.

Because the character in that was such a minor role or was there a different issue? I watched it recently but checked out during a few parts. I completely missed this character was in the movie, so that probably says enough.

 

[WaltK]

Because the character in that was such a minor role or was there a different issue? I watched it recently but checked out during a few parts. I completely missed this character was in the movie, so that probably says enough.

They were pretty minor, but also… are enbys who still go by gendered pronouns a thing?

 

[Clue.Less]

They were pretty minor, but also… are enbys who still go by gendered pronouns a thing?

Yes.

 

[WaltK]

Yes.

Oh.
Well then.
They weren't in it enough.

 

[Clue.Less]

Oh.
Well then.
They weren't in it enough.

Utada Hikaru is non-binary and uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, for instance.
But also, I haven't seen Elemental, so I don't know how it was portrayed in that movie.

 

[WaltK]

Lake is Wade's non-binary sibling who goes by she/her and has a girlfriend. She appears in a fifteen minute-or-so sequence where Wade takes Ember to meet his family.

I genuinely can't even remember if she had any lines beyond saying hello to Ember.

 

[Darkspawn]

They were pretty minor, but also… are enbys who still go by gendered pronouns a thing?

I think it is more common for gender-fluid identities, but can definitely be used by non-binary folks too. I just go with whatever they want to be referred to as. Some non-binary people may simply prefer to not change their pronouns from whatever they are used to. Or they could be a she/they or he/they.

In this case though, it seems it could have been an error in the script as the tie in books use they/them only for Lake. But it’s hard to say if the character could be fine with either or not.

Utada Hikaru is non-binary and uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, for instance.
But also, I haven't seen Elemental, so I don't know how it was portrayed in that movie.

You know, Utada obviously has made a significant impact on the franchise and I’d be interested to see if their coming out may influence the future of its characters at all. I know Kairi’s mainly only takes the hairstyle inspiration from Utada and I doubt SE has the balls to make Kairi non-binary. But maybe Xion or a new character in Quadratum that could also be inspired by Utada?

 

[Chie]

Mystery Utada should just appear as themself in Quadratum, doing a show or something. That seems perfect all around, right? Leaning hard into both "this is real life tokyo", Nomura's obsession with them, and the metafictional significance of the singer of the actual theme songs appearing in the story.

 

[Idreamaboutcats]

Mystery Utada should just appear as themself in Quadratum, doing a show or something. That seems perfect all around, right? Leaning hard into both "this is real life tokyo", Nomura's obsession with them, and the metafictional significance of the singer of the actual theme songs appearing in the story.

I think I saw a comic in the subreddit about that. Yozora was fanboying about meeting her while his driver and Sora was laughing at him or confused with a mix of disdain.

 

[Clue.Less]

Lake is Wade's non-binary sibling who goes by she/her and has a girlfriend. She appears in a fifteen minute-or-so sequence where Wade takes Ember to meet his family.

I genuinely can't even remember if she had any lines beyond saying hello to Ember.

That sounds... fine? How do you know they're non-binary then? Is it said in a dialogue line? Or on a t-shirt like in the Baymax series?

 

[Clue.Less]

You know, Utada obviously has made a significant impact on the franchise and I’d be interested to see if their coming out may influence the future of its characters at all. I know Kairi’s mainly only takes the hairstyle inspiration from Utada and I doubt SE has the balls to make Kairi non-binary. But maybe Xion or a new character in Quadratum that could also be inspired by Utada?

I kind of like my Kairi as the cis female love interest, but make her badass like in Re:Mind. Cis girls deserve good roles too.
I'd like Xion to remain a trans icon, and maybe Namine could be revealed as enby?

Though, the more I think of it, the more I like the idea of Kairi growing up to find that non-binary word like Utada did! That sounds very cool! And interesting in terms of Sora's romantic attractions.

 

[Darkspawn]

I kind of like my Kairi as the cis female love interest, but make her badass like in Re:Mind. Cis girls deserve good roles too.
I'd like Xion to remain a trans icon, and maybe Namine could be revealed as enby?

Though, the more I think of it, the more I like the idea of Kairi growing up to find that non-binary word like Utada did! That sounds very cool! And interesting in terms of Sora's romantic attractions.

Yeah I think a change with Kairi is unlikely, especially considering she is a Princess of Heart. Even though I would like it if they removed the gender requirement for that role. Maybe have the three princesses from KH3, three princes, and Kairi in the middle. (This could be a good fanfic.) But yeah zero expectations for anything like that and I’m all for her just stepping into a more prominent role as a cis woman too.

 

[WaltK]

That sounds... fine? How do you know they're non-binary then? Is it said in a dialogue line? Or on a t-shirt like in the Baymax series?

It's been the subject of countless online news bits.

https://screenrant.com/elemental-movie-lake-pixar-non-binary-character/

It's also implied in-universe by how Wade refers to her as just his sibling, in the same breath as referring to his brother as his brother.

And yes, it is fine. …but that's all it is. In the grand scheme of it all, it's Disney doing more or less the exact same thing they've been doing for the last few years; including LGBTQ+ rep in the form of a background or one-scene character, whose queerness is mentioned in a single throwaway line that would be easy to censor out, or is given an overly androgynous design that makes it easy for foreign dubs to change their gender if they wanted.

 

[KeybladeGuy]

I'm all for it, though considering how wishy-washy Disney is about including and promoting queer character - usually being characters who can easily be edited out, and not showing any queer romance on screen - only mentioning it through dialogue that can be dubbed over so the almighty Chinese market isn't offended, I'm not holding my breath. Come to think of it I can't even think of a named character in a Disney film that's been queer, though to be fair I very rarely watch their films nowadays.

I will admit I don't really want it for Sora or Kairi though, as they're my OTP and I think they're extra cute together.

Knowing Disney the first openly gay KH character will be like, the guy who turns into a Heartless in Traverse Town in the first game lmao