Disney’s ‘Strange World’ Embodies Strange New World
It’s been quite the year for Disney. The media conglomerate no longer hides its social conditioning aims. Disney executives have recently spoken about their desire to tell “queer stories” full of “gender-nonconforming characters.” Lightyear was a watershed moment in this ambition. But Lightyear was subtle compared to Strange World, the first Disney children’s movie to feature an openly gay lead character. The character in question, Ethan Clade (voiced by gay comic Jaboukie Young-White), is the son of a farmer, Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal), and the grandson of an explorer, Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid). The Clades reside in the fantastical world Avalonia, where a natural resource called Pando is harvested for farming and technology. The film’s convoluted plot is hard to summarize, but Ethan’s homosexuality plays no small part, as a romance buds early in the film with another teen boy, Diazo (Jonathan Melo). It’s a flirtation Ethan’s parents and grandfather encourage, and the filmmaker