Hi, Erin here! Thoughts on the OUT trailer! Queer rep in Disney, good! But notice that, while the character is clearly "shown" to be gay, he doesn't actually say the word gay? He's interrupted by the doorbell. The reveal of his queerness is a tool. (thread) #DeconDisney https://twitter.com/DisneyPlusUK/status/1263473369804009472

The audience knows he's gay, that's the premise of the short, but I see the fact that they're not using the word gay, at least in the trailer, as functioning in several possible ways...

First, while while I believe Disney is trying to show its support for the queer community, they're also seemingly shying away from using the word gay at least in promotional material. They're playing both sides a bit. Also, they are using the character's queerness...

as part of the reveal. The short is at least marketed as a coming out story (as made obvious by the title) while many people are clamoring for the next step in queer stories, not just the process of coming out. By using the characters queerness as a reveal...

they are still hiding his queerness and using even the moment of him actualizing his identity by calling himself queer as a storytelling tool, rather than an accepted part of his identity. I 100% acknowledge that there are so many people out there still struggling...

with coming out, with actualizing their identity, and with difficult familial situations. But it frustrates me that Disney is making the character voicing his queer identity even to himself part of the reveal, not just the actual reveal of him telling his parents. Additionally...

it's possible this isn't a coming out story at all! And in that case, this is queer clickbait. What if we're supposed to think he's coming out to his parents, but in actuality he's engaged and hasn't told them about his boyfriend. If the "reveal" ends up being similar to that...

I'm expecting to be frustrated by Disney putting so much anxiety into the idea of coming out, only for us to discover the character is already out. That's potentially unnecessary trauma. Either way, I think this short is a bit behind the times-but considering Disney hasn't...

given us an undeniably queer leading character in a feature yet, that's not surprising. Disney may surprise us with this one if it doesn't do the things I'm anticipating (or if the trailer is clickbait but the short itself is thoughtful)...

Also of course it's a (seemingly) white family, and the character of color is the boyfriend, a supporting role. More palatable to a white/conservative audience - not pushing too many "agendas" at once.

I'm also assuming this short will be very sweet! Will I cry at this? Probably. And that's okay, you can enjoy something and see it's flaws and talk about both. I'll definitely report back once I've actually watched it (maybe get Rachel to share her thoughts too)...

And, of course, I already love the puppy and the Wheezy cameo very much.

If you cared about this thread at all, you might like our podcast, particularly episode 2 which is now live! https://deconstructing-disney.simplecast.com/episodes/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs