Disney and Pixar, for the most part, have had incredible success with their 3Danimated movies, going all the way back to the firstToy Storyand up through last year’s Oscar winnerInside Out. The studio has also not been shy about making social commentary either, withWALL-Egarnering a ton of critical acclaim for its message and the way it was handled. Well, if some recent speculation is to be believed, it looks like the animation studio may be about to do something fairly bold with their next release,Finding Dory.
The latest trailer forFinding Nemo 2dropped recently and once people got over having all of the feels about it, they notice something. In the trailer, there is a scene where Hank the Octopus, voiced by none other than Al Bundy himselfEd O’Neill, dressed as a baby in a carriage. While in the carriage, a couple comes up to interact with Hank. As it turns out, both of the people who make up that couple happen to be females, and this has led many to speculate that the pair are in fact intended to be a lesbian couple.
Pixar has never been shy about including adult themes and humor in their very kid friendly movies, so something like this doesn’t seem that far off base, especially since it seems like the couple won’t be in more than a scene or two in the movie. However, the subject of featuring gay or lesbian characters prominently in movies and TV is still one that causes a lot of controversy, even in the age of gay marriage being legal in the U.S. So this would be a pretty bold move for Disney should it come to light that the couple is in fact intended to be a lesbian couple inFinding Dory.
Recently, Disney has been under tremendous social pressure to includeLGBT charactersinto some of their biggest properties. A campaign surfaced last week on Twitter to #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend, only shortly afterFrozenstarIdina Menzelendorsed a similar social media campaign for the studio to #GiveElsaAGirlfriend inFrozen 2. Also, it wouldn’t necessarily hurt give thatEllen Degeneresis reprising her role as the film’s title character and is herself and LGBT activist and an open and proud lesbian.
“I think it’s great that she’s stirring it up. Disney’s just gotta contend with that. I’ll let them figure that out. No matter what, (Elsa) changed my life.”
The originalFinding Nemowas an absolute smash at the box office, bringing in more than $930 million worldwide. The speculation about the lesbian couple in the latest trailer will only help to build buzz for the film, but could wind up alienating some of the potential audience. That remains to be seen. you’re able to check out some of the reactions to this speculation from Twitter below.Finding Dorycomes out on June 17.
