Voice Actor for ‘Elemental’ Non-Binary Character Targeted with Bigotry

Movie Nonbinary

2023-06-27
13:59

After a groundbreaking announcement from Disney Pixar on its first non-binary character in its latest film ‘Elemental’, the voice actor for the character was met with bigoted hate.

‘Elemental’ tells the story of Element City, where fire, water, land, and air residents live together. It revolves around Ember, a tough, quick-witted, and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.

Although a minor character, Disney Pixar introduced its first ever non-binary character, Lake Ripple, the younger sibling of one of the film’s main characters, Wade. Lake Ripple is voiced by also non-binary voice actor Kai Hauser who took to Twitter to announce and express their excitement.

While Lake Ripple was warmly welcomed by the queer community, it did not escape bigoted hate.

In an article by Pink News, a Twitter user said “Disney Pixar‘s latest film Elemental has a non-binary character who has a girlfriend and uses they/them pronouns. They just can’t stop shoving this down kids’ throats can they?” before claiming that “animators were smoking crack” when they designed Lake.

Another user said that Disney Pixar should “go back to entertaining instead of indoctrinating.”

Some also pointed out how Disney feels like “just pulling a ‘first queer’” moment, to which Hauser responded with understanding. “I understand the sentiment. It’s so hard for us to be treated in [the] media as something non-political vs just being people. But to me, getting to voice a nonbinary character — and one in such a big movie — was an honor. I count that as a win in my book,” they said.

‘Elemental’ is directed by Peter Sohn and stars Mamadou Athie as Wade and Leah Lewis as Ember. It draws on themes of xenophobia, migration, and love transcending differences.

‘Elemental’ is also the first movie from the studio to be released straight to theaters instead of Disney+ since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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