Mary Jordan Siebert (rvamary)

I am opting not to read the other reviews of this movie as I have a feeling that will only serve to rile me up. I haven't been to a movie in the theatre in a long time since there is such access on streaming services. This is why I spring for Disney+ and so many other subscriptions. I think that most of us would agree that this is the new 'cable bill'. Anyway, I waited patiently for Strange World to release on Disney+ and almost broke down to go to the theatre. I am now wishing I had gone to the theatre since it did so poorly in the box office and I would have liked to support this movie more. This, I would have paid for. I wish they had marketed the film better so that it would have done better. And I think that it would have. I would like to think that most people would not have been put off by the first openly gay character in a Disney animated feature. Not only is he gay, but he is also a bi-racial nerd. Not the stereotypical portrayal of an adolescent with black heritage (I don't know that I could use African American since this world was not set in America). The community created in the film did not appear to have the same social bias that our society does. *Spoiler Alert* When the grandfather meets his grandson for the first time after being thought dead for 25 years, he asks him if he has 'someone special' in his life...and his grandson answers, telling him about his interest in another boy whose name I cannot remember right now (I am terrible about name recollection, especially from movies and books). I steeled myself for the reaction to this information and there was NONE. He was excited to hear that his grandson had someone he is interested in, that's it. He doesn't even bat an eye. This tells me that gay people in this world are a natural and accepted part of the fabric, and are treated just like people of other orientations. I was so jealous of this society having no sigma with sexual orientation. I also LOVE that Disney is allowing a wider representation in their films. I am really hoping that they don't use the box office response to this as an excuse to not allow this again. Because, let's be honest, our society doesn't look like those in most Disney films. In most films in general. Now, this is getting better, but the production houses are responsible for what we see on the screen, so in a way, this is a plea to them "Please continue to improve the representation in your movies!!!". Beyond this the story is good and the environment created was colorful and innovative. I would love to see what happened to Avalonia after the events portrayed in this movie. I have a feeling, though, that we won't since this one didn't do too well. Now, based on the rating for this, most people who are actually rating this do NOT agree with me. And that is fine. But the fact is that there is better representation in this film was more inclusive. That speaks to change, and people don't like change...it is scary. I am tired of hatred being the biggest motivator for so many people in our world and really, I feel sorry for someone whose life is controlled by such a negative and uncomfortable emotion. I am probably going to be lampooned for this, and I guess I have lost the ability to give any of the, well, you get it (and if you don't, don't worry about it). The bottom line is, I do not care to let fear of that control what I do in this moment.