The story arc was removed

Dec 21st, 2024 | By Ophelia Benson
Category: Notes and Comment Blog

Disney decides not to tell children there are people who are the sex they’re not.

Pixar’s original animated series Win or Lose will no longer include a transgender storyline in a later episode, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The series follows a co-ed middle school softball team named the Pickles in the week leading up to their championship game. Each of the eight episodes center on the off-the-field life of a character and their point of view, whether it be a player, a parent, a coach or an umpire.

A spokesperson for Disney confirmed that the story arc was removed and provided the following statement to THR: “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”

Gosh, you think? How many parents don’t want Hollywood teaching their children that some lucky kids have Magic Gender?

Disney has continued to feature LGBTQ+ content in its more adult-focused fare, notably Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along, Searchlight Pictures’ All of Us Strangers, Next Goal Wins and Fire Island, and FX’s Pose, among others.

It’s not about “LGBTQ+” content, you buffoons, it’s about the nonsense that is magic gender. Lesbian and gay are not the same thing as magic gender. Use your brain.

5 Responses to “The story arc was removed”

#1
twiliter
December 21, 2024 at 11:22 am

Yes, let’s not normalize this in kid’s programming for sure, but really, why the saturation in adult programming? This nefarious ideology has been promoted far too much, and even adults, if they’re not paying attention, or have poor critical thinking skills, are having this garbage subliminally soaked into their psyches. This diseased, misogynistic and anti-gay ideology is getting airtime everywhere. I’m glad I don’t have a TV anymore, but when I do see TV programs somewhere or other, it seems like ads or shows that contain trans content pop up pretty often. For such a miniscule segment of the population, the representation is completely out of proportion. What passes for “entertainment” nowadays… I don’t get it.
#2
Mosnae
December 21, 2024 at 3:28 pm

Although I’m far from opposed to this decision, I’m somewhat worried about what might have motivated it. Namely, was Disney fearful of backlash from the far-right? It’s not great news if they avoid endorsing one stupid ideology in order to comply with another.
#3
Sackbut
December 21, 2024 at 4:36 pm

Matt Osborne speculates at The Distance why Disney is going in this direction. In a nutshell, audiences aren’t going for it.

I was mistaken, the segment that mentions gender identity is not an entire storyline, it’s just the one scene, now removed.

The Pickles, a co-ed middle school softball team portrayed in the upcoming Disney+ streaming series by Pixar, will not include a transgender player, after all. A later episode of the new show Win or Lose, which is scheduled to premiere in February, was changed “several months ago” due to concern about parental blowback.

“When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline,” a Disney spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter. While the character is still in the show, “a few lines of dialogue that referenced gender identity are being removed.”

…

Meanwhile, [Disney CEO Bob] Iger’s biggest bet — that Disney+ would become the key future revenue generator for the company — cost billions in overproduction. Iger says that Disney+ will finally turn a billion-dollar profit next year. If he is right, it will be the result of belated decisions he has made to reverse course on ‘woke’ content in general and all things ‘transgender’ in particular. It surely won’t be Disney+ original programming. By far, the most popular show on the platform is Bluey, a non-Disney property streaming under license.

Iger’s learning curve was expensive. The Acolyte, supposedly a Star Wars series, featured campy lesbian space witches immaculately conceiving children and chanting hilarious mantras. Promoted by its own creators as “the gayest Star Wars ever,” the streaming show was universally panned by the end of its run. Season 2 was canceled soon after. Agatha All Along, celebrated in advance for being the gayest Marvel show ever, repelled audiences with its cringe level.

The belated decision to remove references to transgender identification from Win or Lose took place in the context of woke going broke, as audiences rejected alphabetical political agends injected into their entertainment. But this does not register in ‘access media’ outlets yet. Predictably, Deadline Hollywood turned to Chanel Stewart, the 18-year-old transgender-identified male voice actor who was recruited for the role four years ago, to express his disappointment.

“I was very disheartened,” Stewart said. “From the moment I got the script, I was excited to share my journey to help empower other trans youth. I knew this would be a very important conversation. Trans stories matter, and they deserve to be heard.” Never mind the audience that wants good stories, as long as “trans stories” get told. According to his own story, Stewart is “a part of queer history” simply by showing up. “It’s just that my character would now be a cis girl, a straight cis girl.” Boring!

Stewart’s mother shares his disappointment. “Everyone deserves to be recognized,” she says. The change to the Pickles lineup “felt like it was just another setback for the LGBTQ community, because it’s very hard on transgender teenagers” such as her castrati son. His story is more important than telling a good story. Teamwork, fair play, and other wholesome values are less important than queer identity messages.

The Win or Lose nontroversy comes a month after a similar story that Disney had shelved “The Gatekeeper,” an episode of Marvel’s Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur, that reportedly focused “on a transgender character and themes.” Perhaps it was even the same Disney spokesperson who said: “We have a level of care that we take very seriously, and we are respectful of the role parents play in making choices for their children, and having discussions on their own timeline.”

Like Win or Lose, the shelved episode features a sporting event. However, instead of a co-ed softball league — a perfectly acceptable venue for transgender players — Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur centers a “trans girl” (read: a boy) preparing to compete in a girls’ single-sex volleyball game. “A coach from an opposing team tries to stop her from playing, but Moon Girl and her friends help Brooklyn stand up to the coach and play volleyball,” KidScreen reports. “The episode is very explicit in its LGBTQ+ themes around inclusion, from its handling of Brooklyn’s identity to the use of different pronouns.” Transgender actor Indya Moore provided the voice of Brooklyn, who wears Pride-themed kneepads.

Pixar employees were at the forefront of Disney’s hard left turn in 2022. “We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” according to a letter from a group purporting to represent LGBTQIA+ employees. “Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.” Imagine that, Disney executives not wanting to inject adult issues into their programming for kids, or pick a fight with parents over controversial content.

Woke simply went broke. At Iger’s behest, Pixar announced the biggest layoffs in company history this May, reducing their overall output while putting 14 percent of their workforce on the unemployment line. Released this August, Inside Out 2 finally broke a string of five feature flops in a row by the animation studio. Turning Disney around will take years, but the turnaround is in progress.
#4
Blood Knight in Sour Armor
December 21, 2024 at 4:47 pm

Definitely smells a bit like capitulation; if market forces are the reason all to the good.

Really don’t feel good about “Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest “; that’s not an “adult issue” nor should it be “controversial content”. If it ain’t the weird shit it’s just backsliding.
#5
Your Name's not Bruce?
December 21, 2024 at 5:22 pm

Let’s translate further:

…Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur centers a “trans girl” (read: a boy) preparing to ~~compete~~ cheat in a girls’ single-sex volleyball game. “A coach from an opposing team tries to protect the girls on his team and stop ~~her~~ him from ~~playing~~ cheating, but Moon Girl and her friends ~~help~~ conspire with Brooklyn ~~stand up to~~ gang up on, bully, and villify the coach, break the rules ~~and play volleyball~~ so he can cheat against the girls.” KidScreen reports. “The episode is ~~very explicit~~ completely brazen and shamelss in its ~~LGBTQ+ themes~~ trans forced teaming around ~~inclusion,~~ violating boundaries and cheating, from its handling of Brooklyn’s ~~identity~~ unheathy delusion, the inherent homophobia and sex denial to the ~~use of different~~ demand for incorrect pronouns and the enforcement of compelled speech.”