The new Disney-Pixar animated film “Onward,” which has main themes centering on wizardry and a magic “visitation spell” to temporarily conjure a father up from the dead, also features a line where a cyclops police officer — voiced by a homosexual screenwriter — subtly reveals to viewers that she is a lesbian.
“Onward” tells the story of two elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, who received a wizard’s staff gifted to them by their late father, Wilden, who died before Ian was born and when Barley was a small child. The staff comes with a spell that has the ability to bring him back for just 24 hours.
“Dear Ian and Barley, long ago, the world was full of magic. Over time, magic faded away, but I hope there’s a little magic left in you,” a letter from Wilden reads. “And so I wrote this spell so I could see who my boys grew up to be.”
However, in using the spell, Mr. Lightfoot only appears from the waist downward, and his sons scramble in finding out how to conjure him up in totality before the 24 hours expires.
According to Collider, director and screenwriter Dan Scanlon wrote the story based on his own loss of his father as an infant.
“When I was a year old, my father passed away. I don’t remember him and neither does my brother, who was three at the time,” he revealed at a D3 event. “I have always wondered who my father was, and that question became the blueprint for this movie.”
In addition to the theme of using sorcery to meet a deceased father, a number of outlets have noted that “Onward” features a character who subtly reveals her homosexuality.
In one scene, Officer Specter, a purple cyclops voiced by screenwriter and producer Lena Waithe (known for “Bones,” “Master of None” and “Dear White People”) and her law enforcement partner, Officer Gore, pull over a driver, who explains that he was distracted because his girlfriend’s children were acting up.
Specter then empathizes, stating, “My girlfriend’s daughter got me pulling my hair out.”
“It just kind of happened,” producer Kori Rae told Yahoo Entertainment of the line. “The scene, when we wrote it, was kind of fitting and it opens up the world a little bit, and that’s what we wanted.”
Scanlon likewise outlined, “It’s a modern fantasy world, and we want to represent the modern world.”
Waithe is a lesbian and had previously been “married” to another woman before separating two months later. In speaking to NPR in 2018, Waithe was asked if her lesbianism was a concern to her mother.
“Not really. It wasn’t a huge thing,” she replied. “Look, I always say that my family is made up of lazy Christians, and that’s because they believe and they taught me to believe, but they got to church when they could. But we definitely went every Easter.”
“They can’t quote the Bible to save their lives. It’s the reason why I can’t. I seriously — I cannot give you a Bible verse,” Waithe continued. “But I’m a huge believer in God, and Jesus Christ, and that God made me and all those things. And I try to just be a good person. I think that is the base of my religion — is to be good, is to be honest.”
As previously reported, Disney, known for its “Magic Kingdom,” has been recognized for decades for its focus on magic and sorcery, from its early production of “Fantasia” and “Snow White” to the more recent “Maleficent” and “Frozen.”
It has more recently also been inserting homosexuality into its television and film productions, from the subtle inclusion in its live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” to the more blatant depiction in the final season of “Andi Mack” and the same-sex kissing scene during its cartoon “Star vs. the Forces of Evil.”
Deuteronomy 8:9-13 reads, “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.”
“For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.”
Revelation 21:8 also warns of the coming final judgment, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Scripture states that God offers mercy in the here and now for those who would repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, outlining in Isaiah 65:2, “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.”
Become a Christian News Network Supporter...
Dear Reader, has ChristianNews.net been of benefit and a blessing to you? For many years now, the Lord has seen fit to use this small news outlet as a strong influential resource in keeping Christians informed on current events from a Biblical worldview. With much compromise and many falsehoods in modern-day Christianity, we strive to bring you the news by keeping Christ and His word in focus. If you have benefited from our news coverage, please prayerfully consider becoming a Christian News supporter by clicking here to make a one-time or monthly donation to help keep the truth of God's word widely and freely published and distributed. May Christ continue to be exalted through this work!
