By Meghan Serceki
While we stayed home in 2020, Disney Channel producer Dana Terrace premiered her series, “The Owl House.” Now in its second season, it has been lauded for its representation of LGBTQ+ characters.
The show follows main character Luz Noceda as she stumbles upon a portal that transports her to the “Boiling Isles.” It’s a land of magic and imagination where Luz feels she can fit in by being a “weirdo.” Fellow weirdo Eda The Owl Lady takes her on as a witch’s apprentice, and Luz spends the summer going on adventures, forming friendships, and growing comfortable with who she is.
The Boiling Isles appears grotesque at first and is described as “the demon realm,” but it soon becomes clear that despite its issues it has some real advantages over the human world — namely, the absence of homophobia.
Because of this, queer characters in “The Owl House” have rare, real, and groundbreaking opportunities for visibility.
When Luz Noceda meets witch Amity Blight, the two get off to a rocky start. Soon, though, they bond over their favorite book series, “The Good Witch Azura,” and they begin to fall for each other.
Disney Channel having its first bisexual lead is noteworthy in itself, but what’s more is how natural they make the situation. When the two begin crushing on each other, that’s exactly what it is: a crush. They’re young. Unsure. It’s awkward. But there’s no added layer of shame over the gender of their crush.
If they were in the human realm, this crush might have turned into its own plot entirely. In other shows, directors could have felt that having a queer love interest (especially between two young characters who likely haven’t experienced it before) would necessitate some kind of explanation.
There might have been an added layer of discomfort over it being a lesbian relationship. There might have been an episode where Luz comes out and navigates the fallout. Instead, the two admit they have a crush on each other, begin publicly dating, and no one asks questions or shames them for it.
They might feel like “weirdos,” but their sexuality isn’t something that has to contribute to that. And being a weirdo isn’t a bad thing, either!
If this queer romance wasn’t enough to win over viewers, Season Two also introduces Raine Whistler, a nonbinary bard witch who uses they/them pronouns. Even the term “witch” is ungendered in the Boiling Isles, and people seem to openly and naturally accept Raine’s gender identity.
In fact, the show deals with it so easily and tactfully that some viewers may not notice that Raine isn’t cisgender right away if at all. There isn’t a scene where someone misgenders Raine and is corrected, or where Raine has to explain what it means to be nonbinary. The only indications are Raine’s androgynous appearance and others’ consistent use of they/them pronouns.
In the human world today, it’s not likely that two girls could publicly date without having to come out to someone, or that a nonbinary individual could go about their life without being misgendered. But it’s something to work towards.
There’s been an increase of queer visibility in the media, but most of these deal with specifically queer issues, with finding comfort in one’s queerness. “The Owl House” allows characters to be unapologetically queer and to focus instead on finding themselves as a whole human (or witch) being.
“The Owl House” will be discontinued after its third season, and while it may be too late to reverse Disney’s decision, we can continue to support the show and demand more positive representation in the future.