Strange World

A legendary family of explorers find themselves in a strange land with strange creatures. In order to survive the myriad dangers and make it home again, they must rediscover the bonds that make them a family, and reforge their trust in one another.

Once word managed to filter up the Executive Chain at the Disney offices that their next family-friendly animated adventure romp was actually an incredibly diverse film, one that featured an openly gay biracial character whose identity was not a source of conflict, they quietly dumped it, despite the fact the film still centered on a father/son pair of white, cis-gendered, heterosexual males. As a result, Strange World was barely marketed, and its inevitable “failure” at the box office was openly celebrated by the worst assholes as proof that inclusivity is not just dumb, but a poor financial risk.

Same shit, different day in Amerikkka, right?

So, the story of the film goes like something this…

While on a dangerous expedition to find safe passage through the impossibly tall mountain range that rings their country, explorer Jaeger Clade abandons his son, Searcher, for his quest. Searcher returns home, alone and broken-hearted, but also with a strange electrical plant he names Pando, a plant he then uses to revolutionize their civilization. But now, twenty-five years later, the Pando plants are dying, which threatens their entire society, so Searcher, his wife Meridian, and his teenage son Ethan, must go on a quest to find out why, and how to fix it. It’s a path filled with surprising twists, a path that leads them back into the dangers of the mountains, and beyond, back into the legacy of his long-lost father, and ultimately to a place where everyone learns a little bit about themselves… and each other.

Strange World is about family, obviously, but it’s also about how the world is changing, and that we have to change with it, all with a Jules Verne “Journey to the Center of the Earth” steampunk-ish fantasy, with a bit of indigenous creation myth, thrown in for good measure.

And… it’s fine.

Nothing terrible, but nothing really great either. It’s just… fine. Fine, and honestly, pretty familiar. It’s bright, bold, and new, but mostly only in the way that the familiar elements are presented. The characters are cute, the story is fun, but in the end, it’s just not all that memorable. It’s a decent effort for your average Disney animated film that isn’t a musical, good enough for a Sunday Matinee.

Now, some people out there are gonna moan that this film is too “deliberately diverse” and by some people, I’m probably talking about you, right?

Probably.

Well, I hate to break it to you, pal, but that’s your racism showing. I know, I know… not you, right? You’re a good person, right? But the thing is… you said it, because you thought it, and now it’s too late, the milk’s been spilled, the horse is out of the barn, and the Confederate Flag Tramp Stamp has been seen. You’re embarrassed. Your face is all hot and red. You’re angry. You’re hurt. Now you’re being unfairly vilified, right? That’s not who you are, right? You didn’t mean it like that, right?

Yeah, but the problem with all that is… you may think you didn’t mean it like that, but you did. You did. That’s the problem that so many (white) people need to confront and recognize within themselves, because we do mean it. We mean it because that’s how we were all raised. That knee-jerk, presumptive racism is such a deeply entangled part of our culture, so strong, so fundamental, it’s easy to go most of your life without ever noticing just how much these kinds of beliefs shape your worldview… at least, that is, until you’re forced to confront them, until you are forced to start recognizing them.

So yeah… we need to confront that shit, all the time, every time, even with nonsense, unimportant things like a crappy little forgettable Disney animated film, and we need to do this so that we become more aware of it, because once that happens, it’s possible to change. Once that happens, we can maybe become better people.

Or y’know… don’t bother.

That’s up to you, but if that’s your choice, you should embrace it. You might as well, because the rest of us see who you are pretty clearly.