Lenore and Prince Charming | Photo: YouTube/ONE Media
People on Twitter are calling out a new animated movie starring the vocal talents of Demi Lovato as anti-asexual and aromantic.
Charming comes from the producers of Shrek and tells the story, not of a princess, but a prince who’s under a curse.
So what’s the curse? Well, Prince Charming compulsively proposes to every woman he meets and they, in turn, fall in love with him. When Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella all find themselves engaged to the same man, he sets out to break his curse by marrying his True Love.
(There’s also definitely a shot of Disney’s Belle from Beauty and the Beast in the trailer.)
That’s where Lovato’s character, Lenore, comes in. She’s a baker and seems to be a cross-dresser (disappointing people who wanted the character to be trans or genderqueer) and she’s ‘incapable of love’. IMDB further describes Lenore as being after Prince Charming’s money.
Oof.
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A messy premise gets roasted
An extensive Twitter thread from user @AnaMardoll lays out the potential problems with a premise like this.
Namely, that Lenore seems primed to be a love interest and therefore her asexual/aromantic identity will be ‘fixed’ by falling in love with Prince Charming.
[Possible anti-ace/anti-aro bigotry? Not sure yet?]
Has anyone seen this trailer of Charming by the Shrek team? https://t.co/XEqc4gnR7O
— Ana Mardoll (@AnaMardoll) July 16, 2018
So I’m now really damn concerned that Lenore being “incapable” of love is something the movie will try to “fix”. Which would be anti-aro in the extreme.
— Ana Mardoll (@AnaMardoll) July 16, 2018
Xie further points out that aro and ace people can get married ‘for many reasons’ but isn’t sure, based on the trailer, this movie will do that justic.
I want to add, to be clear, that aro people and ace people absolutely can get married for many reasons (IMDB claims Lenore “wants him only for his money”, which………………………..) but that I’m unsure whether the Shrek team will do this with sensitivity.
— Ana Mardoll (@AnaMardoll) July 16, 2018
Other people also pointed out other concerns.
Namely, the film’s treatment of characters of color.
I hold out little hope for a movie that features the task of “survivng an unsurvivable attack and has what appears to be, well… pic.twitter.com/SCbCX3607N
— Sardonic the Hedgehog 🦔 (@GinnyLurcock) July 16, 2018
As well as John Cleese’s role.
I’m…also uh. Kinda concerned about this. John Cleese? Is that…is that John Cleese voicing a…fairy godmother? Is…uh. Um. What?? pic.twitter.com/NS4jzCUF5g
— Joss the Jealous (@Hexchosen23) July 16, 2018
There’s also the inherent heterocissexism that the Prince only proposes to (seemingly) cis, straight women.
Asexual and aromantic people are vastly underrepresented in media. People who identify as such wanting positive and authentic depictions of their identity is entirely valid.
Charming comes out in the US and UK later this year.
It features the voice cast of Lovato, Wilmer Valderrama, Sia, Avril Lavigne, Ashley Tisdale, G.E.M, and the aforementioned Cleese.
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