THE QUEERBAITING PRINCESSES: THE CASE OF RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON AND DISNEY’S CONSISTENCY IN MAINTAINING HETERONORMATIVITY

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate Disney Princess latest release of animated movie, Raya and the Last Dragon, which despite of its popularity has invited debates about its possible sexual inclusivity content. The movie is analyzed using queer theory in order to explore the idea whether sexual inclusivity is appropriately portrayed, or the inclusivity is only subtly suggested as a form of queerbaiting. The main source of the data is Disney’s animated movie Raya and the Last Dragon, while the secondary sources are previous studies discussing the movie and the portrayal of gender and sexuality in Disney Princess movies. The data is presented descriptively. The finding shows that the movie has suggested the existence of sexual inclusivity, by showing a promising non-heterosexual relationship; yet it is never visibly confirmed. This may have been Disney’s marketing technique to queerbait the LGBTQ+ community and continuing Disney’s long problematic history of preserving heteronormativity.