Disney debuts Pixar’s first-ever non-binary character in new film Elemental

Elemental, the new film from Disney Pixar, introduces the studio’s first non-binary character.

The animated picture is set in Element City and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May before debuting in US theatres on Friday.

Residents of fire, water, land, and air all live together, but in different communities.

Elemental follows Ember (Leah Lewis), a ‘fiery’ young lady, and her new relationship with ‘go-with-the-flow’ guy Wade (Mamoudou Athie), which questions her ideas about the world they live in.

Lake Ripple is Wade’s younger brother in the film and utilises they/them pronouns.

Ava Hauser, a 22-year-old voice actor who identifies as non-binary, plays them.

As their character made history for the renowned animation studio, Ava took to Twitter to share the major news.

‘BIG ANNOUNCEMENT I got to play Pixar’s first non-binary character! Meet Lake!’ they wrote on the social media site, alongside a picture of their water-based character.

Ava continued: ‘I voice Lake in the new movie #Elemental! I’m seeing it in theaters tonight with my friends, so you can catch it in theaters too if you wanna see them.’

Pixar crowds animator Alyssa Ragni also shared Ava’s tweet, adding: ‘I’m also nonbinary and I got to animate Lake and their girlfriend a little in the movie! Definitely was highlight of working on the film.’

Another fan celebrated the news and wrote: ‘To any of my non-binary mutuals, happy pride month, Pixar made a character for y’all in their new movie, Elemental.

‘Which, it makes sense to have a water character be non-binary cuz they’re fluid, they can be whatever they want, be able to change any part of themselves.’

‘Okay but Lake sounds like a really sweet name and I’m already in love with them,’ posted a separate fan. ‘The film isn’t even out yet but I’d watch it just to see them.’

‘The fact they’re also the same age as me, I’m gonna feel so represented when I watch Elemental,’ shared another.

Other fans, though, were curious about other Pixar characters, particularly Francis the ladybird from 1998’s A Bug’s Life.

‘So we just gonna pretend like Francis never existed?’ asked one fan, while another stated: ‘Lake will never represent me as much as Francis did.’

The studio has lately unveiled a number of firsts in an effort to become more inclusive and truly reflect all of its fans worldwide.

Last year, Disney unveiled its first plus-sized heroine in dancer Bianca, the heroine of the short Reflect, which was part of season two of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ experimental short film series Short Circuit.

‘Seeing how people connect with the short is so special, especially because I put so much into it and so did so many members of the crew – they really invested a lot of their personal stories into this and so it’s been incredibly meaningful,’ director Hillary Bradfield said of the overwhelming positive response.

Strange World also included Disney’s first LGBTQ+ lead character, Ethan Clade, who is the grandson of famed explorer Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) and the son of the more quiet explorer-turned-farmer Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal).

In 2022, the new Baymax series on Disney Plus dedicated a whole episode to a girl’s first period as part of an educational approach to puberty.

This happened after the groundbreaking Disney-Pixar picture Turning Red was launched on the streaming site in March 2022, which similarly handled the issue of menstruation and sparked outrage in certain areas by being labelled “absolutely unsuitable for youngsters.”

Elemental hits UK cinemas on Friday July 7.

Source My Celebrity Life.