Disney show features first Christian character in 20 years, nixes trans character

Is Disney losing the woke and making room for Christian expression? It certainly appears so, from one show at least.

Win or Lose, a Pixar eight-part series that debuted on Disney+ last month, features Disney’s first openly Christian character in nearly two decades. 

The Inside Out-styled series features one character per episode, with their inner thoughts and emotions being revealed. 

In the debut episode, Laurie, a 12-year-old middle school softball player, prays “Dear Heavenly Father” before a game, asking for help catching the ball and getting a hit. She also vows to be good and to not “do that thing again,” a reference to a possible sin. 

It’s the first time Disney has portrayed a specifically Christian character since the 2007 film Bridge to Terabithia, and it may be the first Christian prayer since The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), the Christian Post reported. 

Hunchback featured the song God Help the Outcasts, which contains the lyrics “God help the outcasts, hungry from birth. Show them the mercy they don’t find on earth. God help my people; we look to You still. God help the outcasts or nobody will.” 

But not everything in the episode, or the series, is Christian. In a later scene, Laurie’s mom is seen reading tarot cards to try and guess some big news from Laurie, the Post reports. Laurie calls one of the cards “morbid.” 

Episode seven features Kai, who was supposed to be transgender but is now portrayed as a naturally gendered 14-year-old girl.  

Disney announced that change in December, the same time it issued a statement saying it respected that parents might want to talk about gender topics with their children at their own discretion, rather than having the film bring it up for them. 

These changes have brought criticism from some LGBTQ groups, who have accused the entertainment company of everything from going conservative to bowing to President Trump, who has openly opposed DEI. 

Disney displayed its first openly gay character, Lefou, in 2017’s live action Beauty and the Beast, leading Billy Graham’s son Franklin to call for a boycott.  

The media giant upped the ante in 2022’s Lightyear with a same-sex kiss, a move that caused the film to flop and brought significant backlash from the conservative community and pro-family advocates. Strange World the next year also flopped. 

Production notes for Win or Lose say Laurie was based on director Carrie Hobson’s experiences from childhood, although it doesn’t mention the religious angle. 

“Laurie is worried that everyone is unhappy with her and judging her – especially her own dad,” Hobson says. “Her breathing’s a little labored and she’s a bit clumsy, but she’s convinced herself that if she works hard enough good things will happen.”