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How “Willow” rewrites the rules for fantasy arranged marriage

How “Willow” rewrites the rules for fantasy arranged marriage

How “Willow” rewrites the rules for fantasy arranged marriage

“Willow” rewrites the rules for fantasy

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  • The newest to defy the long-standing tradition of a man and a woman getting married is Willow, a new fantasy series available on Disney+.
  • In the popular television series Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark was compelled to wed twice.
  • Rhaenyra Targaryan is married to Laenor Valeryon, a secretly gay man, in the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon.
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 In its extensive library of fantasy movies, Disney has a long and illustrious history of including arranged marriages. We are all familiar with classics like Sleeping Beauty from 1959, in which Philip and Aurora were engaged from the moment Aurora was born. The classic pattern was also used in Aladdin (Jasmine and Jafar) and the Disney Pixar film Brave (Merida of DunBroch).

Disney’s perspective on pre-planned weddings has changed significantly over the past 70 years, and the changing streaming service is making this change more obvious than before. The newest to defy the long-standing tradition of a man and a woman getting married is Willow, a new fantasy series available on Disney+. In Willow, a prince and a princess are ready to get married in yet another arranged marriage, but unlike previous instances, this time the princess objects since she is genuinely in love with a different woman rather than another man.

In the beginning of Willow, it is made clear that Princess Kit’s (Ruby Cruz) mother, Queen Sorsha, planned her marriage to Prince Graydon Hastor (Tony Revlon) (Joanne Whalley). The only issue with that is that the tomboyish Kit yearns for someone else’s attention. Jade (Erin Kellyman), a novice knight assigned to defend the princess and the realm from outside attackers, is the person she truly loves. Their developing romance during the first few episodes is the latest in Disney’s exploration of arranged weddings and LGBT partnerships, a subject the family-friendly entertainment company had been reluctant to tackle until lately.

In fact, the popular Andor, which just finished its debut season on Disney+ and is now accessible to watch on Hulu, is one of the streaming giant’s recent offerings that has begun to explore LGBTQ relationships. The characters of Vel (Faye Marsay) and Cinta (Verada Sethu) are openly dating in the prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story while fighting alongside one another in the Alliance to topple the Empire. It also demonstrates how Disney is keeping up with the social zeitgeist and openly portraying queer relationships, even though they are not in an arranged situation.

Fantasy Stories Frequently Include Arranged Marriages

Disney hasn’t addressed arranged weddings in the fantasy genre for a very long time, and more adult-oriented networks like HBO have. In the popular television series Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark was compelled to wed twice. She was first married to Tyrion Lannister, then to the evil Joffrey Baratheon, and finally to the vicious Ramsey Bolton. Rhaenyra Targaryan is married to Laenor Valeryon, a secretly gay man, in the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon.

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In the situations of those two characters, the ladies were coerced into the arranged marriage in an effort to forge alliances or join kingdoms and to strengthen the position of their homes and families. The young men and women were put in precarious situations as a result of the arranged weddings. Sansa’s interactions with the Lannister family and later Ramsay again traumatize her. Laenor, on the other hand, must remain secretive and can only avoid marriage by staging his own demise.

How Willow Alters the Perspective

The forbidden romance between Kit and Jade is the first time a same-sex couple will essentially take center stage in a Disney fantasy tale. The series will also be carried by Dove/Elora Danan’s (Ellie Bember) apprenticeship under Willow (Warwick Davis) and her growth into a significant player in the conflict with the evil Gales, but it will be interesting to see how the season-long relationship between Princess Kit and her true love is portrayed. The main plot line going forward will undoubtedly involve her defying authority and her mother’s wishes.

Going against convention frequently compromises character and drives one or both of the lovers into unforeseen peril or dangers that would not be an issue if it were a typical romance, as we’ve seen in prior hidden partnerships. It will also demonstrate how far Disney has come in its race to keep up with a media landscape that has addressed same-sex couples more thoroughly than animation and family-friendly programming. In his remake of the blockbuster film from 1988, series creator Jonathan Kasdan seems to be betting everything on Kit and Jade, and we’re interested to see where it leads.

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