Example: [Collected via e-mail, November 2014]
Saw an article talking about Disney producing a full feature film called “Princes” that will be a love story with two princes falling in love while on a quest to find a princess. Is this true?
Origins: On 10 November 2014, an article claiming Disney was producing an animated film about two gay princes was published on the website Amplifying Glass:
Disney has announced that it will be producing its first animated feature film with two openly gay lead characters who will fall in love and, by the end of the film, even find happiness in a fairytale, same-sex wedding. The film, titled Princes, will be released to theaters in the fall of 2015.
The article claimed Disney’s Princes would be based off the LGBT children’s book The Princes and the Treasure by Jeffrey A Miles. While the book is indeed real, Disney has made no announcements about plans to turn it into a movie.
Amplifying Glass is an entertainment website that publishes content not meant to be read as real news. A disclaimer on the site states:
If you are looking for real breaking news stories, you have arrived at the wrong location. Nearly everything that we produce is designed to make you laugh and/or poke fun at the ridiculous nature of life in America. You would do well not to take anything that we say here too seriously.
Although Disney is not in the process of producing Princes, it might not be too surprising to see an openly gay character in the Disney-verse sometime soon. Indeed, an article published in the Atlantic on 23 April 2014 posited the movie Frozen was a commentary on the struggles faced by members of the LGBT community:
The culture warriors have decided: Disney’s Frozen is queer. Elsa hiding her ice-powers could be read as a metaphor for the closet, the Oscar-winning “Let it Go” plays like a coming-out anthem, and a character in the film evokes the question of whether homosexuality is a choice by inquiring of Elsa’s powers, “born with it or cursed?” Some liberals have praised the film for its subtext; some conservatives have denounced it.
Disney has a history of pro-LGBT employment initiatives, but the company has yet to feature an openly gay character in its films.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/princes.asp#lbJGYdhiCYcaG80k.99
