Queer media, depending on where you get your media news from, is either woefully underrepresented, or it's everywhere 'taking over normal TV' (the second one is usually the kind of complaint you hear from a boomer who sees one queer couple for three seconds of an advert and makes being angry about it their personality for the next six weeks). I definitely think that whilst there's more representation happening now than there ever has been it's still not at all even considering the size of the queer community, and the range of experiences that we have. It's also important that queer stories from queer creators get given attention over less personal depictions and throwaway representation from cisgender and heterosexual creators.
Lesbian Space Princess is a new queer led animation project from Australia, featuring first time writer/directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese. It also has the honour of being the first animated feature film made in South Australia. With queer creators, a queer (mostly) main cast, and it's weirdly Australian sense of humour, Lesbian Space Princess is a fun animated adventure that will appeal to younger adults, as well as those who want a queer story focused on queer joy.
The film centres on Princess Saira (Shabana Azeez) from the planet of Clitopolis, the main planet for lesbians in sector of the galaxy known as Safe Space; even if it can sometimes be hard to find Clitopolis. The daughters of two beloved queens, Saira has had a difficult time finding herself, and being accepted by the citizens of Clitopolis, in part due to her shy and fearful nature, her love of up-close magic tricks, and her inability to find or keep a girlfriend. As Saira's 22nd birthday looms she's sure that this is going to be her year thanks to her new girlfriend, the sexy space adventurer Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel). Unfortunately, Kiki breaks off the relationship, leaving Saira alone on her birthday once again, where she's publicly humiliated by Kiki dumping her, and her continued inability to summon her magical lesbian princess weapon, her cosmic labrys.
Saira thinks that her world has fallen down around her, and that she'll never be able to win Kiki back thanks to her personal demons and self doubt. However, when she receives a message from the Straight White Malians (voiced by Mark Bonanno, Zachary Ruane, and Broden Kelly), who have taken Kiki hostage in exchange for Saira's labrys, she becomes determined to save her ex; and hopefully win her back in the process. Stealing an old, impounded spaceship from the royal hanger, Saira sets off into the universe. Along her journey she'll meet new allies and enemies, including non-binary singer/songwriter Willow (Gemma Chua-Tran), drag performer/club owner Blade (Kween Kong), and her ships slightly misogynistic AI (Richard Roxburgh).
The plot for Lesbian Space Princess is pretty simple, a girl gets dumped, doubts herself, goes off to save her ex to try and win her back, but learns about herself and gets the chance to grow along the way. At it's most boiled down aspect it's a coming of age story, one where the lead character is forced to deal with life-long trauma and self doubt, and must step out of the shadows to become the person she's always meant to be. This is a fairly common kind of arc for queer fiction, as a lot of queer stories feature characters discovering their queerness and coming out. But Lesbian Space Princess gets to play with this dynamic by having it be a queer story where the character's queerness isn't the driving force, isn't the thing they have to learn to deal with and figure out. Instead, it's feelings of inadequacy and self doubt that anyone can experience; and because of this I think that the film has a big change to connect with a wider audience than just the queer community.
Thanks to the film's bright and weird animation style, akin to things such as Rick and Morty or Adventure Time, and the often absurd nature of the humour used, Lesbian Space Princess is less likely to appeal to a more conservative, stuffy audience, but with younger generations, especially those around the same age as Saira, I think that it'll find a strong audience who love the weirdness. Whilst not every joke landed with me, it was still a great deal of fun, and had some laugh out loud moments. My favourite part of the film, however, wasn't the humorous bits, but a sequence in which Saira had to confront her inner fears and the darkness that had been looming over her the whole film. These moments really stood out against the rest of the film, and helped to connect me with the character in a way that was really missing before.
Lesbian Space Princess is sure to find an audience with younger queer folks, especially those who are into popularised queer media and culture. With a cast that includes queer comedians and performers from Drag Race, it at times does feel like the movie is both trying to appeal to a very queer focused audience (the kind of younger queer people who make queerness a big part of their personality) whilst at other times it feels like it's poking fun at that same audience and the stereotypes around them. As a middle-aged, stay at home disabled queer person who was unable to be openly queer most of my life the film is at times a little too over-the-top to really win me over, but the love that's been poured into it, and the fact that it's putting a queer spin on a genre where it's not usually found ended up getting me on it's side.
Lesbian Space Princess is out in UK cinema's now.
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