Nimona is a queer graphic novel written by an incredible writer and storyteller, ND Stevenson. As the creator of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, his talent at making beautiful queer stories about love, found family, and challenging the world around you is clear.
Nimona, has now become a movie on Netflix starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, and Eugene Lee Yang.
Nimona Family ???
— Eugene Lee Yang (@EugeneLeeYang) June 27, 2023
Watch this Friday, June 30 on Netflix? pic.twitter.com/drgS2JNioi
It tells the story of newly knighted Ballister Blackheart and shapeshifter Nimona as they work together to clear Ballister’s name of a crime he didn’t commit and change the kingdom for the better.
This tale is a queer fantasy with a gay love story involving two main characters whose storylines made me feel a lot of feelings. Happiness, worry, love, and hope to name a few.
The shapeshifter, Nimona, is highly relatable to the trans and nonbinary experience, as Nimona describes her need to shapeshift as an itch she feels in her body until she can shift. If she tries to suppress it, it’s extremely uncomfortable.
‘NIMONA’ releases on Netflix one week from today.
— Disney Animation Promos (@DisneyAPromos) June 23, 2023
Will you be watching? pic.twitter.com/JRZCWkxcDg
When Ballister first finds out about Nimona’s shifting abilities, he’s uneasy. He’s clearly affected by society’s belief that anyone different is wrong. Even as someone who is sometimes often outcast by society, being a knight who is not a descendant of Gloreth, he clings to the fear that has been taught and ingrained.
Whenever Nimona is asked who or what she is, she responds by saying that she is Nimona and implies that that answer should be enough. Society tries to put trans and nonbinary people in a box. If it’s something different, a lot of people at least want to try to fit that difference into something they’re familiar with, which is what Nimona’s world wants to be able to do to her.
But that’s just not something you can do. Everyone is their own person, and it should be enough to just be themselves, without filtering themselves down to be “more digestible” to those who don’t understand.
4 more days until NIMONA on Netflix ?????? pic.twitter.com/soXYhVnuts
— ND Stevenson (@Gingerhazing) June 26, 2023
Nimona is a great LGBTQ+ family film that does a wonderful job of telling a story of queerness, fluidity, unlearning what you’ve been told is “right” and “wrong,” and creating a world you want to live in. Check it out on Netflix starting June 30th!
