The Owl House might be the source of ruination upon civilization if one extreme conservative group is to be believed. Premiering last month, the animated series has been, for the most part, positively received. The fantasy comedy is yet another in the long line of successful Disney Channel animated series, ranking alongside Gravity Falls, Star vs. The Forces of Evil and DuckTales.
With all that going for it, why would One Million Moms take issue with the show? Well, the conservative group is demanding Disney Channel cancel the fledgling show, or else The Owl House might turn children into demonic witches.
THE PETITION
The petition, available on One Million Moms' website, states the "demonic series" makes "light of hell and the dangers of the demonic realm" and is, therefore, "dangerous to children": "In The Owl House, Disney introduces kids to a world of demons, witches, and sorcery while inundating their young minds with secular worldviews that reflect the current culture."
Their primary issue with the series is that The Owl House draws inspiration from mythology and religious iconography in order to create a world of witchcraft. The appropriation of religious material appears to be what most upsets One Million Moms.
"Even the previews and commercials include such content that makes it difficult for families who watch Disney Channel to avoid the evil content completely," the website states. "The first episode is more than enough for most Christian families to realize that The Owl House, created by Dana Terrace, is not a cute, funny show – rather an extremely dangerous one."
Disney Channel ordered a second season of The Owl House in November, before the series even premiered.
WHAT IS ONE MILLION MOMS?
An initiative of the conservative Christian organization American Family Association, One Million Moms has been active for about a decade. However, as the fewer than 15,000 supporters of the Owl House petition suggests, its numbers are nowhere near 1 million. Instead, according to GLAAD, the project appears to be the work of a single person.
One Million Moms has targeted Marvel, DC and Archie Comics because of the publishers' gay characters, and has repeatedly attempted to organize boycotts of Disney and its subsidiaries. The initiative's website counts the cancellations of The Muppets, Once Upon a Time and The Real O'Neals, which aired on Disney-owned ABC, among its "successes." However, there's little indication that One Million Moms played a role in the network's decisions.
IS THE OWL HOUSE DEMONIC?
The Owl House is only the most recent of several pieces of entertainment for children to be labeled "demonic" by conservative watchdog groups, although these claims are mostly overblown and hyperbolic responses to the shows appropriating religious iconography.
In an interview with CBR at New York Comic-Con 2019, Dana Terrance explained the influences behind The Owl House are religious in nature, but only in terms of aesthetics, not religious ideology: "I rediscovered the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Remedios Varo, John Bauer and all these painters from between the 1500s to the 1800s that I just really admired and loved. I love medieval illuminations, and the little monsters in the corners. And I basically just thought, 'I'd be cool if there was a cartoon like this.' And I started doodling."
The series focuses more on themes of individuality vs. conformity, using monsters as a means to discuss the feeling of isolation children might feel due to their particular set of interests. Of course, One Million Moms, with their long history of forcing media to conform to their beliefs, might feel more threatened by the idea of a kid show encouraging children to be themselves rather than conform to the standards of society.