'The Mitchells vs. The Machines' Has Fun, Heart, & Positive Queer Rep

Warning! Some The Mitchells vs. The Machines spoilers ahead!

Netflix and Sony Animation's The Mitchells vs. The Machines is officially out, and besides being a joyous, laugh-filled, feel-good film detailing the story of a dysfunctional, modern, suburban family who has to save the world from tech overlords, it is also breaking ground with one of its main characters, Katie Mitchell. But in which way, you ask? Well, Katie is openly queer.

Not queer-coded. Not hinted at. Nope, a main character in an animated family film backed by a major studio and a major streaming service is actually, clearly, FINALLY queer. And that's something audiences have been dying to see portrayed on-screen for decades! 

PRIDE got to chat with the cast of the film, including Bridesmaids alum/comedy legend Maya Rudolph, Broad City's Abbi Jacobson, and Saturday Night Live's Beck Bennett, about what it was like bringing positive LGBTQ+ representation and visibility to audiences! 

"I love that Katie's queer," Abbi Jacobson, who voices Katie Mitchell, told PRIDE. "I'm queer, so it was so refreshing to get to play a teen queer girl in an animated movie. That's not something I've done before and I haven't really seen that that much. I definitely didn't grow up with that. I think it's so important for young people to see that. The [movie] is about a fracture in a family and it has nothing to do with fact that Katie is queer, it's just something that's only celebrated and accepted in her family. I think it's so rad for kids to see it. Maybe even more rad for parents to see it. So I was really, really excited to be a part of that story."

Speaking about the film's prominent theme of "finding your people," she continued:

"I relate to that so hard. It comes in cycles in your life. I think people of all ages, it's not just a kid thing, will feel that and/or feel it, or remember the moment when they found those people that really got them. So it's exciting."

The Mitchells vs. The Machines is now streaming on Netflix!