#SaveAndiMack: Why the fans are still fighting
Since 2017, Disney Channel’s Andi Mack has addressed everything from learning disabilities to coming out. Having clearly raised the network’s ambitions in terms of representation, Andi Mack breaks through the image-conscious Disney in an effort to provide inclusive content for its tween demographic.
Centered on a multi-generational Asian American family, Andi Mack follows the titular Andi Mack (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) as she finds her footing in middle school after learning that the woman she thought was her older sister, Bex (Lilan Bowden), is actually her biological mother.
In the tame confines of the Disney Channel, Andi Mack’s premise was considered potentially controversial. However, it has since accrued a loyal fanbase begging for similar weighty storylines. Now the series that won both a GLAAD Award and a Television Academy Honor for “television with a conscience” in 2018, it’s calling it quits.
The show ended its three-season run as Disney Channel’s most watched series, being the network’s first serialized show, Andi Mack’s first series centered around an Asian American family, and the first to feature an LGBTQ+ character who spoke the words “I’m gay”.
Since Andi Mack’s departure in July of 2019, fans have flooded onto the scene with everything from petitions to continue the series, to the assembly of 1,000 paper cranes, each with a message for the show’s cast and crew, which were delivered to the Disney offices in Burbank, California.
In the midst of a storm of praise for Andi Mack, our social media team at Film Daily took to Twitter to find out how the show’s following is fighting to #SaveAndiMack, and the responses have proven the fandom to be quite headstrong in their devotion.
The creators of Andi Mack understand the importance of seeing yourself represented on TV
Many fans expressed their love for Andi Mack’s inclusive community. And in an effort to represent everyone, the show didn’t abstain from embracing the reality of teen issues.
DAhnaTomlinson said that the show served as a reminder that perspective is everything.
“What I personally liked was that Andi Mack covered topics that most shows wouldn’t dare touch for children. It made me look at myself in a different light and help me learn lessons about the world around me.”
givemeandimack states that when Cyrus Goodman (Joshua Rush) uttered the words ‘I’m gay’, it was a huge step for the LGBTQ+ community.
Andi Mack has a passionate fanbase. Fans have taken to internet activism to save a show they deem worthy of continuing on.
tjstyrus is working diligently on the campaign effort to get Disney Channel to renew Andi Mack.
“So many fans signed the petition (including the cast) and we have over 50,600 signatures. It’s never too late to save it.”
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The attention that Andi Mack has garnered is representative of the tenacity of the generation. The show’s success – rather than seeing it as an end – therefore can be viewed as something of a beginning.
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