Bety and the Beast': Josh Gad Has Regrets on 'Gay Moment'

Contents:

• "BETY AND THE BEAST" DIRECTOR NFIRMS OPENLY GAY CHARACTER THE LIVE-ACTN REMAKE
• LEFOU EMBRAC LE FEY: DISNEY GO GAY IN ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’
• 'BETY AND THE BEAST' FEATUR DISNEY'S FIRST GAY CHARACTER
• ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’ DIRECTOR TALKS OF ‘EXCLIVELY GAY’ MOMENT
• JOSH GAD SAYS HE DON'T THK 'BETY AND THE BEAST' DID 'JTICE TO WHAT A REAL GAY CHARACTER A DISNEY FILM SHOULD BE'
• 'BETY AND THE BEAST'S 'GAY MOMENT' MAY HAVE BEEN MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHG
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)
• 20 STRAIGHT CHARACTERS WE DIDN'T KNOW WERE OPENLY GAY IN REAL LIFE
• JOSH GAD SAYS HE DON'T THK 'BETY AND THE BEAST' DID 'JTICE TO WHAT A REAL GAY CHARACTER A DISNEY FILM SHOULD BE'

"BETY AND THE BEAST" DIRECTOR NFIRMS OPENLY GAY CHARACTER THE LIVE-ACTN REMAKE

The live-actn “Bety and the Beast” remake is set to make history by featurg Disney’s first-ever “exclively gay moment, ” director Bill Condon Emma Watson sg “Belle” om “Bety and the Beast”In the new film, Josh Gad’s character LeFou -- a syphantic henchman to the nceed Gaston, played by Le Evans -- will be prented a b differently om the 1991 animated versn.

But is a nice, exclively gay moment a Disney movie. Not exactly the image wh which gay men like to be associated. There is a pattern wh all of the d “gay” characters, all of whom uld be scribed ntemporary terms as genr non-nformg: They’re all villas.

LEFOU EMBRAC LE FEY: DISNEY GO GAY IN ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’

In an terview wh Bra’s Attu Magaze, Condon revealed that he will make his mark on the Disney legacy by allowg years of subtext to fally e to the surface, prentg the first “nice, exclively gay moment a Disney movie, ” the director said. READ MORE: Cate Blanchett Remds You Why She’s A Gay In Wh Powerhoe Drag Bar Lip Sync — Watch. Condon, who unts Sir Ian McKellen as a good iend, is openly gay.

Even if the moment wreaks of tokenism, is still a historic tone for Disney to regnize a gay character out loud. Disney has felt the heat as of late as fans ll on the pany to publicly nmn Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which jt passed through the state senate. As of today, Pixar animators are speakg out agast the pany, sharg an open letter that rporate offic "have mand the removal of 'nearly every moment of overtly gay affectn … regardls of when there is prott om both the creative teams and executive learship at Pixar, '" acrdg to The ntroversy led some fans to pot out that LGBTQ+ folks have always been a part of Disney's succs.

\u201cAndreas Deja (who is gay) animated nearly every disney villa durg the Disney Renaissance. 1646685855Queer-dg villas was an easy way for 1900s animatn to signate a character as different, ually saddlg them wh a bunch of cliché, homosexual stereotyp that the dience digts and associat as evil, playg off of history's real-life stigma agast LGBTQ+ folks. But the gays have reclaimed the villas!

'BETY AND THE BEAST' FEATUR DISNEY'S FIRST GAY CHARACTER

" Thankfully, gays aren't jt the villas anymore as we have a growg amount of posive reprentatn animatn the days. Disney, wh s famo reticence toward pictg openly gay characters almost certaly didn’t tend to produce an overtly gay narrative Mulan.

As Sean Griff’s book Tker Bells and Evil Queens not, Disney has long targeted gay dienc — and partly bee queer dienc are experts at -optg ostensibly straight narrativ for themselv. “The ia that lbians and gay men uld be watchg Disney and g the texts (films, TV shows, theme parks, rerds, etc. “Historil evince dit that lbians and gay men have read Disney artifacts om a non-heterosexual viewpot throughout the pany’s history...

‘BETY AND THE BEAST’ DIRECTOR TALKS OF ‘EXCLIVELY GAY’ MOMENT

As long as evince showed that homosexual dienc were unrstandg Disney through a ‘gay sensibily, ’ then a relatnship existed whether Disney approved of or not. The one notable exceptn to this le is Bety and the Beast’s Gaston, a villa tentnally signed to be so manly that he be herently homoerotic.

(Observe, for example, how “the gay Gaston” is jt...

Villas regularly bee gay ins; Disney prc are equently reamed as gay men; and so many people have read Frozen’s Elsa as queer that the ph to give her a girliend has bee a proment media narrative around that anchise. It’s probably not a cince that several of the films volved Howard Ashman, a gay mil lyricist who -wrote the sr to The Ltle Mermaid and Bety and the Beast and shaped the story ncept of Aladd before his ath 1991. There are a few characters the Disney non, like Bety and the Beast’s Gaston, who are seen as homoerotic paragons.

JOSH GAD SAYS HE DON'T THK 'BETY AND THE BEAST' DID 'JTICE TO WHAT A REAL GAY CHARACTER A DISNEY FILM SHOULD BE'

But perhaps the most heartbreakg gay readg of Bety and the Beast volv the story of the Beast himself. ” That isn’t unlike the prejudice felt by gay men like Ashman, who was alg wh AIDS plitns while wrg the lyrics for the songs of the origal animated movie. The Ln Kg’s Sr follows the shopworn trope of a gay-d villa: He preens, flips his hair, snters ways that his very stiff brother Mufasa don’t.

On the one hand, Sr and many stereotypilly portrayed characters like him feel like the byproducts of lazy and unimagative wrg (oh, wow another limp-wristed, gay-ish villa! Sce gay people haven’t ever been allowed to be the hero of Disney movi, no one n really blame for takg our cmbs and appreciatg the bombastic, opposnal, unapologetilly queer villas like Sr.

'BETY AND THE BEAST'S 'GAY MOMENT' MAY HAVE BEEN MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHG

The Ln Kg has a uple of ls-villao queer-d characters Pumba and Timon, Simba’s two nihilistic, adoptive gay dads.

Frollo’s sexual hypocrisy and ragg hatred of Esmeralda, the object of his sir, mak him the perfect allegory for morn-day homophob. It prompts Disney’s bt “I Want” song, which is also one of the gayt songs ever wrten, “Out There. If only for this reason, Maleficent is one of the gayt Disney films around.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)

And jt like all nversn therapy, fails, and Maleficent emerg om the moment of trma stronger, angrier, smarter, and ready to be gay, do crim.

Provg childhood dreams do e te, Gaston's gay! He's, shall we say: gayg backward, livg a glass closet, not-askg/not-tellg, or what ever phamism strik your fancy.

Still, Evans, went on to addrs the rather unheard of prospect of beg a gay actn 's good for people to look at me and thk this guy is dog his thg and enjoyg what he's dog and succsful at and livg his other words, n a bch live? It certaly shouldn't matter, but do bee 's pretty ol to have an openly gay actn star.

20 STRAIGHT CHARACTERS WE DIDN'T KNOW WERE OPENLY GAY IN REAL LIFE

Even if the "star" part is still up the 's pretty ol to have a gay guy playg such a stereotypilly mascule character, if only for the evable fan fictn starrg Evans and Stevens.

He uldn't possible be a homosexual. Which n e a lot of prsure and anxiety, pecially if 's the 1700s and you're a closeted gay man.

JOSH GAD SAYS HE DON'T THK 'BETY AND THE BEAST' DID 'JTICE TO WHAT A REAL GAY CHARACTER A DISNEY FILM SHOULD BE'

The lyrics Gaston are unniably homoerotic:. The highly anticipated live-actn remake of “Bety and the Beast” will feature a gay character for the first time Disney's history, acrdg to the film’s director. Director Bill Condon said an terview wh Attu, a Brish gay magaze, that LeFou, the goofy sikick of the film’s ma villa, Gaston, will fd his own subplot by explorg his sexualy.

” Condon promised the film will have a “nice, exclively gay moment” at the the LGBTQ have been advotg to see themselv reprented Disney films.