‘Lightyear’s’ Rtored Gay Kiss Is Actually a Major Plot Pot

Contents:

• LIGHTYEAR: PIXAR RTOR SAME-SEX KISS FOLLOWG ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL BACKLASH
• SAME-SEX KISS IN TOY STORY'S LIGHTYEAR MOVIE RTORED AFTER STAFF UPROAR OVER "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL
• REPORT: DISNEY TO INCLU GAY RELATNSHIP IN LIGHTYEAR MOVIE
• OKLAHOMA MOVIE THEATER POSTS 'WARNG' SIGN ABOUT 'LIGHTYEAR' GAY KISS, LOL CALLS THE MOVE 'BIGOTED'
• SAME-SEX KISS RTORED PIXAR’S ‘LIGHTYEAR’ FOLLOWG STAFF UPROAR OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL (EXCLUSIVE)
• 'LIGHTYEAR' STAR CHRIS EVANS LLS CRICS OF DISNEY PIXAR'S GAY KISSG SCENE ‘IDTS’

LIGHTYEAR: PIXAR RTOR SAME-SEX KISS FOLLOWG ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL BACKLASH

The same-sex kiss first ma headl last month, when Pixar animators spoke out agast Disney an open letter obtaed by Variety, sayg that rporate executiv had mand cuts "om nearly every moment of overtly gay affectn. But was later rtored light of Disney's "Don't Say Gay" ntroversy, when was revealed the pany had donated roughly $200, 000 to Republin policians who supported the bill, which forbids discsns of sexual orient elementary school classrooms. "Other live-actn Disney films have relegated queer characters to the background, like a blk-and-you'll-miss- kiss between two women "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, " or the "exclively gay moment" of Josh Gad's LeFou dancg wh another man "Bety and the Beast.

SAME-SEX KISS IN TOY STORY'S LIGHTYEAR MOVIE RTORED AFTER STAFF UPROAR OVER "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s film censors said Friday that was Disney’s cisn to ax the animated film “Lightyear” om the untry’s cemas after refg to cut scen promotg homosexualy. The pany has taken baby steps over the years to start cludg queer reprentatn s films and TV shows, ually by allowg Pixar to keep the two moms hidn the back or okayg the ia of LeFou beg gay after all. Whether 's two moms at the aquarium wh Dory, a teenage g out story on Disney Channel, or the blk-and-you'll-miss- gay moment Frozen, every one of the characters paved the way for Hawthorne, a queer character Pixar'sLightyearwho will have Disney's first-ever animated same-sex kiss.

Not only were viewers left disappoted by the lacklter queer reprentatn, but so was LeFou's portrayerJosh Gad, statg an terview, "Frankly, I don’t thk we did jtice to what a real gay character a Disney film should be. : It was ially cut om the film, then rtored after ternal uproar when was revealed Disney had donated $200, 000 to Republin policians who supported Florida's “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which forbids discsns of sexual orientatn elementary school Chris Evans' Buzz is more fantastic than plastic Pixar's spiffy 'Lightyear'The iendship between Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) and his manr Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) is at the heart of "Lightyear. ': Chris Evans on 'Lightyear, ' playg bad guys and beg 'a romantic person'In March, the kiss was rtored after Pixar animators spoke out agast Disney  an open letter obtaed by Variety, sayg executiv had mand cuts "om nearly every moment of overtly gay affectn.

Get our ee weekly email for all the latt cematic news om our film cric Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cematic email for eePixar has reportedly rtored a same-sex kiss shared between two characters the forthg Lightyear, after staff released an open letter cricisg Disney’s rponse to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” new animated film featur Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz Lightyear and seeks to tell the orig story of the beloved Toy Story character and his journey to fy and an exclive report by Variety, a source close to the productn has nfirmed that a kiss between proment female character Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) and her female partner was restated last week. While the nature of the characters’ relatnship hadn’t been qutned by productn, their kiss had reportedly been news follows the release of an open letter on 9 March by Pixar staff and LGBTQ alli cricisg Disney for havg same-sex reprentatn s films “shaved down to cmbs” the letter, staff further lled on Disney to “immediately whdraw all fancial support om the legislators behd the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill” a handful of LGBTQ characters have been rporated Pixar’s feature films.

REPORT: DISNEY TO INCLU GAY RELATNSHIP IN LIGHTYEAR MOVIE

Notably, 2020 film Onward, the ma character Specter mak a reference to her film featur Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz Lightyear (YouTube)The same year, the stud released short film Out, about a closeted gay man’s stggle to e out to his rponse to the Pixar staff letter, Out director Steven Hunt told Variety: “I stand by my lleagu. However, as Disney has faced creasg phback, scty, and cricism for s rponse to Florida's jt-passed Parental Rights Edutn Bill--wily known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill--the Lightyear edg cisn has been reversed an apparent urse rrectn.

At the time, Disney held a virtual all-hands meetg where Latoya Ravene, one of the pany’s executive producers, fend the Moe Hoe, sayg everyone had been welg to her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda. In addn to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which forbids tn on sexualy and genr inty krgarten through third gra classrooms and was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis late March, there are several other measur currently workg their way through state legislatur. It was announced not long ago that the upg Toy Story sp-off film, Lightyear, would be cludg a same-sex kiss scene that had prevly been cut durg productn, and now the film’s producer is talkg about why that’s so cisn to add the kiss back to the movie me the midst of the ntroversy surroundg Disney’s ial failure to oppose Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and CEO Bob Chapek’s unrwhelmg ments suggtg the pany’s “spirg ntent” — very ltle of which volv LGBTQ+ characters — somehow mak up for that time, employe of Pixar Animatn Studs penned a letter accg Disney of, among other thgs, routely removg “overtly gay affectn” om their films, “regardls of when there is prott om both the creative teams and executive learship at Pixar.

On March 9, LGBTQ employe and alli at Pixar Animatn Studs sent a jot statement to Walt Disney Company learship claimg that Disney executiv had actively censored “overtly gay affectn” s feature films. The stunng allegatn — ma as part of a larger prott over the pany’s lack of public rponse to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — did not clu which Pixar films had weathered the censorship, nor which specific creative cisns were cut or altered. The most overtly LGBTQ project Pixar’s non is a 2020 short film, “Out, ” about a gay man stgglg wh g out to his parents — which the stud released on Disney Pl as part of s SparkShorts program.

OKLAHOMA MOVIE THEATER POSTS 'WARNG' SIGN ABOUT 'LIGHTYEAR' GAY KISS, LOL CALLS THE MOVE 'BIGOTED'

"Lightyear" actor Chris Evans, who plays the tular role Walt Disney’s new Pixar movie, has rpond to crics who say the film’s kissg scene between two female characters ph a pro-gay agenda. (Getty Imag)"Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the Amerin story, the human story is one of nstant social awakeng and growth and that’s what mak good, " Evans 'S SHORT FILM ‘OUT’ FEATURES FIRST GAY MAIN CHARACTERThe ment as some crics of the film have argued the cisn to clu LGBTQ reprentatn and a scene wh a gay married uple kissg a film marketed to children was on-screen kiss tak place between Hawthorne, a female lead voiced by Uzo Aduba, and another female, PIXAR'S 'LIGHTYEAR' SEES SAME-SEX KISS RESTORED AMID CONTROVERSY WITH QUEER CHARACTER: REPORTIt was reportedly removed om the film earlier this year, amid ntroversy over Disney’s quietns over Florida’s "Don’t Say Gay" bill that barred nversatns about LGBTQ inty K-12 classrooms, Variety reported March of this year, cg "a source close to the productn. While there have been blk-and-you’ll-miss- queer moments prev Pixar outgs — the lbian uple Fdg Dory, for example -— ’s long sce time for a proment gay character or two one of the stud’s films.

) And Kate McKnon, playg a so-lled Weird Barbie who experienced an extreme haircut and makeover at the hands of an experimental child, never actually answers the qutn anybody would have upon seeg her gay-ass haircut and knowg the actor’s sexualy. That clip appears The Celluloid Closet, Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman’s documentary based on Vo Rso’s study of homosexualy the movi, along wh untls exampl of how gay characters showed up, per narrator Lily Toml, as “somethg to lgh at, or somethg to py, or even somethg to fear.

Some have been documents of a moment or era of gay history, some have been ed as rrectiv to s of negative clichés, and others have simply celebrated the fact that the movi n be queer, they’re here, get ed to . It is nowhere near a prehensive ndown of every great movie to feature out-and-proud hero and villas, or a queer sensibily, or even jt visible (and/or risible) exampl of gay life cema; we uld have easily ma this list twice as long. The performanc are staggerg: Al Paco as the ignom Roy Cohn; Jefey Wright is the sharp-wted gay nurse who tends to him; Mary-Louise Parker as a pill-poppg hoewife wed to a closeted Mormon; Emma Thompson as an imper (and sometim sassy) angel; and Meryl Streep four rol, cludg the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg.

SAME-SEX KISS RTORED PIXAR’S ‘LIGHTYEAR’ FOLLOWG STAFF UPROAR OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL (EXCLUSIVE)

Yet the film remas one of the first ank big-stud treatments of uncloseted gay and bisexual men, as follows eight iends (and one htler) who’ve gathered a New York Cy apartment to celebrate a birthday party. It works bt as a signpost and a throwback — jt ask the all-gay st who starred the a major Broadway revival, or Ryan Murphy, who’s adaptg the cematic remake as a savage, ic perd piece for a new generatn. It was still nsired a bad reer move for a movie star to play a gay role 2005, and Hollywood’s track rerd was ls than stellar when me to treatg homosexual romanc wh the same pth as heterosexual on (if emed f to tackle such stori at all).

A page-to-screen take on Vo Rso’s semal book regardg LGBTQ reprentatn (and misreprentatn) the movi, Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman’s documentary prents the perfect show-and-tell plement to the late scholar’s work — you n lerally see the evolutn of cematic homosexualy as progrs om punchle to social pundry, sikick-and-stock-villa fodr to queers beg the hero of their own stori. To say that William Friedk’s thriller about a serial killer targetg gay men New York was ntroversial would be puttg dly: Village Voice lumnist Arthur Bell (whose verage of murrs the Wt Village bar scene was a partial spiratn) lled the script “the worst possible nightmare of the most uptight straight”; tablishments that had agreed to operate sudnly whdrew their support; activists dispted filmg at every turn; theaters were picketed; and one massive prott led to a traffic-stoppg s- and arrts. ) But 40 years after Al Paco’s unrver p first stepped to the Mhaft, this lurid exploatn movie has been reclaimed by gay film crics such as Nathan Lee and Melissa Anrson, noticeably for the way prents the late ’70s leather-bar scene wh an almost véré-like sense of observatn.

'LIGHTYEAR' STAR CHRIS EVANS LLS CRICS OF DISNEY PIXAR'S GAY KISSG SCENE ‘IDTS’

Mixg herage-drama aspects wh outré postmorn flourish and a heightened sense of homoeroticism, the movie prents the relatnship between the two men as a polil act as much as a romantic one; Edward’s army is refashned as ACT UP-style activists, and the behd-the-scene machatns of Edward’s wife, Isabella (longtime Jarman llaborator Tilda Swton), double as a crique of Bra’s opprsive, historilly strict anti-homosexual laws. Set on the muddy, wdswept moors of Yorkshire, Francis Lee’s but feature follows Johnny (Josh O’Connor), a young gay man leadg a ad-end existence on his fay farm, and Ghehe (Alec Sereanu), a Romanian migrant worker who to help out durg lamb-birthg season.

The HIV vis h the gay muny around the same time that the personal mrr h retail shelv — which is one reason David France’s Osr-nomated film about the formatn of activist anizatn groups ACT UP and TAG (Treat Actn Group) has such a shatterg impact.