Is Lu Pixar’s First Gay Movie? Maybe | Vany Fair

Contents:

• IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE
• HERE'S HOW 'STRANGE WORLD' TRODUC THE FIRST OUT GAY TEENAGER A DISNEY ANIMATED FILM: 'IT WAS A BETIFUL THG TO BE A PART OF'
• ‘STRANGE WORLD’ IS DISNEY’S FIRST ANIMATED MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD. WHY IS IT BEG BURIED?
• DISNEY’S ‘STRANGE WORLD’ TO FEATURE FIRST GAY TEEN ROMANCE ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
• LIST: 'STRANGE WORLD' REVIEWS ABOUT DISNEY'S FIRST OUT GAY, CHARACTER, BIRACIAL QUEER TEEN
• DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE

IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE

That outle holds an obv potential for queer allegory, and ed many Pixar fans trackg the film’s velopment quickly labeled Lu as the stud’s “gay movie”—a g-out story to be placed on Pixar’s mantle alongsi s medatns on grief, artistic exprsn, lonels, Ayn Rand-ian objectivism, and parentg.

HERE'S HOW 'STRANGE WORLD' TRODUC THE FIRST OUT GAY TEENAGER A DISNEY ANIMATED FILM: 'IT WAS A BETIFUL THG TO BE A PART OF'

” That suggts a limed unrstandg of gay growg up, particularly of when our feelgs of affectn and special closens and difference n first velop. That character, played tartly but briefly by John McCrea, is slightly ls of a scrap than the embarrassgly ballyhooed “exclively gay moment” 2017’s Bety and the Beast—but Artie still barely registered amid Cella’s cynil clamor.

Last year, Disney punted Love, Victor—a seri spoff of the feature film Love, Simon, the first stud film about a gay kid g out—om Disney+ to Hulu, clarg the young adult show a better f for that more grownup streamg service. Greg Gayne/HuluThe first season of Love, Victor very much felt like a show tend for Disney+ that somehow wound up alongsi Handmaid’s Tale.

Love, Victor season two admirably exam life post-g out, as Victor (Michael Cimo) navigat his nascent relatnship wh barista Benji (Gee Sear) and tri to get his mother, Isabel (Ana Ortiz, queen of playg TV moms of gay kids), to fully accept his inty.

‘STRANGE WORLD’ IS DISNEY’S FIRST ANIMATED MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD. WHY IS IT BEG BURIED?

Victor and Benji grapple wh tra-gay nflicts jt as much as they do wh the wary nsiratns of the straight world. But the scene sparked bate due to two issu: Florida’s ntroversial “Don’t Say Gay” law, which prohibs any class discsn about sexual orientatn and genr inty to stunts younger than ne years old, and Disney’s efforts as a pany to have repealed. His father supports him and giv him advice, not focg on whether his son is gay or not, but simply as a father who is by his son’s si matters of love.

23, the movie also monstrat the Moe Hoe's renewed mment to LGBTQ reprentatn by showsg the first out gay teenager a Disney rtoon feature.

DISNEY’S ‘STRANGE WORLD’ TO FEATURE FIRST GAY TEEN ROMANCE ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

That character is Ethan Cla, and he's voiced by out gay edian and actor Jaboie Young-Whe.

"For her part, Unn not that her recent remake of Cheaper by the Dozen — which premiered on Disney+ March — featured one of Disney's first live actn gay teens (played by Caylee Blosensk), but says much of that storyle was downplayed the fished film.

Both the 2020 animated feature, Onward, which featured Disney's first self-intified lbian character, and 2022's Lightyear, which featured the stud's first same-sex kiss, were banned Sdi Arabia and other Gulf natns where homosexual nduct is still illegal. The dispirg explanatn uld be that Disney, fearg uproar om all matters of the right, has chewed any big promo s more homogeno films receive. Strange World was never sted to be a hot button issue wh anti-gay, racist, fossil fuel-lovg punds.

LIST: 'STRANGE WORLD' REVIEWS ABOUT DISNEY'S FIRST OUT GAY, CHARACTER, BIRACIAL QUEER TEEN

The film's director said 's about iendships, but many viewers observed a strong gay subtext.

Alberto and Lu's relatnship is laced wh gay subtextLu is immediately taken by the ee-spired Alberto when he meets a fellow sea monster off the ast of 're sually physil wh each other, sleepg si by si unr a star-filled sky, wrappg their arms around each other's waists, and watchg the sunset together. "This might seem rehg to some, to see a Disney movie explore iendships as opposed to a fairy-tale love story, but s a shame that this cisn has e when a gay romance uld have so easily and naturally be Lu and Alberto explicly gay or queer wouldn't have felt ntrived. It would have been a meangful nfirmatn of what is already a story rich gay subtext.

DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE

"Bety and the Beast" and "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" both featured blk-and-you'll-miss- "gay moments:" a dance between two men and a kiss between two women.