Lu on Disney+: Is Pixar’s new movie a gay allegory?

Contents:

• IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE
• HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?
• DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE
• PIXAR’S “OUT” WILL FEATURE DISNEY’S FIRST ANIMATED GAY MA CHARACTER - INSI THE MAGIC
• JUNGLE CISE: DISNEY’S FIRST GAY MA CHARACTER (AND COMG OUT SCENE) EXPLAED
• PIXAR SHORT ‘OUT’ PROV GAY STORI CAN LIVE ON FAY-FRIENDLY DISNEY+
• PIXAR'S FIRST GAY MA CHARACTER ARRIV MOVG DISNEY+ SHORT FILM
• PIXAR SHORT ‘OUT’ FEATUR THE STUD’S FIRST GAY LEAD CHARACTER
• PIXAR SHORT FILM ‘OUT’ FEATUR STUD’S FIRST GAY MA CHARACTER
• DISNEY ACCED OF REMOVG GAY NTENT OM PIXAR FILMS

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. ” 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.

HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?

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.

Disney’s latt major animatn fally livers on those reprentatn promis the pany’s been makg for years (Picture: Disney)Disney has fally done – after years of quick referenc, teasg and plenty of queer dg, the stud has s first gay lead character an animatn wh new film, Strange World. Dpe s stumble earlier this year when Disney had to be phed to speak out publicly agast Florida’s highly ntroversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, as one of the world’s most powerful media pani has been an advote for LGBTQ+ rights and cln for many years via s msagg, polici and – of urse – merchandise.

DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE

Everyone remembers the ial excement when was revealed Disney was gog to feature s first ‘openly gay’ character wh LeFou (Josh Gad) the 2017 live-actn remake of Bety and the Beast, before turned out was all to do wh Gad’s performance one scene and never tentnally baked to the script.

PIXAR’S “OUT” WILL FEATURE DISNEY’S FIRST ANIMATED GAY MA CHARACTER - INSI THE MAGIC

Sce 2020, feels like we’ve been chg towards this evable moment wh Strange World, after Onward featured a lbian character, live-actn film Jungle Cise ma explic reference to Jack Whehall’s character McGregor beg gay and Toy Story adjacent film Lightyear showed Disney’s first animated same-sex kiss 2022 (aga, sadly cut some untri, as well as almost the US). Fans were prevly upset to see Shang cut om the live-actn Mulan remake (Picture: Disney)However, is Strange World that is the Disney rtoon that is first to make one of s lead characters gay, balancg a way where is repeatedly referenced, forms part of a sub-plot and – ccially – allows for some lovely bondg moments between s supportive onscreen fay. Openly gay edian Jaboie Young-Whe stars as Ethan Cla, the grandson of legendary explorer Jaeger Cla (Dennis Quaid) and son of the more rerved explorer-turned-farmer Searcher Cla (Jake Gyllenhaal).

Ethan also mak an awome new iend Splat, FYI (Picture: Disney)Durg their geoly animated adventure, which ow a bt of gratu to pulp magaz, Jul Verne, Terry Pratchett and mythology, is ma clear early on that Ethan is gay and nursg a csh on one of his male iends. Strange World manag to balance a sual ‘not a big al’ approach to Ethan as Disney’s first gay lead character while also makg tegral to who he is and an element of his personaly that’s never bshed unr the rpet. Still, there have been so many siar discsns about queer inty Disney movi that you n almost predict the disurse ahead of time: “They’re gay!

JUNGLE CISE: DISNEY’S FIRST GAY MA CHARACTER (AND COMG OUT SCENE) EXPLAED

For both live-actn and animated movi, the stud has overhyped what have bee known as “exclively gay moments, ” ty morsels of reprentatn that are eher so subtle you hardly notice them (a kiss between two women the background of a Star Wars movie) or so plot-irrelevant that they n be easily chopped or overlooked by ternatnal censors (here’s lookg at you, Endgame’s unnamed Grievg Man).

Meanwhile, while Disney has ngratulated self and claimed to blaze new trails, plenty of other animatn studs have been ahead of them: Laika’s ParaNorman, for example, featured an openly gay character way back 2012. Ironilly, the Disney movie that gave the term “exclively gay moment” the first place took a different tack: The live-actn Bety and the Beast’s LeFou is more the spir of the stud’s long-standg tradn of strongly queer-d, if not explicly gay, villas.

PIXAR SHORT ‘OUT’ PROV GAY STORI CAN LIVE ON FAY-FRIENDLY DISNEY+

Fans have sce picked up on homoerotic unrton Raya and the Last Dragon and the live-actn Mulan, but the movi rema rabow Rorschach tts, wh dienc havg to read between the l or project their own meangs to fd queer reprentatn. 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.

PIXAR'S FIRST GAY MA CHARACTER ARRIV MOVG DISNEY+ SHORT FILM

"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.

Queer kids will still feel forted by this story bee the scene plays out like an allegory for g out and beg gay, even if Casarosa said isn't.

PIXAR SHORT ‘OUT’ FEATUR THE STUD’S FIRST GAY LEAD CHARACTER

—ClassicMovieGay (@jblikmovi) June 19, 2021What would have ma even more powerful, though, is if the movie explicly embraced the unniable queer subtext through dialogue. Instead, Disney seems happy to let dienc terpret the movie their own way — (almost) satisfyg LGBTQ dienc wh a movie that feels gay but actually isn't, whout beg brave enough to prent an openly queer story. However, those figur were rapidly, and signifintly, revised downwards when was unrstood how poorly the movie was performg wh wh other recent Disney animated movi cludg Lightyear (another disappotg box office flop), Strange World sought to crowbar progrsive to the film, cludg for the first time Disney’s history an openly gay ma character.

“Disney is 100% gog to blame STRANGE WORLD’s evable bad box office on the fact that there’s an openly gay character the movie when realy, ’s gog to flop bee they didn’t market at all. Rodriguez plays gay high school stunt, choreographer, assistant director, and actor Carlos Disney+'s High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri. Garrett Clayton has appeared the DCOM Teen Beach Movie and the Disney show Shake It Up, before starrg the gay porn te crime movie Kg Cobra.

Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Cta Kaz (Varada Sethu) Andor, (Image cred: Disney Pl)Jungle CiseJungle Cise was so, so, so close to almost havg a character say the words "I'm gay" on screen. (Image cred: Disney+)CellaSure, we might have roasted Disney a ty b our Cella review for once aga pattg themselv on the back for their "first" out gay character (for the seventh time) and not even havg the cency to do anythg beyond an implic gay scriptn.

PIXAR SHORT FILM ‘OUT’ FEATUR STUD’S FIRST GAY MA CHARACTER

While this character is fun and entertag to watch, some might argue that this is a fairly cliche terpretatn of what gay men are actually like.

DISNEY ACCED OF REMOVG GAY NTENT OM PIXAR FILMS

Bex puts a ser damper on Andi and her iends' fun which tak a toll on her first year as a Goodman, one of Andi's bt iends, ma history as the first Disney character to ever say the words "I'm gay, " out loud on televisn.

"Andi Mack" was the first seri on Disney Channel to feature a gay ma characterValkyrie, played by Tsa Thompson, appears two "Thor" films and two "Avengers" filmsWhen asked if Loki romanced would-be prcs or another prce, the god of mischief rpond wh, "A b of both"Is "Strange World" the first Disney movie that featur a gay character?