Pixar’s animated film Lu may not be a gay narrative, but ’s a queer one - Polygon

Contents:

• SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY
• HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?
• DO DISNEY’S ‘LU’ HAVE A GAY CHARACTER?
• LU MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE
• ‘LU’ DIRECTOR “TALKED ABOUT” THE FILM BEG A GAY LOVE STORY
• I'M SORRY, BUT "LU" IS TOTALLY A GAY MOVIE, AND THE 18 TWEETS PROVE IT
• IS LU A GAY METAPHOR?
• DISNEY FILM LU NEARLY FEATURED A GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN MA CHARACTERS
• IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE
• 'LU' DIRECTOR ADMS THEY 'TALKED ABOUT' MAKG THE LEADS GAY BUT CID TO FOC ON A 'PRE-ROMANCE' IENDSHIP
• WA A SEC — ARE THE MA CHARACTERS PIXAR’S ‘LU’ GAY?
• LU DIRECTOR SAYS DISNEY FILM NEARLY FEATURED GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN MA CHARACTERS: ‘WE TALKED ABOUT ’
• LU FANS ARE NVCED 'S A GAY LOVE STORY AND THE MEM ARE INIC

SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY

When Pixar first revealed the plot synopsis of s upg movie Lu — a tale of two sea-monster boys named Lu and Alberto, and an “unfettable” summer on the Italian Rivera — many people quickly pared to Call Me By Your Name, the 2017 gay romance that also took place durg an unfettable summer Italy. But 2020, Pixar released “Out” through s SparkShorts program, which centered around a gay uple. Eager for reprentatn, many fans have clung to the possibily that Lu might give them openly gay ma characters, and not jt one-note si characters.

Lu is marketed as a "metaphor for anythg" but the sea monster setup is a perfect allegory for a gay story, and LGBTQ viewers n read that way. Lu has arrived on Disney+ and, spe what Pixar says, the movie prents a strong allegory for growg up gay and fdg a nnectn wh other LGBTQ people. This elis the fact that beg gay, queer, or LGBTQ+ is not simply a matter of partners or relatnships or sex.

HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?

Young gay people often feel very different om others before such feelgs velop, which n occur squarely the age bracket the story plac Lu and Alberto. In the ments, Casarosa is enuragg such terpretatn, meang that, if you see there, Lu is a gay story, Pixar's first feature film wh LGBTQ+ leads.

The parallels of the boys secretly beg sea monsters and gay and LGBTQ+ people beg forced to hi their inti cuts closer than other mory groups, ratnalizg a queer readg of the movie. So while Pixar ni Lu is a gay story due to s settg and the age of s characters, viewers should read the LGBTQ+ narrative for what is. When director Enri Casarosa says he didn’t tend to make Lu a gay romance, I believe him.

OK, but isn’t still a ltle b gay? 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!

DO DISNEY’S ‘LU’ HAVE A GAY CHARACTER?

” “But why do they have to be gay? ” “But why n’t they be gay?

LU MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE

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. 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.

How gay is ? Whatever the director’s stated tent, the answer seems to be: as gay as you want to be.

‘LU’ DIRECTOR “TALKED ABOUT” THE FILM BEG A GAY LOVE STORY

\u201cCryg joyful gay tears for all the nfed LGBTQ+ kids who will watch Pixar's LUCA and have their ner world validated.

\u201d — ClassicMovieGay (@ClassicMovieGay).

The New York Tim their review of Lu, saw the queer allegory plaly, offerg the cheeky alternate tle of Calamari By Your Name — a reference to Call Me By Your Name (2017), the Amy Award-wng gay g-of-age film starrg Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer. Related: Anthony Mackie Com Unr Fire For Homosexualy Comments. Another story makg headl this week related to a Disney property’s perceived reprentatn of a gay relatnship volved Marvel’s new Capta Ameri, Anthony Mackie.

I'M SORRY, BUT "LU" IS TOTALLY A GAY MOVIE, AND THE 18 TWEETS PROVE IT

When asked about the relatnship between Mackie’s Sam Wilson and Bucky Barn (Sebastian Stan) The Faln and The Wter Soldier, the actor was ls than enthed by fans sertg a homosexual subtext. The ia of two guys beg iends and lovg each other 2021 is a problem bee of the exploatn of homosexualy.

Jt a ltle over halfway through Pri Month, we are seeg people flock to Twter to prent their theori on why and how the lead duo Disney and Pixar’s latt g-of-age animated feature film, Lu, is, fact, gay.

IS LU A GAY METAPHOR?

So do Lu have a gay character after all, or is this jt a se of fans creatg a headnon that’s gag tractn and onle clout? Do Lu have a gay character?

While Disney has not e on the rerd sayg that Lu and Alberto are gay, we (and many a Twter er! ) believe that the great mds at Pixar may have meant for the movie’s plot to be an overall metaphor for gayns and acceptance. I KNOW #Lu isn’t an explicly gay movie.

So while no character Lu has been intified by Disney outright as gay, we n very well read the subtext, metaphors, and straight-up visual evince (all of those nocent touch! In rponse to viewers who reacted to trailers by hopg the film might be a childhood gay romance, Lu director Enri Casarosa rapidly shut the notn down, sayg “I was really keen to talk about a iendship before girliends and boyiends e to plite thgs. The Deep is portrayed as horrible place of self-nial, but they’re willg to make him suffer to keep him away om what they see as immoral, a clear parallel to the nversn therapy or wilrns therapy that so many young LGBTQ+ people are subjected to by homophobic muni.

DISNEY FILM LU NEARLY FEATURED A GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN MA CHARACTERS

His rponse was simple: “I’d say is meant to be terpreted by the viewer […] If you thk Le is gay, of urse he is.

IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE

” Hal regnized that some people benefted om readg the character as gay, and acknowledged that there isn’t a sgle rrect terpretatn of Le. Unfortunately, none of the tangible romantic chemistry between Lu and Alberto was ever ma official, and Lu director Enri Casarosa explaed that while makg the film's two lead characters gay was fely a possibily, he end up wantg to make the film about a "pre-romance" part of many children's liv.

"The news of Giulia almost beg queer Lu on the heels of The Walt Disney Company beg hot water wh a lot of s LGBTQ+ fans for fundg and supportg legislators Florida who support the state's ntroversial "Don't Say Gay" bill. In the same Variety report mentned earlier, was also revealed that Pixar animators jt rtored a same-sex between two characters the upg Lightyear movie after a group of ncerned employe released a statement earlier March claimg executiv at Disney had censored all attempts to portray stanc of "overtly gay affectn" om storyl var Pixar is streamg on Disney+. When Pixar first released the trailer for animated film Lu, LGBTQ viewers were quick to note more than a few siari wh Osr-wng gay drama Call Me by Your Name.

'LU' DIRECTOR ADMS THEY 'TALKED ABOUT' MAKG THE LEADS GAY BUT CID TO FOC ON A 'PRE-ROMANCE' IENDSHIP

So strong was the gay reactn to Lu that the film’s director, Enri Casarosa, was forced to go on rerd last year and say that was about iendship, not romance.

Viewers noted siari between Lu (left), and gay drama Call Me By Your Name. READ NEXTIsland Hoe Staff Says “Keep Key Wt Gay”New York Man Fatally Stabbed Possible Anti-Gay Hate CrimeD. Lu is a gay movie.

WA A SEC — ARE THE MA CHARACTERS PIXAR’S ‘LU’ GAY?

This movie is 1, 000% a metaphor for the growg up gay experience. I'm jt stg here after watchg #Lu unable to stop thkg about how was a metaphor for beg gay. Jt saw Lu, & I don’t re what anyone else says, ’s the first gay animated film by Disney/Pixar.

LU DIRECTOR SAYS DISNEY FILM NEARLY FEATURED GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN MA CHARACTERS: ‘WE TALKED ABOUT ’

Watchg lu and giulia sayg all three of them "drs weird" when they llectively look like a gay iend group 2021................ Also me, watchg Lu: gay? Cryg joyful gay tears for all the nfed LGBTQ+ kids who will watch Pixar's LUCA and have their ner world validated.

I feel like Lu will make a lastg imprsn on the LGBTQ muny bee even though the characters weren’t stated gay clearly draws on many experienc that gays face adolcence and even after speakg as a 19-year-old out guy I uld relate to #Lu #PixarLu. Alberto and lu not beg able to let go of each others hands is the most heart breakg thg omfg i love gays. Are Lu and Alberto Gay?

LU FANS ARE NVCED 'S A GAY LOVE STORY AND THE MEM ARE INIC

Therefore, even while no character the film intifi as openly gay, fans strongly relate to the story of Lu and Alberto. For queer folks who watched Disney and Pixar’s 2021 film Lu, the gay subtext between ma characters Lu and his iend Alberto were credibly hard to miss. In spe of how queer this msage feels and how a possible gay romance was talked about for Lu, Casarosa speaks about beg surprised at “the amount” of people talkg about a romantic nnectn between the two boys.

Nohels, the Disney director fds the gay muny fdg solace Lu and s msage to be “wonrful and even more powerful. 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.