'Lu' Director Says Makg the Lead Characters Gay Was 'Talked About'

Contents:

• IS LU A GAY METAPHOR?
• SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY
• 'LU' DIRECTOR ADMS THEY 'TALKED ABOUT' MAKG THE LEADS GAY BUT CID TO FOC ON A 'PRE-ROMANCE' IENDSHIP
• LU DIRECTOR SAYS THEY NSIRED MAKG LU AND ALBERTO EXPLICLY GAY
• HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?
• IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE
• LU MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE
• WA A SEC — ARE THE MA CHARACTERS PIXAR’S ‘LU’ GAY?
• LU FANS ARE NVCED 'S A GAY LOVE STORY AND THE MEM ARE INIC

IS LU A GAY METAPHOR?

Are Lu and Alberto Gay? Therefore, even while no character the film intifi as openly gay, fans strongly relate to the story of Lu and Alberto. 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.

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.

SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY

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!) prent the film as a subtle pictn of a buddg same sex relatnship, as well as reprentative of an allegory for queerns today’s world.

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 Portorosso.They'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 is all about platonic iendships."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 explored.Makg Lu and Alberto explicly gay or queer wouldn't have felt ntrived.

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

It would have been a meangful nfirmatn of what is already a story rich gay subtext. Sadly, this ntu Disney's trend of shuttg out the LGBTQ muny."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."It was important to me that people who go to see this movie feel that they're beg reprented the film," the director JJ Abrams told Vany Fair before "Skywalker's" release.But the easily missed scen don't unt as reprentatn. 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.—young_nova (@young_nova88) June 18, 2021.

LU DIRECTOR SAYS THEY NSIRED MAKG LU AND ALBERTO EXPLICLY GAY

—ClassicMovieGay (@jblikmovi) June 19, 2021What would have ma even more powerful, though, is if the movie explicly embraced the unniable queer subtext through dialogue.

HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?

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.

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.

IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE

Watchg the close relatnship the ma characters Lu and Alberto have, many even went and clared the animated versn of the gay g-of-age 2017 drama, "Call Me by Your Name, " starrg Timothée Chalamet and Armie "Lu" director Enri Casarosa has always said while dog prs that the story is based on his straight relatnship wh his bt iend growg up Italy, a recent terview wh The Wrap he did adm that for a moment while velopg the story they wonred if Lu and Alberto should be more than jt iends.

"It's a shame that this cisn has e when a gay romance uld have so easily and naturally be explored, " he wrote.

"Makg Lu and Alberto explicly gay or queer wouldn't have felt ntrived, would have been a meangful nfirmatn of what is already a story rich gay subtext. Many fans of Lu believe that the movie is a queer-d gay love story.

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

Lu director Enri Casarosa has revealed that there were nversatns about possibly makg Lu an explicly gay soon as Lu me out last year, LGBTQ+ viewers immediately nnected wh the Disney+ movie.

Not to mentn, they face prejudice om humans for beg different and have to hi who they are om prevly asserted that their relatnship is platonic but he's now nfirmed that he nsired makg MORE: Lu fans are nvced 's a gay love story and the mem are inic. Lu director says they nsired makg Lu and Alberto explicly gay.

Enri Casarosa, the director of Disney and Pixar's beloved 2021 animated film Lu, went on the rerd a recent terview wh The Wrap, openg up about how there were discsns about possibly makg the film's two lead characters -- the tular sea monster Lu and his fellow aquatic btie Alberto -- gay. Unfortunately, none of the tangible romantic chemistry between Lu and Alberto was ever ma official the film, and Casarosa is now talkg about why that was, even though makg the characters gay was reportedly a possibily. When director Enri Casarosa says he didn’t tend to make Lu a gay romance, I believe him.

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

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

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

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.