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

Contents:

• LU DIRECTOR SAYS THEY NSIRED MAKG LU AND ALBERTO EXPLICLY GAY
• 'LU' DIRECTOR ADMS THEY 'TALKED ABOUT' MAKG THE LEADS GAY BUT CID TO FOC ON A 'PRE-ROMANCE' IENDSHIP
• DO DISNEY’S ‘LU’ HAVE A GAY CHARACTER?
• IS LU A GAY METAPHOR?
• SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY
• LU MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE
• HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• I'M SORRY, BUT "LU" IS TOTALLY A GAY MOVIE, AND THE 18 TWEETS PROVE IT
• IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE

LU DIRECTOR SAYS THEY NSIRED MAKG LU AND ALBERTO EXPLICLY GAY

Many fans of Lu believe that the movie is a queer-d gay love story. 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. 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.

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

"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.

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

It would have been a meangful nfirmatn of what is already a story rich gay subtext. "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.

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

IS LU A GAY METAPHOR?

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. 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. 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?

SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY

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! 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.

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

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. 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.

HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?

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. ” Hal regnized that some people benefted om readg the character as gay, and acknowledged that there isn’t a sgle rrect terpretatn of Le. In a certa way, ’s my first explic gay film.

I believe, as a gay artist, all my work has been filtered through both my male and gay perspective.

After all, I ma a documentary on what I nsired a very charged homoerotic movie that is Coppola´s “Rumble Fish. “Cola Mono” is very gay but is also a genre picture. I wanted to do a sort of gay slasher art movie, my own type of Giallo [‘70s Italian horror genre].

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

Or are they all openly gay, cludg the two leads, who I believe are brothers real life. A lot of the extras, mostly gay actg stunts and mols, were reced via Instagram and all were que exced to participate a movie like this.

Santiago is gay and was not sred of makg a movie like this. ) approach to the gay theme. I feel “Cola Mono” is a movie a gay kid would take his mother to see.

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

Now thgs have changed: femism and gay issu and diversy (all works of art of the Boom was male, straight, whe) on one hand; nobody argu that LA is urban and is also part of the global culture. I’m more than a McOndo guy or a Chilean thor or a gay du or whatever.

GAY THEMED FILMS von Aburto Alberto - Dailymotn. They've been wonrg if "Lu" is a gay allegory and Pixar's first queer love story.

IS LU PIXAR’S FIRST GAY MOVIE? MAYBE

In fact, once the previews me out, many viewers started parg the film to "Call Me By Your Name, " a g-of-age gay romance that was crilly (via Rotten Tomato, wh a 94 percent Tomatometer sre) and mercially well-received (via Deadle) when Sony Pictur Classics released 2017. On Twter, fans are fely readg gayns the ma characters — and they're lovg the feels the movie giv them as a rult.