Pixar director Enri Casarosa drew heavily om faiar g-out stori and other "gay narrative" trop for his animated movie Lu. (It’s all there, om nversn therapy to passg privilege.) But he’s still nyg any gay ntent, shuttg down queer viewers who see themselv the film. The bate mirrors other s, om Star Wars’ Le Skywalker to Anthony Mackie’s ments on The Faln and the Wter Soldier, where LBGTQ+ viewers terpret stori through their own lens, and the creators try to ny them. Here’s why eedom of terpretatn matters.
Contents:
- ‘LU,’ CHILDHOOD IENDSHIP AND THE DISURSE AROUND GAY FISH
- DO DISNEY’S ‘LU’ HAVE A GAY CHARACTER?
- LU MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE
- 'LU' DIRECTOR ADMS THEY 'TALKED ABOUT' MAKG THE LEADS GAY BUT CID TO FOC ON A 'PRE-ROMANCE' IENDSHIP
‘LU,’ CHILDHOOD IENDSHIP AND THE DISURSE AROUND GAY FISH
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. * does luca mean gay fish *
Young iendship wh d gay unrton? But is worth thkg about the implitns of this film and s potential as a gay narrative. Relatnships between people sometim change as children grow to themselv; the love between Lu and Alberto is a strong platonic love, but even if they are not explicly gay, that do not mean they are straight.
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.
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.
DO DISNEY’S ‘LU’ HAVE A GAY CHARACTER?
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.
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?
LU MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE
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.
'LU' DIRECTOR ADMS THEY 'TALKED ABOUT' MAKG THE LEADS GAY BUT CID TO FOC ON A 'PRE-ROMANCE' IENDSHIP
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. 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. 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.