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:
- DO DISNEY’S ‘LU’ HAVE A GAY CHARACTER?
- 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 MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE
- I'M SORRY, BUT "LU" IS TOTALLY A GAY MOVIE, AND THE 18 TWEETS PROVE IT
- THIS CHARACTER DISNEY-PIXAR’S ‘LU’ WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GAY
- HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?
- WA A SEC — ARE THE MA CHARACTERS PIXAR’S ‘LU’ GAY?
- THIS 'LU' CHARACTER WAS ALMOST MA TO BE GAY
DO DISNEY’S ‘LU’ HAVE A GAY CHARACTER?
* is luca confirmed to be gay *
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.
SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY
Pixar’s newt film, ‘Lu,’ featur two sea creatur hidg their te inty orr to blend , and some people thk ’s about beg gay. * is luca confirmed to be 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?
'LU' DIRECTOR ADMS THEY 'TALKED ABOUT' MAKG THE LEADS GAY BUT CID TO FOC ON A 'PRE-ROMANCE' IENDSHIP
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! 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.
LU MAY NOT BE A GAY NARRATIVE, BUT ’S ABSOLUTELY A QUEER ONE
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. 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.
I'M SORRY, BUT "LU" IS TOTALLY A GAY MOVIE, AND THE 18 TWEETS PROVE IT
"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+.
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.
THIS CHARACTER DISNEY-PIXAR’S ‘LU’ WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GAY
"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.
HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?
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.
WA A SEC — ARE THE MA CHARACTERS PIXAR’S ‘LU’ GAY?
” Hal regnized that some people benefted om readg the character as gay, and acknowledged that there isn’t a sgle rrect terpretatn of Le. 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. 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.
THIS 'LU' CHARACTER WAS ALMOST MA TO BE GAY
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.