Pixar’s Lu isn’t a gay romance, or a romance at all, says director - Polygon

Contents:

• SORRY, FOLKS, PIXAR’S LU ISN’T GAY
• LU DIRECTOR SAYS DISNEY FILM NEARLY FEATURED GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN MA CHARACTERS: ‘WE TALKED ABOUT ’
• '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?
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• IF LU AND THE FALN AND THE WTER SOLDIER ARE GAY TO YOU, THEN THEY’RE GAY
• WA A SEC — ARE THE MA CHARACTERS PIXAR’S ‘LU’ GAY?
• HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?
• DISNEY FILM LU NEARLY FEATURED A GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN MA CHARACTERS
• PIXAR REPORTEDLY SCRAPPED GAY ‘LU’ STORYLE: ‘HOW DO WE DO THIS WHOUT A LOVE INTERT?’

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.

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.

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

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.

\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).

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

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. 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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

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? 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.

IF LU AND THE FALN AND THE WTER SOLDIER ARE GAY TO YOU, THEN THEY’RE GAY

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! Can’t 2 boys be close and iendly wh each other whout beg gay? Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay.

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

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.

Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021.

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

HOW GAY IS PIXAR’S LU?

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+.

Yet while Casarosa has unequivolly stated that the story is about the bonds of platonic iendship between two young men, the left has cid that he don’t really know what his own story is about, and that fact the boys are gay.

Siarly, a headle om AV Club reads, “If Lu and The Faln and The Wter Soldier Are Gay to You, Then They’re Gay, ” referencg two male characters om a Marvel seri on Disney+. In their ey, male relatnships nnot be nonsexual, and every teractn between two men has some form of homosexual unrton.

DISNEY FILM LU NEARLY FEATURED A GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN MA CHARACTERS

Men don’t need to be told that the only way to have ep nnectns wh other men is to be gay.

This mt-be-gay philosophy valu the importance of the male bonds that help shape young men to well-adjted adults. Anthony Mackie, ver your ears: Lu is gay.

PIXAR REPORTEDLY SCRAPPED GAY ‘LU’ STORYLE: ‘HOW DO WE DO THIS WHOUT A LOVE INTERT?’

While ’s not ma explic, Pixar’s latt—the sun-soaked tale about the transformative iendship between two young sea monsters who disguise their te inty to explore life on land among humans—mak for a rich parable for the queer g-of-age experience, and one that feels more genue and more heartfelt than any of the Disney rporatn’s meager attempts at “exclively gay moments” recent the ncern Mackie voiced last week, about “the exploatn of homosexualy, ” was a direct rponse to fans ’shippg a romance between his Sam Wilson and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barn the MCU, ’s hard not to read as a crique of the broar culture: that LGBTQ+ dienc, particular, misterpret certa characters and stori to— his words—“make themselv relevant and ratnal. ” In that sense, ’s a funny cince Mackie’s statement was published the day prr to Lu’s release: Ever sce s Call Me By Your Name-que synopsis was first revealed, was speculated (sometim jokgly) that the movie would be gay, or at least a gay metaphor. As director Enri Casarosa—who notably also receiv a “story by” cred—told our lleagu at 9, Lu wasn’t signed to be a gay allegory.

(Even the animated film’s tle seems like a nod to the gay romance, a reference to s director. Lu’s protagonist is signifintly younger than Call Me By Your Name’s—he’s more boy than buddg young man—and the film’s story reflects that, never addrsg romantic feelgs at all, and certaly g nowhere close to the teenaged yearng of Timothée Chalamet’s Polygon put a cheeky but blunt headle: “Sorry, folks, Pixar’s Lu isn’t gay.