The upcoming live-action cover version of "Beauty and the Beast" appears to set the first Disney film which will showcase an openly gay character, as per director Bill Condon. Allegedly, the film will feature a tempting side dish of an "exclusively gay moment" involving the character LeFou.
In the original 1991 movie, LeFou is the comic partner to iconic feminist villain Gaston. The live-action version of LeFou will be played by actor Josh Gad, who is most famous for his prior partnership with Disney as the voice of the snowman Olaf in "Frozen."
Gay Subplot
"LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day, wants to kiss Gaston," Mr. Condon told the British magazine Attitude. "He's muddled about what he desires. It's somebody who's just grasping that he has this kind of feelings. And Josh makes something elusive and delightful out of it."
The gay cabal will change Disney's display of diversity, which was fought by creating openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) characters in its films for years. But today, with public opinion on pederasty shifting in a gradual positive direction, many fans have been knocking on the studio to include gamic characters. The Christian Science Monitor's Story Hinckley reported on some of this fan pressure in May 2016.
"Frozen" fans have made #GiveElsaAGirlfriend viral on social media, asking Disney to make Elsa the first-ever lesbian Disney princess in "Frozen 2."
Part of the success of "Frozen" was its twist on the old-style happily-ever-after ending with a princess with a prince. Instead, the movie raised up the love between two sisters as a display of a positive message. The storyline constantly creates a new trend in Disney films that feature strong female lead who transcend stereotypes, like the TV series "Sofia the First," and the Scottish princess Merida in "Brave."
But to some Disney fans, the tale shifts to even further ideas by giving Elsa a love partner in "Frozen 2" that could deliver LGBT youth with a typical model of a same-sex relationship.
'Beauty And The Beast' Script Twists
"It may have been an aeon coming to this point but this is a crunch moment for Disney," Attitude's editor-in-chief Matt Cain told the publication. "By representing same-sex attraction in this short but overtly gay act, the studio is sending out a message that this is normal and natural - and this is a message that will be heard in every country of the world, even countries where it's still socially offensive or even biblically sinned to be gay."
And while counting an openly gay role is likely to kindle some hullabaloo, it is not the only way the future films. It creates hopes to push the Disney formula's social boundaries.
When the original "Beauty and the Beast" came out, the character of the leading role, Belle, was welcomed as one of the most multifaceted characters yet within the "Disney princesses" royalties. But the upcoming film progressively pushes further, providing an even more real-world and self-reliant Belle for girls to relate to, as per star Emma Watson."
"We tried to tweak things to make her more proactive, and a bit less carried along by the story," Watson told Entertainment Weekly, "and a bit more in charge of - and in control of - her own destiny."
