Revelations about childhood favourites
The recent controversy over the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ movie has made some take a second look at Disney characters in the past.
THE way LeFou, a character in the movie Beauty and the Beast, danced is “gay and the dialogue and the lyrics of the song are too”.
“In the same scene he also lifts up his shirt and shows a love bite on his tummy,” Malaysian Censorship Board (LPF) chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid told AFP.
“Even I wanted to bring my grandchildren to watch it. But there are rules. We don’t support LGBT.”
That’s the LPF chairman’s revelation of the “gay moment” his board cut in a musical scene featuring LeFou, the sycophantic sidekick to the vain Gaston.
The Walt Disney Co (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd appealed to the Home Ministry to overturn LPF’s decision. But the censorship board stood by its decision to cut a scene from the film.
“Movie companies cannot impose conditions on LPF. We will not budge,” he told The Star.
Disney’s liveaction remake of
Beauty and the Beast was scheduled for release on Thursday. But it was held back after the board’s order.
The controversy arose when director Bill Condon said that LeFou, played by Josh Gad, would have a “nice exclusively gay moment”.
Beauty and the Beast has not only raised controversy in Malaysia but worldwide.
It came under fire from religious figures in Singapore. The National Council of Churches Singapore said the inclusion of a “gay moment” in the liveaction remake was “totally unnecessary” and “signals a marked departure from the original 1991 classic”.
Russia’s Culture Ministry gave it a 16+ rating following pressure by an ultraconservative lawmaker pushing for a ban – meaning children under the age of 16 will not be allowed to watch it.
LeFou is arguably Disney’s first LGBT character. However, horror of horrors, it seems he’s not the first.
I read an article in theguardian. com titled, “Why Beauty and the Beast isn’t the first Disney movie for LGBT audiences”. And the article outed “suspiciously” gay Disney characters.
Timon and Pumbaa, the animated meerkat and warthog in The Lion King have a “happygolucky companionship” and the gay (and interracial) couple adopted baby Simba.
Scar, an alpha lion in The Lion King, “never found a mate in the pride”.
Baloo of The Jungle Book, according to the article, might be gay as he is a “nurturing, carefree single bear”.
Ursula, the vampy, spectacularly tentacled sea witch of The Little Mermaid, was famously modelled on superstar drag queen Divine.
“Pinocchio’s dream of being a ‘real boy’ is a journey of selfactualisation that has prompted many a metaphorical comparison to the comingout process; the same goes for sweet, sensitive Dumbo, whose chief point of difference from the rest – those enormous ears – at first makes him a figure of fun for bullying peers, before it enables him to soar,” said The Guardian.
“Pocahontas and Beauty and the Beast’s Belle are marked early on as different from the other girls. Ditto The Little Mermaid’s Ariel, whose desire not just to change her circumstances but change her physical form has made her an unlikely object of identification among some younger members of the transgender community – a girl who believes herself literally born in the wrong body.”
I also read on newnation.sg
(which claims to be 50% real news) that “Thousands of S’poreans turned gay after watching Beauty and the Beast”.
“Thousands of Singaporeans from all walks of life, who like to watch people sing songs and engage in bestiality, have turned gay,” newnation.sg reported.
“This after they watched Beauty and the Beast, which featured some gay scenes between two male fictional characters. As a result of witnessing the event, they have become gay, which is irreversible.”
It quoted Singaporean Tong Xing Lian as saying he was halfexpecting this to happen, but wasn’t sure if it would really come to pass.
“I should have heeded the warning of highly religious Singaporeans when they warned about the effects of watching gay moments,” Tong said.
“Now I am completely, utterly gay, there is simply no turning back to my straight ways, having been convinced the gay way is the only way.”
The report must be true as it was reported by a “fake” news portal.
No wonder there are kids out there who grew up to be gay after watching Disney cartoons. I had better go for a medical checkup to find out whether I’m gay, bisexual, heterosexual or metrosexual. All I know is I’m definitely human.
It is rather unfortunate that the movie might not be shown in Malaysia.
Just like Abdul Hamid who wanted to bring his grandchildren to watch Beauty and the Beast, I would like to bring my nineyearold daughter, Apsara, and threeyearold son, Sylverius Junior, to watch it on the big screen.
It would have been a great family outing.
I don’t think Junior, who I assume is straight, will turn gay after watching LeFou in action. I don’t think he even knows the concept of LGBT.
Perhaps Apsara might. Lately she has been asking me whether a man can marry a man. Must be something she saw on YouTube (which ironically is beyond the filter of the censor board).
Yesterday morning, I scrolled through my Twitter feed and saw a tweet by comedian Harith Iskander.
@HarithIskander tweeted: “Can’t take my kids to watch Beauty and the Beast? It’s ok. We’ll watch an Ombak Rindu DVD where the lead character rapes a helpless girl.”