'Lightyear' creative team managed to get censored lesbian kiss scene re-included
The kiss between two women that appears in «Lightyear", the movie of Disney Pixar, has not passed the censorship filter in 14 countries. The scene where two female characters kiss had been cut from the film, but was defended by the creative team at Pixar to be included in the film again. In it the character of Alisha, the commander of Lightyear, greets with a kiss with his partner with whom he is forming a new family.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and others Asian and Middle Eastern countries have banned the premiere of the prequel to the successful film Toy Story, scheduled for this Thursday, June 16. The content LGTBI of the film has caused its censorship in these countries where relationships between people of the same sex are criminalized and prosecuted by law.
Among the 14 countries that have banned the premiere are Kuwait, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt or Lebanon in addition to those already mentioned. and the premiere in China still hanging by a thread. The Media Regulation Office of the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth has pointed out in a statement on Twitter that the film will not be screened in the country because «violates the media content standards in force in the Emirates«.
The creative team defends the censored scene
The sequence of "Lightyear» is one of those that was defended by the animation team of Pixar three months ago due to the law against LGTBI rights in the State of Florida known as don't say gay, which prohibits teachers from discussing sexuality and gender identity in classrooms. It seemed that Disney would yield to this type of regulation given the lukewarm stance of the company's CEO, Bob Chapek, and his tendency to ignore the existence of the collective in his films.
«We make the film that reflects the world we live in. Nothing more. We have not added anything of our harvest. We only show the characters as they are. It is your truth. If there are people who have problems with it, it is even healthy to create a little controversy. Although, to be honest, I don't think much about it.says the manager Angus McLane.
family kiss
At one point in the movie, Alisha and his wife kiss. «Nor it was difficult to sell the idea to Disney«Declared galyn suman, producer of "Lightyear«. However, it seems that everything was not so easy at first, since the magazine Variety teased that the kiss had almost miraculously returned to the film after studio executives had initially demanded its removal. «Disney has eliminated nearly every moment of openly gay affection, regardless of protests from Pixar's creative teams and executive leaders.“, denounced the employees of the film studio in a letter.
Despite everything, it seems that the producer was clear about it and a simple kiss from a character that almost ended up being secondary, should not be silenced. «Representation, diversity and inclusion are concepts that we are paying close attention to and are very important to all of us.", Explain Susman. "It is not bad to create debate. Humanity is very good at arguing. It would be said that it is our specialty", ditch.
