I’m more than certain that Disney lovers everywhere can say that they are absolutely pumped to see the new, live-action version of the classic film, Beauty and the Beast. Starring Dan Stevens as the Beast and Emma Watson as Belle, this movie is bound to be a hit for the Disney company and a dream-come-true for us BATB fans. It has recently been brought to my attention, however, that some people are refusing to take their children to see this movie, and are even planning to participate in a boycott against Disney because of it. Why, you ask? Well, from what I can tell, it’s all due to a small, simple, yet familiar acronym that can be talked about in either a civil and human way, or an utterly nasty way-LGBT.
The character who is an apparently gay man in the movie is LeFou, who is played by Josh Gad. According to the director of the movie, LeFou is starting to realize that he is having feelings for Gaston, and he is unsure how to come about letting the conceited, Belle-crazy villain know about them. To be honest, I think it’s sort of sweet.
It was recently reported in the news that, in Northern Alabama, a drive-in had canceled its plans to show the movie, because of the openly gay character in it. They say that they are “first and foremost Christians who must take a stand when companies force their views on them.” However, when looking up the theater’s upcoming productions, it was shown that they were scheduled to show a “dragumentary” entitled “FIERCE!”, which is supposedly about the LGBT’s quest for equality in the form of drag queen entertainment. Is it just me, or do I smell a double standard here?
It has also been recently announced that a petition, that now has more than 50,000 signatures, has been created in an attempt to boycott Disney and this new version of Beauty and the Beast. The apparent purpose of this boycott is to inform Disney that, and I quote, “children's entertainment is no place to promote a harmful sexual political agenda."And that, my friends, is what I call absolutely ridiculous.
First of all, I feel that refusing to take your children to see an obviously age-appropriate movie made by the most kid friendly company that exists, just because there is a supposed homosexual character in it, is teaching our children and future generations of the world that it’s okay to discriminate and judge people based on their sexuality or anything else for that matter. And, in case it’s news to anyone else, it’s not. When speaking with a friend of mine about this matter, she made the comment that doing that is similar, if not identical, to refusing to see a movie or take a child to see a movie because there is a person of color in it. People can deny it all they want, but at the end of the day, discrimination and judgment is discrimination and judgment, no matter how it's phrased or taken into context.
Secondly, why must we ruin a classically beautiful movie with all of this? It’s DISNEY, for heaven’s sake! Why should people feel the need to wreak havoc on everything that they have a problem on, even on a kids’ company such as this? I’m perfectly aware of free speech and free way of thinking, but shouldn’t we draw a line somewhere? Political and religious ignorance and intolerance is everywhere else, why can’t we keep it far away from children-related things?
I don’t think that the magic of Disney should be coerced by political and religious negativity in such a matter. We as audience members need to, when watching this film, put all political matters aside and simply enjoy the movie. We have 2 choices here: we can either appreciate the beauty of this newly made classic, or we can be the beast that chooses to focus more attention on all of the things that we disagree with in the movie than the actual production itself. LGBT is a Tale As Old As Time that is disrespected in so many ways, and whether you want to appreciate the movie or belittle it and refuse to watch, Be Our Guest.
To read the full article on the Alabama drive-in incident, click HERE