It’s gay, in the sense that two male characters are doing something that expresses affection, though it feels so platonic they might as well be shaking hands. It’s certainly a moment, because it lasts for two seconds at the most. During a group dance, LeFou starts off dancing with a woman, and then strikes up with the dress-loving henchman.
As the movie wound to the close, I worried the dress bit would be the “exclusively gay moment,” which would have been a cheat: It doesn’t mean the henchman is necessary gay or straight, just that he’s a fan of looking good.īut then, as the characters get together for a big celebration at the end of the film, the real “exclusively gay moment” arrives. Two are disgusted, but the third smiles - a sort of gender-bending moment. Finally, an enchanted wardrobe attacks a trio of Gaston’s henchman, forcing them into powder, wigs, and dresses. Potts, where she tells him that he deserves better than Gaston - some light gay condescension. Then, as the villagers attack the Beast’s castle in the climax, LeFou shares a moment with Mrs. When he sings “Gaston,” he wraps Gaston’s arms around him, before Gaston pushes him aside - a gay-ish split-second. Later, when Gaston asks him why he hasn’t settled down with a women, LeFou jokes that he’s too clingy - a vaguely gay insinuation.
Early in the film, LeFou asks Gaston why he isn’t happy with just the two of them together, which is more of a slightly gay instant. Watching Beauty and the Beast at an advance screening, I spent most of the film watching for that one “exclusively gay moment.” Reader, it takes a while to arrive. It’s also in keeping with the progressive updates elsewhere in the film: Belle’s an inventor! She’s empowered! She’s a fan of Shakespeare, though the Beast, a true lit-bro, makes fun of her for loving Romeo and Juliet. (When Belle leaves, the Beast sings about being sad - a song that I swear is about 188 minutes long.) The most noteworthy change, which has already gotten press before the film’s release, is the fact that Josh Gad’s LeFou is gay, a Disney first, and he gets to have what director Bill Condon called a “nice, exclusively gay moment.” According to Condon, the change is tribute to the late Howard Ashman, who died of AIDS after writing the lyrics to the original film. Most of Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast treads faithfully in the footsteps of the original, aside from an updated story line here and there, and a new song or two. Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993 and only in 1999 lifted its classification as a mental illnesses. – Rappler.Mild spoilers follow for 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, which has a nearly identical plot to 1991’s Beauty and the Beast. With ultra-conservative views on morality, Milonov has attacked everything from Facebook to the Eurovision Song Contest and called for the creation of a morality police to fine people who violate “traditional values”. The law which prompted international condemnation bans distribution of information that could interest those under age 18 in “non-traditional sexual relationships.” It has been used as a pretext to ban gay pride events. He became notorious as one of the chief instigators of Russia’s law banning “gay propaganda”, signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2013. Milonov became a member of the national parliament for the ruling United Russia party last year after serving as a regional lawmaker in his home city of Saint Petersburg.
The Walt Disney Company Russia & CIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Milonov urged the culture minister to hold a special screening of the film ahead of the premiere and to “take measures to totally ban the showing of this film” if he found “elements of propaganda of homosexuality”. In a letter to Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky seen by RIA Novosti state news agency, MP Vitaly Milonov called the film “blatant, shameless propaganda of sin and perverted sexual relationships.”īill Condon, the director of the film due for release in Russia on March 16, has revealed that it will contain Disney’s “first exclusively gay moment”, although some critics have said it is less than overwhelming. MOSCOW, Russia – An ultra-conservative Russian lawmaker on Saturday, March 4, urged the culture ministry to check Disney’s upcoming film “Beauty and the Beast” for possible breaches of a law banning “gay propaganda”.