Let me preface this by saying how much I adore Pixar films and the many wondrous tales they have spun that appeal to the childlike wonder in all of us. They’ve made us care for a group of toys who awaken whenever their owner leaves the room, a family of inter-generational superheroes, the adventures of a senior citizen and a chubby Cub Scout, a Mexican boy connected to his ancestors through the power of music, a black man and his afterlife travels, and so many more. In all of these films, we see a wide range of characters of all ages, types, and personalities represented.
Except, of course, those in the LGBTQ+ community.
But then Luca came along, a story about a young humanoid sea creature who embarks upon a life-changing journey of self-discovery. For months, there was a small glimmer of hope in those first initial trailers. ‘Is it finally happening?’ we wondered. On June 13, 2021–smack in the middle of Pride month, no less–it dropped on Disney+. So we eagerly devoured this latest installment from everyone’s favorite powerhouse of computer-animated children’s films, absorbing its message in full. And reflected in its many themes, we saw ourselves. We promptly fell in love with it and took to the internet with excitement, still reeling from the first Pride month in which many of us were able to leave our homes in the latter days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘This is obviously a queer-coded film,’ we thought.
How could anyone else not see that? After all, there are numerous depictions scattered throughout the film that can be read as an allegory for coming out, or at least as queer subtext. Here are just a few (spoilers ahead!):
- Feeling closeted – Luca is hesitant to break through the surface of the water for fear of what might happen to him.
- The extrovert best friend – He meets Alberto, an extroverted adventurer type who encourages him to take that final leap in order to find out who he really is, and in the process, makes Luca feel more alive than he’s ever been.
- Curiosity – Luca is curious about visiting the surface, which his parents forbid out of concern for his safety. When they discover what he’s been doing, they threaten to send him away for the summer to live with his Uncle Ugo (conversion therapy). He panics and returns to the surface.
- Facing prejudice – The two boys swim to the nearby human town of Porto Rosso. But once in the town, they must remain in human form, because humans in Porto Rosso are terrified of sea monsters.
- First gay crush – Once Luca and Alberto meet Giulia, Luca begins spending more time with her. Alberto grows jealous, constantly frowning at her and getting visibly upset (without later context, it seems implied at this point that he has a crush on Luca).
- Outing someone else to stay closeted – Alberto reveals his sea monster form to Giulia to prove to Luca that humans will never accept him for who he is. Giulia gets scared. Luca draws attention away from approaching bullies by shouting “sea monster!”, ensuring Alberto is targeted instead.
- Abandonment issues/absent father – We find out Alberto’s father abandoned him, which many LGBT youth can relate to.
- Luca comes out during the race to save his friendship with Alberto after seeing him get hurt.
- Lesbian lovers – Two old women we’ve seen scattered across various scenes as humans lower their umbrellas with renewed pride when Luca wins the race, revealing they, too, were sea monsters all along (hinting that they might very well be lesbian partners).
- Letting your freak flag fly –Luca’s wise grandma proclaims at the end to his parents: “Some people will never accept him. But some will, and he seems to know how to find the good ones.” Many LGBT youth who experience estrangement by their families and communities experience the same, having to more or less build new families who will accept them and help them survive in the world.
Taken as separate vignettes, I might be able to walk back any argument that this has to do with LGBTQ+ representation, but as a whole, I simply cannot. That said, I can also understand how those who identify as cisgender-heterosexual might glean something completely different from it. Yet even some straight people I’ve known were more than a little aware of the queer subtext.
As it turns out, director Enrico Casarosa had come forward months prior when those initial trailers dropped amid much curiosity, attempting to set the record–rather disappointingly–straight. In typical Disney fashion, the LGBTQ+ community was again let down by Pixar with the statement that “this story is about a pre-romance time in children’s lives, before romance comes in to complicate things.”
And while that’s all well and good, it again does nothing for representation. Because fact is, the story of Luca would not have changed in any significant way if it were indeed a film about coming out and developing an innocent crush on a friend. Isn’t there something universally human about that, too?
Many of us who identify as LGBTQ+ made our frustrations known in articles, podcasts, Tweets, and the like, citing cowardice by Disney for not fully committing to what we long believed was going to be their first queer animated film. Because, well…the subtext is RIGHT THERE, dammit!
And then came the conservative backlash.
In the comment sections of Luca fan videos on YouTube, I’ve seen the following opnions expressed multiple times.
- “I can’t believe you people are so worried about the sexuality of children, that’s disgusting.”
- “Gay things have no place in a KIDS’ movie!”
- “They’re just friends, get over it and stop trying to sexualize children!”
This 1950’s attitude of equating gay people to pedophiles by insinuating we’re out to indoctrinate, recruit, or ‘sexualize’ them in any way is not only homophobic and disturbingly regressive, but it holds no basis in logical reality whatsoever. It’s a slippery slope argument conservatives love to make that if homosexuality is permitted in civilized society, other so-called ‘deviant’ practices must be permitted too. But historically–especially among countries who had queer rights far before the US–there is no evidence to support this theory. Wider society doesn’t jive with those who go after children, and the LGBTQ+ community sure as hell doesn’t.
Besides that, what consenting adults choose to do with other consenting adults behind closed doors is not the issue here, and it certainly isn’t when it comes to a Pixar film. So when we say we want representation in a movie like Luca, the demands are about acknowledging identity, not sexuality.
You don’t see anything beyond a kiss in children’s films with heterosexual characters that even do feature a romantic angle, so why would we demand otherwise with homosexual characters? It’s 2021. I thought–or at least I’d hoped–we were all getting on equal societal footing here. (As an aside, I could also point out how most Disney princesses are in fact between 12-15 years old when they meet their own questionably-aged romantic interests, but I digress.)
Anyway, my point is this. The way we grew up as kids is not so different from how you grew up and discovered your own romantic attractions. Kids develop crushes, no matter how they identify, or even if they haven’t figured it out yet (Luca certainly toed the line of this quite well, if you were paying attention to Alberto’s constant scowls directed at Giulia). It happens to everyone. It’s a universal human experience, just as universal as the things which continue to draw us all back to Pixar films in the first place.
Disney and Pixar damn well could create a family-friendly film with strongly-defined and well-researched LGBT+ characters. They could. It’s just that they choose not to.
And this, in my opinion, does a major disservice to everyone. Not just to those in the current LGBTQ+ community as it stands, but to the queer youth of tomorrow, as well as perhaps most importantly as to the education of young cisgender-heterosexual people.
Statistically, most of us have at least one family member who identifies as gay, lesbian, trans, non-binary, genderfluid, you name it. Many more children will grow up to identify as queer themselves (current statistics say about one in six adults identify as queer), and struggle to carve out a space for themselves in a world that is too often alienating and unaccepting.
So without representing these types of people accurately and respectfully in film–especially in children’s films–what other springboards will families have for age-appropriate discussion?
How much more alien will these kids come to feel if all they see of the world is what characters like Luca’s parents want him to see and experience? How will they make sense of, and thus navigate, those feelings? How will they come to treat their queer relatives?
This is why we need representation in something as big as a Pixar film. Because without it, all we have is decidedly gay-labeled media, a niche genre that typically portrays more painful, melodramatic narratives. Or alternatively, every now and then we get ‘representation’ for mere clout, such as the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it lesbian extras in the background of J.J. Abrams’ Rise of Skywalker. Personally, I’m tired of both.
What I really want to see is an exploration of those first natural romantic feelings shared between an introverted, socially awkward boy and his extroverted best friend who also happens to be a boy. What I really want to see is that feelings like jealousy might actually mean something, and that that ‘something’ is what could challenge your very sense of self and shake your whole world. What I really want is for Alberto to keep chasing Luca endlessly alongside that train for reasons he himself doesn’t yet understand, but will later discover when Luca returns the next summer.
What I really want is for Disney and Pixar to stop being so cowardly, and to realize that not only do other types of adults exist out there, but other types of kids as well, and they’re the ones who most need to see these stories and characters represented as reflections of who they’re growing into.
But none of that is happening yet. So I continue to embrace films like Luca as the best we’ll get for some time, longing for the day when these soulless corporate entities might finally prioritize our humanity over conservative feathers.
In the words of YouTuber Rowan Ellis, at the end of her own rant regarding Luca:
Peter the Author 