Yes, yes, I know, I keep waxing and waning when it comes to this blog. It’s never far from my mind, but time is extremely illusive. Soon, I will write a week in my life.
The rest of this post will have spoilers, but they’ve been confirmed by the cast and crew.
Tonight Disney confirmed that the character of LeFou will be gay. On top of Belle being rewritten as a confident inventor who invents the washing machine (they said that we were never given a reason for the townspeople to hate her, even though we totally were, and now there’s a reason that they should all want to be her best friend), Maurice being demoted from inventor to senile old fellow, and Beast being a lover of literature (so being a bookwork is good enough for him, but not for Belle…?), we have another social commentary issue. I’m not sure where on earth the story is anymore. It’s buried under all the social commentary!
However, there are some HUGE problems with having LeFou be gay.
Who is the character who mentally and physically abuses him?
Disney’s first openly-gay character is not only in love with someone who isn’t gay (meaning a dead-end…mercifully in this case), he’s in love with his abuser. Rather than getting to hope LeFou finds happiness with the person he’s in love with (it could have been sweet if he and another man had eyes for each other and exchanged sweet, shy smiles), we’re left to hope that he’s broken–hearted because that’s better than ending up in an abusive relationship.
I really wanted to love this movie. When I heard it rumored, I was excited, and when it was confirmed, I was thrilled. But as more and more has come out about it, an extremely high amount, actually, that has been confirmed, almost as if they’re trying to justify some of these changes ahead of time, the less and less excited I am to see it. The scenery and sets are stunning, the background characters’ clothing are wonderful, most of the main cast’s wardrobes are as well (Emma’s yellow gown is very, very modern, but that’s the least of my aggravations when it comes to Emma Watson, who has made it painfully apparent that she doesn’t understand the role of women and their clothing, namely corsets, throughout history, while painting herself as an expert on the very thing that is actually my career), but when it comes to the changes made to the characters themselves, and the super-secret change to the end, only said as Belle will be the one to save the day, I am no longer looking forward to this movie. I’m actually upset.
LeFou being put into a position of loving an abuser, something it seems we’re supposed to root for, has made my anger explode.
Great job, Disney. The first gay romance is once we need to root against because it’s a dangerous one. FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC.
Alys Marchand 