Once again, a kiss between two fictional characters is causing an uproar among conservatives around the world.
Pixar’s Lightyear — a science fiction adventure about the iconic Toy Story character — will no longer screen in as many as 14 countries including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, where censors have rejected the film due to a lesbian kiss, as confirmed by Variety on Monday.
In the movie, one of Buzz’s fellow Space Rangers, Hawthorne (voiced by Emmy winner Uzo Aduba), is shown to be in a relationship with another woman, and the two share a brief kiss on the lips at one point. Disney executives originally planned to cut the scene entirely, but after backlash over the company’s response to the “Don’t Say Gay” controversy and an open letter from employees alleging that the company stifles “nearly every moment” of LGBTQ+ love, the scene was re-added to the final studio cut.
Now, it seems that Lightyear will be absent from theaters across the West Asia region, with agencies offering varying excuses for the ban. Although Lightyear was initially approved in the UAE, the country’s National Media Council tweeted yesterday that the film was in “violation of the country’s media content standards” after some social media users alleged it “insulted” Muslims and Islam.
Meanwhile, Malaysian censors delivered a list of reasons why Lightyear’s license had been revoked, including scenes of political protest that might offer “unhealthy teachings” to moviegoers and concerns that screening the film would worsen Malaysia’s relationship with China. (Lightyear’s status in China is still undetermined, but it is unlikely to screen there, according to the South China Morning Post.)
Last year, Disney’s West Side Story remake met a similar fate in the region when agencies in six countries blocked it, as its transgender version of the character Anybodys — embodied by nonbinary actor Iris Menas — flew in the face of laws criminalizing LGBTQ+ identities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and elsewhere.
It’s worth noting that last; while the kiss might be a convenient line in the sand for censorious governments, there are clearly other themes and scenes that were also likely to get Lightyear banned, because authoritarians care much more about maintaining control than being ethically coherent. Still, it’s pretty sad that, in 2022, a lot of people still can’t even handle two women made entirely of pixels sharing a chaste smooch — not even long enough to enjoy a goofy Disney cash-grab. To online piracy, and beyond!
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