Difficult start for Lightyear. Pixar’s animated film about the origins of Buzz Lightyear, the interplanetary explorer from Toy Story, has become the battleground in the fight for LGTBI rights. After sparking an internal revolution at Disney, the film adds a new controversy just days after its world premiere, on Friday, June 17th. Censorship will prevent one of the summer’s most anticipated films from being shown in Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and a handful of Asian countries like Malaysia. The ban comes in response to a sequence in which Alisha, a researcher married to a woman, kisses her partner on the mouth.
Executives at Disney, the company that has owned Pixar since 2006, asked that this sequence be shortened in the tape’s review. This sparked a scandal within the entertainment giant in March. Hundreds of employees denounced the censorship in a letter, as part of a strategy aimed at getting company management to step out of the lukewarm and speak out against what they believe is a discriminatory law in Florida, where Disney has six theme parks. This Republican-sponsored measure bans teaching in schools about gender and homosexuality issues to younger students.
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The employees called on their company to fight back in Florida. “At Pixar, we have seen beautiful stories filled with diverse characters who have come back from the Disney corporate review in a crumbled version of who they were,” reads the text to Bob Chapek, CEO. He tried to mitigate the damage with maneuvers and promised his employees to defend his voice. So one of the first moves was to reintroduce the sequence origin of the controversy in the film directed by Angus Maclane. “It’s hard not to be frustrated that this is still up for debate, that this is news. I think the goal is for us to get to a point where this is the norm, where this isn’t new territory, where it’s…” said Chris Evans, who provides the voice of Buzz, at the Londoner Preview of Buzz…recovering from Alisha’s kiss.
However, this is not the norm in many markets where Pixar intends to release Lightyear. This is the first film the animation studio is bringing to theaters two years after Soul, Luca and Red were shown in streaming. The re-release of the saga, which began 27 years ago, comes as studios are testing the public’s reaction in theaters following the outbreak of the pandemic. For now, there are promising signs that the appetite for a return to cinemas has been whetted, as Top Gun Part 2 has shown.
In Hollywood, it is common for studios to try their best to circumvent the censorship systems of the world’s various markets in the struggle for bigger box office. Pixar had not submitted the new part to the Saudi Arabian censors, knowing full well that it would not receive approval. The surprise came in the Emirates, according to Variety, who had given an initial yes and now refused to put it on their 200 screens. In a tweet, the body that regulates content in the territory asserted that the film was not licensed to screen because “it violates the country’s standards,” without giving any further details. Censors have already prevented the release of newer Marvel films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or The Eternals.
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A total of 14 countries have vetoed, including Indonesia, Egypt and Lebanon in addition to those mentioned. In many of them homosexuality is considered a crime. The release in China, one of the biggest film markets, is in the stars. Chinese censorship is among the strictest in the world. They often call for studies to be cut or modified to avoid forbidden topics such as homosexuality, references to Taiwan independence, or criticism of the regime. Studios often cave in to protect the box office.
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In the case of Lightyear, the production company has said it has yet to receive a definitive response from Beijing. “We’re not going to cut anything, especially something as important as the loving and inspiring relationship that shows Buzz what he’s missing out on through his choices, so that’s not going to be cut,” producer Galyn Susman told Reuters at the London red carpet preview.
After the US crisis caused by Lightyear, Disney is unlikely to back down in front of Chinese or other local censors. The company has already refused to modify the film for Malaysian authorities, who had suggested the Star Trek-like space adventure, in which a team of pilots and explorers visit planets, violated “homosexuality and unnatural sex” guidelines . The same reasons prevented the release of the Elton John biopic Rocket Man in the country.
A message of calm is being sent from Pixar. Despite the size of the Asian market, the Chinese box office accounted for just 3% of Toy Story 4’s worldwide collection, which surpassed $1 billion. Lightyear’s early reviews were lukewarm. Perhaps his most memorable fight is the one he waged against censorship in several countries around the world.