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Children's movie: Beauty and the beast film remake includes gay plot, sparks worldwide controversy


Calllaris

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Disney film studio is put on the spot as news spreads that its live action remake of Beauty and the Beast may contain a gay subplot, in what is being described as a first and now a last for any high budget children’s film.

 

Conservative pundits all around the globe and many cinemas alike are protesting the “unnatural” inclusion.

 

Equally, concerned parents are asking how they are supposed to explain to their children that a film featuring a lot of children's attraction has a male character who falls in love with another man.

 

One parent who was protesting outside a cinema in the USA, few days ago said "It’s just wrong to expose children to such material,.. “Why, if they see gay characters at such an impressionable age, they may grow up thinking gays are just regular people who are part of the rich tapestry of a society that we live in, and I hate to think what that could lead to. They may even grow up to be gay, and we all know that the lack of gay characters in children’s films is the only thing stopping people from being gay up until this point.”

 

Other Parents were also said to be outraged that Disney had taken the liberty of changing an existing well known storyline in an attempt to broaden its inclusiveness. “It’s an outrage that they’d think it’s okay to just go in an meddle with the story of a classic like this!” commented one concerned parent online. “When I go to see an adaptation of a film, I expect them to make the film exactly the same as the last time they made it. Why else would you remake a film if not to simply retell a story that’s already been told?”

 

In spite of all these, Disney has so far held its ground against the protesters, explaining that as a company Disney seeks to be welcoming and inclusive of all people no matter what their gender, race, or sexuality. “All walks of life are welcome in our films,” the company announced in a press release, “as long as they represent a large and cashed up demographic.”

 

Disney has also clarified that earlier reports of explicit homosexuality in the film were wrong. A spokesperson has explained that the line in questions was actually “Lumière loves the clock”, and had simply been misheard.

 

Russia reacts:

 

On Saturday (4 March), news broke the Russian government was considering banning the film under its strict ‘gay propaganda’ laws. Vitaly Milonov, a member of the State Duma, urged the Russian government to ‘scrutinize’ the film to see whether it held up against the anti-gay laws. Milonov is also the politician who wrote the law.

 

In a letter to the culture ministry, he said Beauty and the Beast showed ‘overt and shameless propaganda of sin and sexual perversion under the guise of a fairy tale’.

 

On March 6, the ministry formally announced Beauty and the Beast would be shown. But they also gave the film a 16+ rating.

 

“We are issuing an exhibition license to the movie without any problems,” Vyacheslav Tyelnov, head of the culture ministry’s film department, told KinoPoisk.ru. “ “The age restriction will Be 16+.

 

Since 2013, Russia adopted ‘gay propaganda’ laws, which effectively gag all LGBTI material.

 

A Russian actor Pavel Derevyanko told state-run TV Russia 24: “I will not take my kid to this movie.”

 

The movie is due to be released in Russia on 16 March.

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