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Pixar's Luca will be gracing the screens on through Disney+ and given that Pixar is off to a head start with diversification, this coming-of-age story has piqued the interest of the LGBTQ+ community as the movie's characters seem to be an allegory of being queer. Although there is no confirmation that it is a queer story from any of the creators of the film, some believe it is.
What is Luca?
Animated by one of the largest animation studios in the game, Pixar Animation Studios, and to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures through their streaming platform Disney+, Luca is described as a coming-of-age film that happens on the seaside of the Italian Riviera. It follows Luca, a young boy having the best summer of his life with gelato, pasta, and riding scooters. But he has a secret: being a sea monster.
The directorial debut of Enrico Casarosa penned by Mike Jones and Jesse Andrews, and produced by Andrea Warren, Luca has the voice cast of Jacob Tremblay as Luca Paguro, Jack Dylan Grazer as Alberto Scorfano, Emma Berman as Giulia Marcovaldo, Maya Rudolph as Daniela Paguro, Jim Gaffigan as Lorenzo Paguro, Marco Barricelli as Massimo Marcovaldo, and Saverio Raimondo as Ercole Visconti. The film is dedicated to its supposed musical composer, Italian musician Ennio Morricone, who died before being offered to do such.
What is Queer?
For starters, sexual orientation is the person's attraction to another, may it be physical or emotional, and gender identity is how a person expresses their gender like how they present themselves and how they relate to their bodies.
Falling under the sexual orientations and gender identities that are not heterosexual or cisgender are those under the LGBTQ2S+ which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and two-spirit.
Lesbians are females who identify themselves as females while physically and emotionally attracted to the same, gays are the opposite of this in males, bisexual are those who have that attraction to more than one gender, transgenders are those who identify themselves different from their assigned gender at birth, questioning is those still unsure, and two-spirit has feminine and masculine in the same person.
As for queer, it is a broad term inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities not falling under the others. It includes all those who are not straight nor those whose gender identity and expression are the same as the one which was assigned at birth or cisgender for short.
Is Luca a Queer Coming-of-Age Movie?
To clarify, the director of Luca, Enrico Casarosa cleared the air in a report from Polygon that there would be no romance in the film at all and it would all be about a childhood friendship before love and relationships complicate things. Casarosa said, "I was really keen to talk about a friendship before girlfriends and boyfriends come in to complicate things, this was about their friendship in that pre-puberty world."
Although there is no confirmation from the studio, nor any of the parties involved in the film, some believe that Luca is actually a queer coming-of-age film, even comparing it to the film Call Me By Your Name directed by Luca Guadagnino which is a film praised by the LGBTQ+ community for representation of the sexuality of the characters. Coincidentally, the name of the director is the same as the Pixar film.
Many views arise on such a topic that Luca is a queer film from its colorful and dreamy production to its synopsis which provides: "a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta, and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water's surface."
As some would describe it, the film is an "allegory to being gay" with the titular character hiding his real identity as a sea monster. A YouTuber, Lets Talk Cartoons, shared that the film does not deny nor confirm its incidents being a queer one and if so, there should be no problem with it despite being a movie for kids. The YouTuber explained that such representation would mean a lot, especially to queer kids.
Whether or not Luca is indeed a queer coming-of-age film is still debatable and dependent on the perspective of the person watching it. Either way, it's a film celebrating friendship before all the complicated things of adulthood kick in, it is refreshing new content from the long list of films animated by Pixar which clearly made an impact in the industry.
Luca premieres on June 18, 2021, via Disney+.
Related: Pixar Luca Controversy Explained for Disney Movie
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