Beauty in this Beast
Who would have thought that recreating a character from manservant to gay man would have created this much controversy?
That's the impact of making Le Fou, the valet of sorts in Disney's newly released "Beauty and the Beast", proudly gay. Not just in the closet gay, not just effeminate gay, but out and proud gay.
Hell came in the form of the National Council of Churches in Singapore, which said that this was "an attempt to influence young children and socialise them at an early age into thinking that the homosexual lifestyle is normal."
Was that why Singapore rated the film PG, which meant children could only watch the film together with their parents? Indonesia was even stricter, allowing screenings for audiences above the age of 13 only. But wait, here comes Malaysia! Not to be outdone, Malaysia demanded that the entirety of the gay content, or a whole four and a half minutes, be cut from the film before the movie could be shown to sensitive Malaysian eyes.
In response, news reports had it that Disney pulled out the movie from the entire country. Which left me confused a little bit, since Orson Liyu, a prominent Malaysian fashion designer (already introduced to Cebu via the celebrated Weddings in the Waterfront era) had posted photos of a Beauty and the Beast premier in Kuala Lumpur, where he had also apparently shown bridal or evening gowns. The dashing Orson Liyu, still looking very much the headturner, had been very upbeat in his messages of thanks, and displaying gorgeous backdrops of the movie. So what gave? Did the movie screening push through or not?
Apparently not. Orson later relayed to me that the fashion show accompanying the movie premier had pushed through, but not the actual movie showing. So no Disney moment for the VIPs invited to the premiere. Awkward! That's 1 for Disney and 0 for bigoted government censors!
This wasn't just a battle with conservative governments in South East Asia, by the way. Russia had allowed screening, but only after limiting it to audiences above 16 years of age. If the child was below 16, apparently, the rule is that the child should be accompanied by someone else above 16. (Perfect opportunity for older gay people to chaperone their younger gay friends to the movie, if you ask me).
I haven't watched the movie yet, so I can't really comment on the content. Whether the portrayal was beautiful, foul, or inane is something I will have to pass on. But the bloggers are already out attacking Le Fou, saying the character is weak and sniveling, and hardly a role model for gay children. (See, for example, The Independent's column questioning why the Beast shouldn't have been gay while Belle should have been a "devilishly handsome boy")
So, controversy on both sides.
Here in the Philippines, the movie came and well, showed. No controversy, no hullaballoo. After all, the usual foaming anti-gay Catholic Church spokespersons were probably busy attending to more important matters, like extrajudicial killings. So not much attention need be paid to gay scenes in fictional movies.
If they wanted to they could have attacked "Die Beautiful" last December, which had not just five minutes of gayness in it, but (spoiler alert) a whole extravaganza of drag queens, love scenes, gay rape moments, you name it. I heard "Ned's Project" also aired last year, was lesbian-themed. Plus there has been a whole slew of gay love stories that are just being churned out by the industry.
The Philippines has been lucky in this score. We don't have that fear of prejudice, scorn and bullying, and real, physical violence, that meet gay men and lesbians in other countries. Prejudice isn't state sanctioned. And religious-based persecution has calmed.
But as we have learned and seen, even in the most advanced countries, freedom is fragile. The real test is making that freedom last. Making it real, making it stable and visible. Perhaps for gay activists in this country, that should be the challenge they should pose to themselves.
Just last month, an Indonesian visitor kept raising the gay specter practically every time we would plan something or meet someone new. "Will there be gay people there?" "Is he gay?" "They're boyfriends? And everybody knows?" Underlying all these questions was, I thought, a tension that had its foundations in the anti-gay atmosphere in his country.
I had to remind myself that his reality was so different from mine. And in sudden clarity, saw just how precious the freedoms here are.
And yes, beautiful.
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