There appears to be a controversy surrounding one of the characters in the live-action remake of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Specifically, one of the characters, LeFou. It garnered quite a discussion everywhere on the Internet right now... I know, I seemed to be overdramatic about it. I just... felt like wanting to talk about it, since this appears to be the first time Disney pulled-off something like this.

According to the articles, the controversy stems from a scene at the end of the movie, just a 2-seconds-long scene of LeFou dancing with another man. And that short scene alone has been overblown by so many critics who felt that gay people are still being ridiculously stereotyped in the media. LeFou himself is portrayed about a man confused about his sexuality throughout the movie. According to the director's own words, LeFou is "somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston."

In Russia, the movie was given an adult rating thanks to that scene. And a drive-in theater in the US state Alabama refused to screen the movie for the same reason, effectively banning the movie there.

And here, in Malaysia, our censorship board has technically approved the movie to be screened here, under one condition: that that 2-second scene be removed or censored. (I shouldn't have to remind you that homosexualism is illegal here, especially since kids will be watching this movie, too.) Disney's response? They pulled-out the movie's screening away from this country! It's such a huge deal that it made quite a lot of news on the Internet, and crushed Malaysian fans' hearts who wished to watch this movie, including my parents, who had been planning to buy tickets for this movie.

Personally, I wished that they'd be more subtle in their approach at depicting LeFou's sexuality. I mean, I don't mind that LeFou is gay in this movie; I just wanted it to be something that only few people who get the gay references will get. Dancing with another man is, well... too obvious. To be fair, though, I don't really feel like wanting to watch this movie myself. x_o I like the original animated movie better. Sure, you could say that LeFou in that original animated movie is also gay, but even if he was indeed gay, at least it wasn't as obvious and/or his sexuality was even brought-up at all. LeFou's relationship with Gaston in that movie is more like unconditional idolism and hero-worshipping towards Gaston, a trait also shared with the other townspeople.