For all of the flack that the Walt Disney Company has gotten from the right over having “gone woke” to some on the left, Disney has not gone far enough in its LGBTQ+ representation in its films and television shows. Thus far, Disney has sought a middle ground that has done nothing more than anger both sides and now, with this latest twist, it seems the middle ground is also getting shaky for Disney.
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In the past, Disney has been accused of being “woke” after including blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments of LGBTQ+ love scenes or characters who are not explicitly gay but give a wink and a nod to the LGBTQ+ community. In the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast (2017), Lafou is clearly in love with Gaston, and there is a brief scene of him dancing with another man, but that is the end.
Both Strange World (2022) and Lightyear (2022) have openly gay characters, and in Lightyear, there is a brief kiss between two women in a montage scene. There is also a quick kiss between two women in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), but it's a brief moment in the background of a larger scene.
The Walt Disney Company, despite what some might say, has not gone all in on a storyline that features LGBTQ+ characters. But apparently, they had an opportunity and chose not to take it.
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Captain Marvel is Gay?
In Disney's latest release from the MCU, The Marvels (2023), Brie Larson's Carol Danvers interacts with Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson, now the new king of Asgard. While Thompson does have a cameo in the film, her role was supposed to be much larger.
According to Pink News, a scene was cut that involved a kiss between Valkyrie and Captain Marvel, with Valkryie saying, “we work better as friends,” which confirms that the two once had a romantic relationship. But the scene, which would have confirmed a widely held fan theory, was left on the cutting room floor.
VALKYRIE AND CAROL ARE STLL TOGETHER TO ME IDC, LET THEM KISS https://t.co/83g8OGQWhO pic.twitter.com/kmTZjavEYC
— Yel* | â´µ (@yelenamcubelova) November 19, 2023
This isn't the first time a romantic scene involving Valkryie was cut from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) director Taika Waititi, a scene in the film showed a woman leaving Valkyrie's room, which had to be cut from the film. Waititi said that the scene didn't make sense in context, but he regretted not having Valkryie come out of her room and kiss the woman.
This would have been a significant step forward for Disney and Marvel Studios. However, it now goes down as another half-hearted effort in Disney films.
‘Go Woke, Go Broke'
Critics of these storylines from Disney will point out that nearly every film that has included LGBTQ+ representation has fared poorly at the box office. Lightyear and Strange World lost a combined $300 million at the box office, while The Marvels had the worst opening weekend ever for a Disney/Marvel film with $46 million. But critics skip over Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which made over $1 billion at the box office.
But for the films in question, the lack of box office return probably had more to do with the quality of the movie rather than having a gay character or questions of sexuality.
So, while Disney and Marvel Studio have had an openly gay character in a movie when allowed to create a storyline that appealed to an LGBTQ audience, Disney backed down and chose to leave the scene on the cutting room floor.
We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.
