By most accounts, Disney's live-action remake of their 1991 hit Beauty & The Beast is a fairly average film.
You could be excused for thinking, then, that the decision by a drive-in theatre in Alabama — and the prospective decision by the government of Russia — to not show the film would be based on the fact the movie apparently kind of sucks, or at least isn't brilliant.
But that's not why, as News Corp reports, the Henagar Drive-In Theatre has taken issue to the point of refusing to screen director Bill Condon's CGI-laden nostalgia-fest, nor why Russia is apparently seriously considering banning it.
Rather, it's because Disney dared to include their first evidently gay character in Josh Gad's LeFou, Gaston's sycophantic, smitten offsider.
As has been much written about in the media in recent weeks, LeFou makes a little bit of Disney history with an "exclusively gay" moment — "subtle" though it is, according to the director — and that is what has caused such grave consternation for both a rural American drive-in and the government of Europe's largest country.
For the Henagar Drive-In — which was recently taken over by new, deeply conservative Christian owners — the moment represents a movie they cannot sit through "with God or Jesus sitting by me", which means "we have no business showing it".
Oddly, the owners framed their decision around the fact that, "[w]hen companies continually force their views on us we need to take a stand", while being a company forcing their views on their own clientele by denying them the right to make their own decisions about what they should and should not watch.
"I know there will be some that do not agree with this decision," the owner wrote on Facebook before having to delete the entire page. "That's fine."
"We are first and foremost Christians," they wrote. "We will not compromise on what the Bible teaches. We will continue to show family-oriented films so you can feel free to come watch wholesome movies without worrying about sex, nudity, homosexuality and foul language."
Russia, which has made a habit of being objectively a bit overbearing and draconian when it comes to gay rights, introduced legislation — the law "for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values" — via unanimous decision by the State Duma (lower house) back in June 2013, prohibiting the dissemination of "gay propaganda", to overwhelming public support.
In keeping with that theme, leading politician Litaly Milonov has now pressured culture minister Vladimir Medinsky to view the film ahead of its scheduled release there later this month to ensure that it complies with the law.
Nobody seems to have a problem with the woman-on-manimal romantic action, the witchcraft, the kidnapping, the talking housewares or the fact that Chip is probably the Beast's illegitimate kid, though.
Pic via Google Cache
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