Walt Disney Co’s new Pixar Lightyear animated film features a gay couple, the company’s latest step to show traditionally underrepresented groups on the big screen.
Actor Chris Evans, who voices the title character Lightyear, applauded the moves for reflecting all types of people and said those who react negatively should be ignored.
“The real truth is that these people are idiots,” Evans said in an interview with Reuters Television ahead of Lightyear’s theatrical debut on Friday.
“Whenever there has been waking social progress, American history, human history is one of constant social awakening and growth and that is what makes us good,” a- he added.
READ: Lightyear: UAE bans Disney-Pixar movie for ‘gay’ characters in multiple scenes
Lightyear was banned in the United Arab Emirates for depicting homosexuality, and Disney was unable to obtain permission to show the film in 13 other countries in the Middle East and Asia. [L1N2XW2X0].
The film is Pixar’s imagination of the film that inspired the toy version of Buzz Lightyear featured in the acclaimed “Toy Story” franchise.
Evans voices Buzz Lightyear, a legendary space ranger. Buzz’s close friend in the film is a female space guard who marries another woman. A scene showing the couple’s relationship milestones includes a brief kiss.
“There will always be people who are scared and don’t know and try to hold on to what was before. But those people are dying like dinosaurs,” Evans said. “I think the goal is to ignore them, to move on and embrace the growth that makes us human.”
Producer Galyn Susman asked why viewers “don’t get more upset by showing failed relationships.”
In Lightyear, “We have a relationship here that lasts a lifetime. It’s love, support and it shows Buzz exactly what he doesn’t have and that’s the whole point.
“We should all be so lucky to have this kind of relationship in our lives,” she added.
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