The new Toy Story spinoff, ‘Lightyear’ which serves as an origin story for one of the franchise’s beloved character has quite bit of “Buzz” surrounding it. Pun Intended.
The film features a same-sex kiss between the character Alisha (voiced by Uzo Aduba)and her wife in the film, which serves as quite a pivotal moment for the plot. However, not everyone was happy with it and it was a hard fought battle to keep the scene in the movie.
Chris Evans (who is the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the film) spoke out on the matter expressing his frustrations over the fact that in today’s world its still controversial to have LGBTQ representation in the movie. Evans expressed his wish that representations across the board become common occurrence in the film industry and that events like this no longer remain a subject of controversy as they are right now.
“The goal is that we can get to a point where it is the norm, and that this doesn’t have to be some uncharted waters, that eventually this is just the way it is,” Said the former Captain America actor.
The scene was originally removed from the film over fears of being too controversial but after a strong protest from the staff at Disney against removal of LGBTQ affection scenes in their films, Disney added the scene back to the final cut of the movie and promised that it wouldn’t be removed again.
Because of the scene, the screening of the film has been banned in over 14 countries in the Middle East and Asia, including important markets such as UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Malaysia. There surprisingly hasn’t been word of a ban in China yet but it is expected to be revealed any time soon.
“It’s nice, and it’s wonderful, it makes me happy,” said Chris Evans regarding the decision to put the scene back into the film.
“Look, it’s an honor to be a part of something that is taking those steps, but the goal is to look back on this time and just be shocked that it took us this long to get there.” Old Cap is plenty progressive and the fans are all here for it.