Pixar Writer Defends Putting Lesbian Scene In Children's Movie After Snoop Dogg Criticism

The Disney/Pixar film "Lightyear," based on the Buzz Lightyear character from the "Toy Story" franchise, was a massive box office disaster. 

Despite the connection to one of the most popular and successful children's film franchises in Hollywood history, "Lightyear" lost at least $105 million at the global box office. A massive marketing campaign, star-studded cast, and existing intellectual property. And it still bombed. How did this happen? 

The most obvious explanation is that "Ligthyear" was controversial for many parents because it made a children's movie into a political statement. Instead of making the best possible story, plot and movie, "Lightyear" was the culmination of years of political progressives injecting their ideology into kids' movies by any means possible.

Even active members of the entertainment industry noticed. 

Rapper, performer and actor Snoop Dogg specifically highlighted this issue recently, saying that he had no answer for his grandchild when they went to see "Lightyear" and the story highlighted a lesbian couple. 

"Oh s***, I didn’t come in for this s***," he said on the It's Giving podcast. "I just came to watch the goddamn movie. It f***** me up. I’m, like, scared to go to the movies now. Y’all throwing me in the middle of s*** that I don’t have an answer for."

"These are kids," he continued. "We have to show that at this age? They’re going to ask questions. I don’t have the answer."

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And if there were any doubts that those characters were specifically written to make a political statement, we can put those to rest. Because the writer just came out and said they were.

(Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Pixar Writer Says She Put Lesbian Scene In Purposefully

One of the writers on the film, Lauren Gunderson, responded to Snoop Dogg's criticism in a post on Instagram, defending herself and the storyline by admitting that she did it for "representation," and not because it had any functional purpose in the story.

"So. I created the LIGHTYEAR lesbians. In 2018, I was a writer at Pixar – such a cool place, grateful to work there, learned a ton from kind and impressive creatives," she wrote. "As we wrote early versions of what became LIGHTYEAR, a key character needed a partner, and it was so natural to write ‘she’ instead of ‘he." As small as that detail is in the film, I knew the representational effect it could have. Small line, big deal. I was elated that they kept it. I’m proud of it. To infinity. Love is love."

"I was one of a few writers they had on it over the years, which is very common for screenwriting of course. I had very little to do with the final script. But I was proud to see a happy queer couple (even for a few seconds) onscreen. I know they got a lot of s*** for this inclusion, but stuff like this matters because beautiful love like this exists," she added.

This post does a better job of explaining why Hollywood is broken, likely beyond repair, and why box office revenues have taken a nosedive, than any series of articles could do.

Gunderson never once thought to herself that a kid's movie might not be the appropriate place to inject her personal ideology. She never once thought to herself that an overwhelming majority of parents would not want a children's movie to jumpstart a conversation they don't want and aren't ready to have. Like so many progressives, she's a selfish person who thought that checking a representation and inclusion box on her resume made her a good person.

Not only is her explanation telling because of the lack of caring, understanding and common sense behind it, it's telling because it shows how little Hollywood values story and storytelling. Their primary objective, clearly, is to insert their personal political preferences wherever possible, to sell an agenda and specific set of values. Their secondary objective is to sell merchandise and provide IP for new or re-themed theme park rides. 

A distant last is quality storytelling. There was no specific purpose in the script or in the story for this scene to exist as it does. She simply wanted it to be there. That's not how writing or movie-making is supposed to go. And audiences punished her, and Disney, for abandoning that.

Knowing the consumer is vital for any business. Especially one that's a leisure activity, an expensive leisure activity. The entertainment industry, especially Disney Studios over the last decade, has demonstrated repeatedly that not only does it not understand the consumer, it actively despises it. 

Shouldn't surprise them then, to see that consumers have stopped buying what they're selling. They deserve it.