Elio and the erasure of LGBTQ+ experiences like mine

(Forgive me for a post that is entirely unrelated to books. Also, minor spoilers for Pixar's Elio follow.)

On Sunday, my dad and I went to the movies to see the new Pixar movie, Elio, which is currently bombing at the box office despite fairly positive reviews from critics.

I loved it. I cried a ridiculous amount of tears in the second half and continued to cry basically the entire walk out of the theater.

I loved the movie so much, I took it upon myself during the next twenty-four hours to be its word-of-mouth box-office savior. I talked it up on my blog, and on my most recent Zoom call with my fellow bloggers. I texted one of my friends about it and planned to tell another one at our next hangout.

I knew Elio wasn't a perfect movie. So why did I love it so much?

I was a really isolated kid. I was gay, feminine, sweet, socially anxious, and mentally ill. (I am still all of those things!) I always felt out of place and unsafe in the world. So I related to Elio's character instantly.

Elio is a loner, a misfit, and a nerd. (Enough so that this random Redditor says "Kids don't like watching stories about dweeby derp nerds who irl they would want to bully" and calls Elio "an ugly dork who wears a collinder [sic] on his head.") Elio is hyperfixated on space and aliens, in the way that I was hyperfixated on cars and alarm clocks (and still am). Despite our later glimpses of his affectionate nature, in an early scene, Elio is quite unfriendly and antisocial to another kid who is trying to get to know him. But I get why. He's long given up that anyone would actually want to understand him.

Elio wants to be abducted by aliens, because he believes that some planet somewhere will want him more than Earth does. This sentiment is a fascinating mix of insecurity and confidence — Elio has not lost hope that there is a world where he fits in, even if it's not this one. He reminds me of my own weird blend of insecurity and confidence that has followed me through life since middle school. I wonder if there is a world where I am the norm, rather than the exception.

I felt that Elio the movie does an amazing job of validating Elio the character as he is. Rather than asking him to change or become more acceptable to others, the movie celebrates him in all of his uniqueness and all of his chaotic energy. The world would be so dull and lifeless without him — without any of us.

I left the movie theater with all these positive feelings swirling in my head. Then, on Monday night, I read this article by The Hollywood Reporter about Elio's development, based on interviews with Pixar staffers. The article describes how Pixar erased moments from Elio that depicted its protagonist as LGBTQ-coded, and how this may have caused the departure of director Adrian Molina and his replacement with directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi. (While the change in directors was previously public knowledge, the reason why was not.) If you are willing, please pause and read the entire report before continuing, so you have the full context. If you would prefer not to read the article in full, then please read the following excerpt from the article:

"Those who worked at Pixar while its latest film release, Elio, was in production were delighted by footage they saw roughly two years ago. Among the moments cited as favorites by those at the animation studio at the time included a sequence in which the titular boy collected trash on the beach and turned it into homemade apparel that included a pink tank top; the movie’s team would refer to Elio showing this off to a hermit crab as his 'trash-ion show.'

But if you bought a ticket to Elio and don’t remember seeing this, it’s not just that you chose the wrong time to refill your soda. According to multiple insiders who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Elio was initially portrayed as a queer-coded character, reflecting original director Adrian Molina’s identity as an openly gay filmmaker. Other sources say that Molina did not intend the film to be a coming out story, as the character is 11. But either way, this characterization gradually faded away throughout the production process as Elio became more masculine following feedback from leadership. Gone were not only such direct examples of his passion for environmentalism and fashion, but also a scene in Elio’s bedroom with pictures suggesting a male crush. Hints at the trash fashion remain in the released film, with the boy wearing a cape decorated with discarded cutlery and soda can tabs, although without any explanation for the unusual attire.

...

The changes to Elio were clear to one former Pixar artist who worked on the film and asked to remain anonymous: 'It was pretty clear through the production of the first version of the film that [studio leaders] were constantly sanding down these moments in the film that alluded to Elio’s sexuality of being queer.'

...

The Elio production resulted in fraught feelings for those with ties to Pixar who have come to question whether the company intends to prioritize diversity. [Pixar chief creative officer Pete] Docter sparked debate when he noted in a 2024 interview that the studio should make the 'most relatable films' possible, which was perceived as advocating for a shift away from underrepresented characters and voices. These remarks came in the wake of the 2022 criticism of then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s response to Florida’s 'Don’t Say Gay' bill. Additionally, Toy Story spinoff Lightyear whiffed at the box office in 2023 after right-wing pundits ignited a furor over its same-gender kiss. And the Pixar series Win or Lose launched on Disney+ earlier this year after creating controversy over its transgender storyline getting scrapped."

– Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter (June 30, 2025) 

I am furious, confused, and disappointed by this news. For several reasons.

First, the entire message of Elio is that its protagonist deserves to find his people and be accepted for who he is, in all his uniqueness and strangeness and wonderfulness, without having to change himself to fit in. Yet Pixar systematically stripped this very character of his uniqueness and strangeness and wonderfulness before releasing the movie, so that he would fit in. There is a sick irony to Pixar's complete failure to act in accordance with the message of its own movie. If I had kids, why would I let Pixar teach my kids about acceptance, considering how poorly Pixar seems to understand it?

Second, I still resonate with the character of Elio who is present in the final movie. Even though Elio is not obviously queer, I still felt that his hardships could be seen as an allegory for all kinds of people's hardships, including my own and those of the LGBTQ+ community. But it makes me sad to know that there was a version of this movie and this character that would have resonated even more, that was taken from me and from all of us. (And from the movie's original director!) And here's the thing. We live in a world where talking about LGBTQ+ identity is not always acceptable, and it feels like it is becoming less acceptable by the day. It is of course tempting to get around this issue by using allegory and metaphor to allude to LGBTQ+ experiences, without triggering and angering the homophobes and transphobes of the world. But I am not an allegory or a metaphor. The people of my community are not allegories or metaphors. We are real people having real experiences. I am really a gay man who wants to fall in love with a man. Talking about LGBTQ+ people using allegories and metaphors is not and will never be sufficient to capture the nuances of our experiences and truly make us feel seen and accepted. You do not accept us if you are unwilling to talk about us outright.

Third, I recognize that Pixar is in a less-than-ideal position. Its parent company Disney has been deeply wishy-washy in its efforts at LGBTQ+ representation, reflecting the tension between its creative staff who want to depict a broad range of human experiences, and its executives who fear the repercussions of conservative backlash on the company's bottom line. (I feel that Disney has somehow managed to execute its attempts at LGBTQ+ representation as badly as possible, to where they have unleashed the backlash of Florida governor Ron DeSantis against them, without managing to include a single meaningful example of LGBTQ+ representation in any of their films. It's actually sort of hilarious how they've made everyone mad on both sides rather than picking even one side to appease.) In light of all this chaos, I understand why Pixar may want to avoid LGBTQ+ representation in its films, in order to ensure its own survival and financial success. But honestly? What is the point of Pixar even existing if they are not brave enough to tell the stories that matter? We all have to make choices about which hills to die on, but I think Pixar, as a company built entirely around meaningful and emotional storytelling, needs to die on the hill of meaningful and emotional storytelling. Otherwise, they'll just become another mediocre animation studio trying to pad shareholders' pockets by making forgettable children's films — and I don't even know if they'll be successful, because why waste money on movie tickets to go see forgettable, meaningless movies?

I'm starting to think Elio the character is right to look for approval on a planet other than Earth. Because clearly this Earth isn't ready to accept him in all his full, beautiful, complicated human-ness. And just as Elio is unwilling to wait around for the people of Earth's approval, I am unwilling to wait around for Pixar's approval. I exist. My community exists. And whether or not Pixar ever gets around to acknowledging that, we're going to keep on living. And I'm going to go find stories that loudly affirm who I am, rather than reducing me down to subtext.