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Republicans Are Crying Because ‘Lightyear’ Is ‘Woke.’ Get Over It.

Uzo Aduba voices Hawthorne in Pixar's 'Lightyear'.

Disney’s Buzz Lightyear origin movie Lightyear has been making news because of a same-sex couple in the film. It’s a beautiful relationship between Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) and her wife, Kiko Hawthorne. Their story is a driving force for Buzz to try to just give everyone hope, but in doing so, he misses a life of happiness alongside his best friend and the family she’s created with her wife. When he returns to T’Kani Prime, he’s met with the news that Alisha has passed away while he was gone due to his time-warping spaceflight, and her granddaughter, Izzy, is willing to help him fight back against Zurg and his army.

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The relationship between Alisha and Kiko is making Republicans so upset simply because they have a brief kiss in the movie and are happily together and raise their child as a happy family. Their complaint is that it pushes an “agenda,” but the reality is that including people and relationships that exist in the real world is not an “agenda.” But taking that into account would mean that these Republicans would have to actually care about reality and not just engage in outrage culture.

The reason for their anger is simply that there is a same-sex couple in the movie. It’s absurd, so much so that the cast has been asked about it. Chris Evans voices Buzz Lightyear in the movie, and he had something to say when asked about those opposing the movie because of Alisha and Kiko. “The real truth is those people are idiots,” Evans told Reuters. “Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story, the human story is one of constant social awakening and growth and that’s what makes us good.”

Evans went on, saying, “There’s always going to be people who are afraid and unaware and trying to hold on to what was before. But those people die off like dinosaurs. I think the goal is to pay them no mind, march forward and embrace the growth that makes us human.”

The people who are talking about this aren’t surprising—one being “my guns are my babies” rep. Lauren Boebert, who decided to tweet about Lightyear when I guess she thought it was bombing at the box office.

Then, the follower himself, Jim Jordan, also went online to tweet a similar thought.

Which led to conservative pundit Jack Posobiec … misunderstanding how box office totals work and sharing this image of Morbius’s total throughout its entire theatrical run, compared to what Lightyear made in one weekend in theaters without a full wide release yet.

Their anger comes from a place of ignorance. They’re pushing their own warped views on everyone else and refuse to take a look into their own prejudice and would rather, instead, just control everyone else and how they should think. It’s disgusting. Lightyear is a beautiful story about friendship, loss, and trying to do the right thing, and it is a must-see. Take my word for it and not the word of these Republican clowns.

(featured image: Pixar)

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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh.

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