The Hypocrisy Behind the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Boycott

Once again Christians are up in arms. Word has leaked out that Disney’s much-anticipated live action retelling of a childhood classic Beauty and the Beast will show its first openly gay character, La’Fou. Understandably, Christians are upset and at odds with how to deal with such a development. Obviously gay characters have hit the main screen for decades now, but this is the first time a company (Disney) that is so closely associated with childhood virtues has crossed that Rubicon.

Over the weekend numerous outlets, blogs and social media posts have called for a Christian boycott of Beauty and the Beast and perhaps even of Disney itself. While every Christian has the right to protest and boycott, we need to be aware of the danger and hypocrisy of such a boycott. First, we haven’t actually seen the movie yet. (Here’s one blogger’s review who actually saw the movie).

Second, and more importantly, we need to make sure that we beware of selective hypocrisy. If you plan on vocally boycotting the Beauty and the Beast for its portrayal of human sexuality, then you need to vocally protest every movie that strays from the biblical standards of sexuality. Every movie that portrays women as objects to be lusted after needs to be heartily boycotted because that strays from God’s standard of sexuality. Every single movie that has implicit or explicit scenes of heterosexual relations between two non-married partners needs to be boycotted as well (this should wipe out about 99.9% of the movies we see. When was the last time you saw a scene where married people had sex?)

That’s the danger of boycotting Beauty and the Beast. It’s not that I agree with Disney’s assumed portrayal of human sexuality (you can read other posts I’ve written about homosexuality here and here). It’s that our selective boycotting smacks of hypocrisy. We’re fine with violence, gore, sexuality, magic and demonic forces portrayed on the big screen, and yet we get up in arms about homosexuality. And the calls to boycott Disney? I’m fine with that as long as you boycott every major company that endorses a lifestyle you don’t agree with. But that wouldn’t just be Disney. It would include the brands of the clothes you wear, your favorite sports teams, the universities you attend and who’s football gear you wear so proudly, as well as most major food producers whose products you take off the shelves of your local supermarket.

Does that mean we simply roll over and accept something we believe contrary to scriptural values? Not in the least. But it means we can be smart about it. We need to learn the truth of Matthew 10:6, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”