Warner Bros. wants you to know that it cares deeply about the gay and transgender community — unless, that is, there is money to be made in autocratic China.
Warner Bros. cut references to a gay relationship in its new film Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore for the film’s release in China. These were “nuanced cuts” that were needed to “respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors,” according to the studio. “We want audiences everywhere in the world to see and enjoy this film, and it’s important to us that Chinese audiences have the opportunity to experience it as well.”
And, of course, they want Chinese audiences to fork over their money, which would be impossible if Chinese censors blocked the film over a few lines of dialogue.
It’s an interesting choice for a studio that has boasted about how it celebrates “LGBTQIA+ talent, characters and storylines year-round.” In a particularly noxious attempt at pandering, the studio said it was “proud of our stories that represent the LGBTQ+ experience” and that it is committed to “tell more, authentic LGBTQ+ stories” and “nurture queer talent.”
We celebrate LGBTQ+ artists, employees & fans and are proud of our stories that represent the LGBTQ+ experience, but acknowledge we have more to do. We are committing to tell more, authentic LGBTQ+ stories, nurture queer talent & harness our resources to advocate for equality. pic.twitter.com/c4oG6NFg6d
— Warner Bros. (@warnerbros) June 24, 2020
More authentic gay stories, Warner Bros. promises. Unless they would offend the sensibilities of Chinese censors.
It’s a laughable, if brazenly hypocritical standard to which other Hollywood studios have also committed. The woke social-justice act these studios put on stops when it comes time to get their films into the Chinese market. Warner Bros. has done the bare minimum to earn praise from gay and transgender activists, including changing its logo during Pride Month and throwing in a few lines of dialogue about a gay relationship in a film. But when the time comes to make money, the studio has no problem erasing the community it claims to support.
It’s yet another example of shameless corporate posturing and spinelessness when dealing with the Chinese government and the Chinese market. None of it will change because gay and transgender activists like the weak attempts at pandering and the domestic stranglehold that social justice has on companies such as Warner Bros. The studio will simply move on to its next big show of support and its next film that it will chop up at the behest of China.
