Luca is an animated film that can be interpreted in myriad ways. Director Enrico Casarosa is outspoken about the Pixar production being inspired by much of his own upbringing, while its themes of young children who can exist as either humans or sea creatures evokes themes of LGBTQ+ identity and the world’s prominent refugee crisis. Like many films of this ilk, your interpretation is oftentimes valid, even if not necessarily canon to the wider story, which in this case caused an uproar when it comes to two of its main characters.

Titular protagonist Luca Paguro and childhood friend Alberto Scorfano have long been keen to explore beyond the sea they were raised in, to discover what wonders the human world will hold, despite the fact their true identities might never be accepted. The duo interact with each other constantly throughout, growing their lifelong friendship through hardship, adversity, and new companions who call the land home. Through the film’s dialogue, themes, and even the animation, it can be easy to read Luca as a queer story, one where its main characters try to come to terms with not only the human world, but also their feelings for one another.

Disney and Pixar have rebutted these claims in the past, saying that Luca isn’t a canonically queer story, but doesn’t necessarily discount those who read the narrative in such a way. It’s not an uncommon view, and following its release seeing it referred to as a “fruity fish movie” wasn’t rare. In queer circles and passionate within its fandom, this romantic reading was taken further, and you couldn’t scroll for a few minutes on TikTok without your phone screaming out the words ‘Silenzio Bruno’ to a montage of queer-coded scenes from the film.

Now, almost three years removed from the original release and a couple of months before a wider theatrical rollout, the LGBTQ+ validity of Luca has been brought into question yet again. Except this time, it all but solidifies Luca and Alberto as smitten boyfriends. Earlier this month saw Luca co-director and story lead Kenna Jean Harris share a number of new works on their instagram story, many of which feature the aforementioned characters kissing under an umbrella, holding hands, or simply having a less than platonic snuggle. It’s an adorable take on young love that lends itself brilliantly to the existing film, and given its source, has fans in their thousands now reading the relationship as canon. No long post, no official statement, but heart emojis next to a bunch of lovingly crafted doodles do all the talking necessary.

It’s wonderful to see a fandom come back to life after years away over something so queer and wholesome, like they never stopped flying the flag for Luca and Alberto even as higher ups continued to dash their hopes. I grew up in a media landscape where the LGBTQ+ rep was primarily gleaned from subtext as you overlooked harmful stereotypes. We tried to see queerness in stories that deliberately cast us aside, silently reclaiming and repainting them with our own ideals amidst a heteronormative society. Even as recently as Gravity Falls, we have seen Disney shy away from queerness in its productions, but more and more that has been chipped away to reveal a welcome approach to diversity which, despite clear capitalist intentions, is still something we can find value in.

As great as it is to see Luca bask in the glory of queer canon years later, I can’t help but think of how valuable this would have been upon the film’s release, or wonder if any intention was held back by corporate meddling. The director has said it was never explicitly a queer tale, but we’ve received the same word before only to be told otherwise after the fact, and Luca is no different. Films are also made by hundreds of people, especially animated ones, and it’s clear that the narrative lead had a different interpretation of these characters which, like the subtext we spent years relying on, is equally pertinent.

Luca setting the world on fire with its queer acknowledgment is a win no matter how you slice it, but I can’t help but think on what the impact could have been were this view thrown out there while it was trending on streaming in the midst of the pandemic, when so many of us were looking at these two characters and loudly hoping there was something more going on between them. Turns out we were right to wonder, and now we can return to it with either brand-new eyes or a smug sense of satisfaction that the lines this community has spent the past years reading between wasn’t for nothing.

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