Is Tyler gay in Turning Red? Director confirms "a lot of" Tyler's story was cut

14 March 2022, 12:28

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By Sam Prance

Turning Red fans think that Tyler is gay in the new Pixar movie and they are praising the film for its LGBTQ+ representation.

Turning Red's director Domee Shi has let slip that a lot of Tyler's story was cut from the film, following theories that he is gay.

Last week (Mar 11), Turning Red came out on Disney+ and viewers have been praising the film for the clever way in which it acts as a metaphor for puberty. The film tells the story of a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl called Mei who is inflicted by a family curse that turns her into a red panda when she's excited or stressed. She's also obsessed with a boyband called 4*Town.

There are no openly LGBTQ+ characters in the movie but fans are convinced that Tyler is queer-coded and they are praising the film for its representation. Now, Domee Shi has opened up about Tyler and revealed that a lot of his story was cut.

READ MORE: Is Priya queer in Turning Red? Pixar cinematographer appears to confirm theories

In the film, Tyler starts out as a bit of a school bully. He often makes fun of Mei and picks on her in class. However, when Mei and her friends go to 4*Town's concert, they bump into Tyler. Realising that Tyler's obsessed with 4*Town too, they suddenly embrace him in their friendship group and, at the end of the film, he even has matching friendship bracelets with the girls.

While nothing in the film explicitly states that Tyler is gay, many fans have interpreted his characterisation as queer. Just like the girls, he appears to fancy members of 4*Town. It seems as though he initially bullies Mei and her friends out of jealousy that they get to love and fancy 4*Town, and perhaps by extension boys, openly in a way that he doesn't.

Naturally, LGBTQ+ viewers are living for how Tyler is written. Here are just a few of the reactions so far.

As it stands, none of Turning Red's cast or crew have explicitly stated what Tyler's sexuality is. However, director Domee Shi has revealed that he originally had a much bigger story. Speaking to Slate, Domee said: "Aaron Z is the sporty one and he’s very stoic. He’s Tyler’s favorite 4*Town member, which I guess is kind of a spoiler."

She explained: "But Tyler really bonds with him because he’s also—both of them are Blasian. So he really sees himself in Aaron Z. And then we have this whole backstory—I wish we could include all this in the movie, but a lot of it was cut!"

It's unclear what Tyler's backstory was. However, given that Pixar staff recently called out Disney for censoring LGBTQ+ representation and cutting "every moment of overtly gay affection" from their films, it's possible that Tyler had a queer backstory that Disney cut.

What do you think? Would you have liked to have seen more of Tyler's backstory?

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