Alys Miller

Journalist, Blogger, soon to be YouTuber, Health and Good food enthusiast

  • Features
  • Twitter Tour
  • Interview Release Forms
  • About

Powered by Genesis

Boycott Beauty and the Beast?

30th April 2017 by alysmiller 1 Comment

Beauty and the Beast is one of the most anticipated movies of year, with fans chewing their nails down to their cuticles over the idea of Harry Potter star, Emma Watson, filling Princess Belle’s shoes.

Yet despite the craze some have demanded a boycott due to the casting of a gay character.

LeFou, who is the sidekick of villain Gaston, is said to realise his feelings for Gaston in the movie. “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” said director, Bill Condon. “He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings.”

Despite many being excited about this revelation and that Disney has widely began accepting the LGBT community in its productions, many feel the company should be shunned as they think this might harm their children.

This revelation comes days after Disney Channel aired a homosexual kiss in one of its day time animations. In Star vs. the Forces of Evil, same sex couples can be seen kissing during a concert.

A petition was started on 27th February on Life Petitions, urging to have the film boycotted and to prevent any further LGBT references from being included in Disney’s future productions.

With the introduction of equal marriage and the legality of homosexual relationships in 23 countries, according to Pew Research Centre, homophobia and oppression has been dismissed in numerous parts of the world. However, some still believe it’s a sin and are continuing to take action to prevent it becoming accepted.

According to Stonewall, sex with someone of the same sex is illegal in 73 countries, and punishable by death in 10. That means 40 per cent of the world’s population live in countries where gay, lesbian and bisexual people can be imprisoned. Over 400 million people live under laws which punish same-sex intercourse with the death penalty.

Jon Price, co-founder of Proud2be and an LGBT+ activist from South West Devon expressed dismay about the request to ban Beauty and the Beast.

A call for a boycott gives other permission to oppress and dehumanise members of the LGBT+ community”

“​I think it is very disappointing and ultimately gives others permission to oppress and dehumanise members of the LGBT+ community. It also sends out a message to LGBT+ people that there is something wrong with identifying as LGBT+ and being visible and out.” Jon said.

He stated that this attitude could potentially be unsafe as people will feel like it’s wrong to be out and proud. He believes that what Disney has done is something that should be applauded and followed.

“​I would hope that other companies would follow in Disney’s footsteps by standing firm and not giving in to bigotry or hatred. By standing on the side of equality and equal representation in the media, companies like Disney would be sending a powerful and affirming message to both LGBT+ people as well as challenging those who boycott and oppose LGBT+ equality and freedom.” Jon said.

Malaysia and Russia have threatened to withdraw the film from its theatres unless they cut the ‘gay moment’ from the film.

Disney refused.

As such, Russia have put a higher age rating on the film to protect younger audiences.

Duane Caldwell from Chicago, U.S has defended the call for a boycott saying: “For films aimed at children, Disney should keep LGBT+ references out. As a parent, I don’t want to take kids to a movie I think is “G” (U in Britain) rated – only to find out Disney now considers what used to be rated PG13 (12A/12) or R (15/18) is now “G” – suitable for general audiences. Disney made a name for itself on wholesome family entertainment. If they want to abandon that practice, they should be prepared for those families looking for wholesome entertainment they used to provide, to abandon them and look for family friendly fare elsewhere.”

Caldwell, who is a Christian, said that it isn’t just religious values that make him oppose the film. He said that it’s ‘normalised deviance’ that is the problem, meaning that people shouldn’t have to get used to bad or wrong practices.

LGBT+ themes and scenes shouldn’t be paraded continually or shoved down people’s throats”

“As both a Christian and a parent, I don’t want the LGBT+ agenda (which as far as Christianity is concerned, is a deviation from the norm that God has created) – to be normalized. Once you start down that road, what’s to keep you from normalizing more and more things that are further and further from what God intended? People should not be subject to going to what they think is a family friendly movie – with traditional family values – and having the LGBT+ themes and scenes paraded continually or shoved down their throats.” Duane said.

Many have opposed this view, labelling the call for a boycott as unnecessary.

Claire Tinsley, 52, from South West Devon stated that when she saw the film there was no strong implication of LeFou being a gay character.

“I think the call for a boycott is making a big something out of nothing. I heard about the controversy and when I watched the film, I didn’t even question it as I didn’t think that there was anything that screamed that the character was gay.”

She said she thought the reason why this has caused a stir is because it’s something Disney hasn’t included in their films before.

“Disney is traditionally family orientated, but even so, LGBT references aren’t a harm. It’s a way of educating young children about the variety of different people in the world, which I don’t think is a bad thing.”

This is a celebration of everyone’s individuality and that’s what’s exciting about it.”

Even so, despite this disturbance, the film has gone on to make over a whopping £1 billion at the box office world wide and upon hearing about the reservations, Director Bill Condon addressed those who feel uneased, saying; “Can I just say, I’m sort of sick of this. It’s such a tiny thing, and it’s been overblown.” Condon also added that Beauty and the Beast features much more diversity than just the highly-talked-about LeFou: “We have interracial couples. This is a celebration of everybody’s individuality, and that’s what’s exciting about it.”

Design for double page spread

 

Inspiration for my double page spread

 

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: beauty and the beast, boycott, cinema, dan stevens, disney, emma watson, film, lgbt, luke evans

Protected: Interview Release forms for Beauty and the Beast

29th April 2017 by alysmiller Leave a Comment

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Filed Under: Interview Release Forms

Would you take drugs to clear your head?

29th March 2017 by alysmiller Leave a Comment

Drug addiction and alcoholism has always been a problem. No matter where you are, there’s always someone asking for spare change to get into a shelter or for a hot drink.

It’s not difficult to notice the beads of sweat forming on their forehead, the cracking on their lips from chewing on them so hard, the fragile tremble in their hands. Classic withdrawal symptoms of most, if not all, drug users or alcoholics.

Having a quivering mess in front of you is not a great sight, but few people empathise or think about what is going on in that person’s life. Alcoholism and drug abuse usually isn’t something that people choose or strive to have as an occupation. Nine times out of ten, people turn to substances as an outlet for grief, if they feel like an outcast and more commonly, to deal with the stresses of mental ill-health.

One-in-six adults has a common mental disorder such as anxiety, spells of depression or stress. These are more common in people who live on their own, are in poor physical health or claim Employment Support Allowance.

Sound familiar?

Photo by Alys Miller

In children and young people, common mental disorders are on the rise, with one- in-ten suffering with anxiety disorder, depression or stress. The figures have almost doubled between the years 1980 and 2000 according to Young Minds. Because of this there’s now a greater pressure on medical outlets, with more and more people committing mental ill-health acts such as self-harm or overdosing.

Anxiety – A heightened state of mind”

For some, anxiety is an everyday battle. The trepidation of stepping outside the front door is too much to deal with. There’s the constant fear that people will judge, stare, try to strike conversation even. Though some of these thoughts are irrational, it’s something that haunts the sufferer every minute they’re awake.

If there was something that could neutralise that feeling, many would take it.

Henry*, 21, South Devon, did exactly that. As a chronic anxiety and depression sufferer, he craved to feel normal for one day. At age 15, he discovered alcohol which became a binge drinking habit at the weekends. The burn that trailed down his throat at his first sip, the heat that settled in his stomach and the numbness that flooded down his legs was a feeling he’d never felt. He suddenly had the urge to go out and have conversations with people. Shortly after, the normality he felt when drunk was enough for alcohol to take over.

As the experimentation grew, he went looking for the perfect substance that would take all of his worries away.  Not only were his debts beginning to grow because of his new found obsession but his anxiousness and depressive spells became more intense and more frequent. As well as substance abuse, he also turned to self harm. It was the only thing in his life that he felt he could control.

After taking a number of pills, sniffing amphetamine and cocaine, smoking cannabis and drinking until he passed out, there was one thing that he had experimented with that made him feel free from the cage that was his own mind.

Heroin.

Despite knowing that he was playing with fire, feeling free far outweighed being burnt.

Photo by Alys Miller

“I’ve always had anxiety but I never really knew what those feelings were until I was about 13. I started drinking with my friends when I was 15 and when I was drunk. I didn’t feel scared anymore,” explains Henry*, who moved to heroin after a few years because alcohol was making him seriously ill. Gastroenteritis followed, resulting in hospital stays with pancreatitis flair up’s.

“Realising you’re a heroin addict is like being told you have a terminal illness”

“I would get drunk only to end up going back in hospital for days at a time,” Henry* mumbled, with his hands locked together tightly, his stubbed nails digging into the skin of his knuckles.

He burst into tears when explaining what it felt like when he realised that he got addicted to heroin.

“Realising you’re a heroin addict is like being told you have a terminal illness. All you ever hear is how heroin addicts can very rarely get clean. It’s a battle for the rest of your life to either get clean or to stay clean.” He stutters, a tremble in his voice.

Annette Ivey, Manager of YADAS (Young Adults Drug and Alcohol Services) in Poole stated that she has seen an increase of 18/24 year old’s wanting to attend the services that they provide.

“We offer a range of services for young people and adults. We have an outreach team that will see people personally and we work in partnership with Poole hospital so we can provide education to those experimenting with drugs and/or alcohol. Our main aim is to educate people and help those who want to be helped as well as providing harm minimalisation, in other words, educating people about clean injecting, not sharing equipment and stocking items that can help prevent overdoses.”

According to Annette, more people who are seeking help with their addictions, have mental health issues.

At least 40% of our patients have mental health problems.”

“At least 40% of our patients have mental health problems. Most have anxiety, depression or ADHD and are self medicating with substances to try and ease the pain that those illnesses are causing them.”

With budgets to mental health services being down by 8% in the past five years and the amount of referrals increasing by 20% according to Young Minds, more mentally ill people are forced to suffer or are feeling pushed to self-medicate.

Annette says, “Governments need to pay more money into mental health services because the amount of referrals we are getting who suffer with lower end illnesses like anxiety, depression and ADHD is increasing. They’re under strain and until these services are more accessible, the figures will only continue to rise.”

If you have been affected by anything in this feature or are suffering with a mental health illness or addiction, please seek help from some of the sources below.

  • Samaritans – If you’re feeling low, under stress, depressed or suicidal
  • turn2me – Provides free counselling
  • YADAS/EDAS – Drug and alcohol support for young people and adults
  • The Mix – Help for self harm
  • Mind – To help understand mental illnesses

* Is used to signify the use of an alias name

https://indd.adobe.com/view/6769ac2e-10b2-43c4-a630-ea91e0800b0b Link to the Group Magazine in which this story is featured.

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: 16-25 year olds, abuse, alcohol, drugs, mental health

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Calendar

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Apr    

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter