Ben

Obviously everyone involved in this is trash, but I enjoyed that one of the elements that identified the character as queer coded was that he had a pink bike. And they were like..... This movie isn't doing well with audiences. Must be the pink bike. This is what happens when decisions are made by focus groups instead of real people.

Pete Docter Says Pixar Cut LGBTQ Storyline From ‘Elio’ Because ‘We’re Making a Movie, Not Hundreds of Millions of Dollars of Therapy’

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/pete-docter-pixar-lgbtq-storyline-elio-therapy-1236681692/

Pete Docter on Why Pixar Cut LGBTQ Storyline From 'Elio'

Pete Docter says Pixar cut the LGBTQ storyline from 'Elio' because 'we're making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.'

Variety
Mar 10 at 2:46pmWeb
Show threadHe looks like he's [REDACTED]™Mar 10
@TheBreadmonkey i mean the movie sucked ass regardless of what was cut. everyone was so fucking bored watching it.
Show threadJohn - 🎞️ Film Nerd 🎞️Mar 10

@TheBreadmonkey For decades Hollywood has shown rough cuts of films to test audiences and made changes based on the opinions of a small group of people. Not always possible due to the contract but I think the director should have last say.

For example, when Terry Gilliam tested Brazil, the people who understood the film wrote, "no more paperwork!" on the question cards handed out at the end. All of those responses were classed as void and not counted.

Show threadMortenMar 10
@TheBreadmonkey I don't remember a pink bike. But without a storyline connected to it... To me it signals more that it's not the richest family? He got a hand-me-down but it's a girl's bicycle.
Show threadKim Possible Mar 10
@TheBreadmonkey Wow. And no one bats an eye that Machine Gun Kelly loves to wear pink, have pink accessories, and pink guitars.
Show threadNickMar 10
@TheBreadmonkey As someone else has pointed out, this is literally the studio (and guy) which made Inside Out and Inside Out 2, which claims it’s not making therapy.
Show threadDavid CohenMar 11
@TheBreadmonkey For me, the story was confused and not particularly original. And when it was marketed, it looked like a remake of several earlier Disney animated movies - ‘one word name title animated movie about a loner kid who ends up in an alternate fantasy world to learn something’