by Dean Fleischer Camp has unveiled original designs he made of Pleakley in a dress for the live-action movie.
Lilo & Stich director Dean Fleischer Camp has addressed concerns that the live-action film “erases” Pleakley’s drag.
Lilo & Stitch is officially back. Disney have given the beloved 2002 film the live-action treatment and early reviews are positive. Not only are critics praising the movie for “capturing the spirit of the original” but Maia Kealoha and Sydney Elizebeth Agudong are receiving widespread acclaim for their performances as sisters Lilo and Nani respectively.
Nevertheless, the remake has received some backlash. When the trailer debuted, fans criticised the new Lilo & Stitch for failing to depict Pleakley in drag and now director Dean Fleischer Camp has addressed the Pleakley discourse.
Watch the live-action Lilo & Stitch trailer
In the animated Lilo & Stich, Pleakley is presented as a male alien who loves feminine gender expression. Throughout the film, he wears dresses and makeup in a bid to disguise himself when he is on Earth. As a result, Pleakley has been hailed by fans as a drag icon.
However, in the live-action movie Pleakley uses technology to disguise himself as a himbo man and he doesn’t wear dresses or any form of drag in the movie.
Reacting online, one fan wrote: “Erasing Pleakley’s drag and substituting it for human suits is bad because Disney wants to appease transphobes. But it’s also bad because it completely misses the joke!”
They added: “The whole point is that Jumba and Pleakley’s disguises are terrible!”
Another simply wrote: “Look what they’ve done to our diva.”
Now, Dean Fleischer Camp has responded to the complaints. In a TikTok video, the director reacted to fan comments surrounding the trailer and one of them referenced the fact that Pleakley does not appear in drag. The comment in question read: “How dare they ruin Pleakley’s disguise like that”.
In response, Dean admitted: “I have had people message me, ‘Why is Pleakley not wearing a dress?’ And I just want to say, I tried. I tried.” Dean also showed illustrations of a live-action version of Pleakley in drag that he presumably initially pitched to Disney.
Dean is yet to expand further on Pleakley not wearing drag in the film. However, given that Disney have previously shut down queer and trans storylines in projects like Inside Out and Win Or Lose, it’s possible that the company intervened.
What do you think? Would you have liked to see Pleakley in drag?
I don’t think pleakly was drag, rather it was a disguise on earth especially being a remake from 2002! People are now more open and don’t hide their true self these days and we now have fulfilled the LGBTQ fully vs back then. This being said I think pleakly’s full description should have been pushed as it’s not offensive in any way to anyone and his dress code makes the jokes and adapts to his earthly wears outs.