WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Hulu’s Love, Victor season 1.
Love, Victor was controversially moved from Disney+ to Hulu, a switch that ultimately wasn’t justified by the show’s content. In February 2020, it was announced that that Love, Victor – the LGBTQ+ TV show ordered by Disney+ – would be releasing on Hulu instead of the new streaming service. The decision left a number of fans confused about the true reasons behind the change.
Given that audiences were excited to finally get LGBTQ+ content from Disney – or at least more than the brief cameos in big Disney-owned blockbusters, such as Marvel’s first gay character in Avengers: Endgame, or The Rise of Skywalker‘s lesbian kiss – then the move came as a real disappointment. It was all the more surprising because Disney+ had made a straight-to-series order of the show only a year after the the movie, Love, Simon‘s release.
According to EW, sources confirmed that the reason why the show was being moved from Disney+ to Hulu, was because of the depiction of alcohol consumption, marital issues, and sexual exploration. They figured that Love, Victor required a more adult audience, even though it was still a coming-of-age story. While the move to Hulu ended up being somewhat positive for the show, which quickly became the most-binged 2020 series for the streaming service, the reasoning behind the move seems unnecessary since the “mature themes” were mild. Despite the fact that Love, Victor didn’t suffer from the decision, it still should’ve been allowed to stay on Disney+.
Love, Victor is Actually Family-friendly
One of the main reasons why Love, Victor moved from Disney+ was because of the adult themes, but for the most part these could pass the PG-13 mark. The “mature themes” are certainly depicted and explored by the characters in a way any 13-year-old – and older – could understand. There are only a couple of scenes in the entire show where alcohol consumption is depicted, and it is still mostly implied. Never is said consumption shown in an irresponsible way, other than the fact that it’s underage drinking. In fact, Love, Victor episode 1, “Welcome to Creekwood”, features no “mature” content whatsoever. The show seems to be about a teenager figuring out who he is as he begins a new life in a new city and school. As it goes on, there are moments where the actions of the characters are more “adult”, like the kids drinking at the party. It is important to note that viewers only see one of the core characters acting drunk, and the others drinking out of red solo cups, with negative repercussions for them in morning, which shows that Love, Victor in no way praises their behaviour.
In addition to the drinking and overall teenage behaviours exhibited in the show that Disney+ claims were behind the move, a more adult subplot was involved in the decision to change Love, Victor‘s home. It involved the parents’ marital issues that both Victor and his sister, Pilar, have to deal with during season 1. The depiction of said problems are well handled, making it a great way for children of divorce to understand how adult problems can cause shifts in parents’ relationship, and possibly learn from Victor and Pilar on how to deal with the feelings that might emerge. The separation is an ongoing plot throughout the season and while there are mentions of adultery, it doesn’t seem inappropriate to depict it in a show for teenagers. Armando and Isabel Salazar are tense from the get-go and viewers can guess that the reason behind their move wasn’t just for a new start. As the season progresses, the viewers learn alongside Victor and his sister that Isabel cheated on Armando with his boss. While the whole plot might be a bit complicated for a young child to understand, there’s nothing harsh or explicit in its depiction, and nothing a teenager wouldn’t have already seen somewhere else or heard from one of their friends’ real life experiences.
Another of the main reasons why Love, Victor moved was because Disney+ thought the sexual content would be too present for an original on their platform. It would be a lie to say that there is no sexual content or mention of sexuality in the show. In fact, the whole premise is about a high schooler figuring out his sexual preference. However, when it comes to the idea of sexual exploration, the most viewers get from the show is mild kissing and implications of sexual activity from some characters. For example, the viewers know that Isabel slept with a man that wasn’t her husband and they see some of the characters kissing their significant others at parties and dances. Unlike most shows nowadays dealing with high schoolers – like Riverdale or 13 Reasons Why – the depiction of sexual activities in Love, Victor is relatively tame. When it comes to the LGBT+ content, it is barely present. Victor spends the entirety of the show being attracted to a girl and proceeding to date her, while telling Simon about his struggles. Him being in a relationship with a girl doesn’t make him straight in any way, but the only depiction of LBGT+ actions are when Benji and his boyfriend kiss, and in one of the very last scenes of the season when Victor and Benji kiss.
Disney+ Already Has More Mature Content Than Love, Victor
Love, Victor‘s move from Disney + wasn’t the first to be announced once the platform had launched. In fact, the move happened soon after High Fidelity was sent to Hulu. But unlike Love, Victor, High Fidelity did have explicit depictions of sex and drug and alcohol use in high quantities. It makes sense that Disney decided to move that show, especially considering the fact that it revolves around a woman’s sex life. However, moving Love, Victor when violent movies like the entire Marvel franchise are not only allowed to stay but are welcome – and generating more content for Disney+ – is contradictory.
All the themes that were deemed too mature for Love, Victor to be featured on Disney+ are present in the MCU. Just looking at the Iron Man trilogy alone, there’s explicit depictions sexual activity from Tony Stark, as well as marital issues between Tony and Pepper Potts later in the saga. While Disney changed Tony Stark’s alcohol problems – which were present when the movies were still distributed by Paramount Pictures – to PTSD in the third installment of the franchise, all three parts of the trilogy are still available on the streaming platform. And it’s not like PTSD itself isn’t an adult theme, as any mental health issue is. If Disney was worried that teenagers might be shocked or confused by Victor’s parents’ marital issues, it is nothing compared to grasping the concept of mental health at a young age.
Since Disney announced that they had bought 21st Century Fox in 2019, it became very clear that some of the company’s content would become more mature, since the buy meant that Disney would be getting shows like The Simpsons, which includes numerous adult jokes and references despite a large portion of its audience being children. And while not on Disney+, the Mouse House also now owns Deadpool, a franchise defined by its R-rating. While adding a movie or TV show is different to Disney making one itself, Disney+ has looked at including other mature content, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so it remains hard to justify moving Love, Victor.
Love, Victor Was A Much-needed Show For Disney+
Disney has been known to censor its movies, both those in production and the ones that come out on Disney+. Censorship on the platform goes from being as small as replacing swear words in songs/scenes, like changing every “fu**ed up” with “messed up” in Free Solo to changing entire scenes – like when Stitch jumps out of a pizza box instead of a dryer in Lilo and Stitch, because Disney wanted to avoid giving kids the idea to hide in dryers. Most recently, Disney+ cut out the F-word in multiple Hamilton songs. Disney has been known to censor scenes and words in their content, but Disney+ deliberately makes those cuts to avoid having any content that would pass the PG-13 mark. While Disney+ original shows so far haven’t had any “adult content”, the only swearing Love, Victor does is using the word “s**t”, which is hardly vulgar enough to offend more than any one of the violent scenes in The Mandalorian.
Beyond that, even with the little LGBT+ content that Love, Victor had, it would have been groundbreaking for Disney+ to feature a show centered around a teenager figuring out his sexuality, and could have given young adults and parents the opportunity to have conversations about topics usually absent from Disney content. Disney+ is more widely accessible internationally than Hulu, which would mean that more people would have had access to Love, Victor. While more adult shows from Disney-owned Freeform end up on Hulu, it would have done Disney+ some good to have a relatively PG show on the platform, if only to pave the way for similar series in the future. Because Love, Victor has the perfect making of a Disney+ show, and considering the fact that upcoming Disney+ shows will depict violence – any of the upcoming Marvel shows, for example– it feels like the original platform would have been a better one, even if it still succeeded (and will be less restricted) on Hulu.
