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[the half of it: spoilers]

am i the only one who doesn’t like paul? the ‘you’re going to hell thing’ just hit too hard, since i already hear that, and the fact that it happened right after he tried to kiss ellie was... not it. the thing i was excited about for ellie and paul’s friendship was his reaction to finding out ellie has the same crush as him- the trailer made it seem as though he respected it, and the difficulties she faced being a closeted lesbian. but that didn’t happen. despite him coming to terms with that, despite the fact that “people are products of the environment they grew up in” (which is, by the way, not an excuse), despite the fact that he ran after the train- his mother had a better reaction to thinking he was gay than he did to ellie.

ellie and astrid, on the other hand, are kindred spirits. whether or not they end up together romantically, it’s so obvious from their conversations in their letters and their interaction at the end of the movie that this is the start of a great friendship (if not more). when ellie says, “do you know what it’s like to finally meet someone your age who gets you?” she isn’t talking about paul. she’s talking about astrid- she created abstract graffiti with astrid! all she did with paul was stalk the girl they both liked and go shopping.

maybe it’s the impression i got personally from him, but paul isn’t the guy that i had hoped he would be, and their friendship is not that amazing tumblr post (if u know, u know).

#i was so excited for this movie #im still happy aboit it! i jist #choose to focus on astrid and ellie and not... paul

janetkims

the most unrealistic thing about the half of it is that the jock found out that he had the same crush as his lesbian best friend and he took it... well

janetkims

i said this too soon .

#u cannot say #‘ur going to hell’ and not get me mad @ u #paul #stupid paul #the half of it #netflix #paul munsky #ellie chu #aster flores #alice wu #leah lewis #alexxis lemire

spidaerman

one thing i absolutely loved about The Half of It was how they showed ellie and her dad speaking mandarin to each other 99.9% of the time because that’s the reality of most households with immigrant parents

but many shows/movies show those kinds of family speaking english, which is great because many immigrant parents do speak english and they speak it rather well

i just thought it was nice that they showed a parent not knowing how to speak english fluently and mentioning how he had a PhD in engineering back in china, because many americans believe that your accent determines your intelligence, which it doesn’t

so to some people this might seem trivial, but to someone who’s been/is living through that, it means a lot to have seen it on screen

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers

luntfontanne

hmmm i’m also thinking about how important it is that aster is the specific girl that ellie longs for from afar, because not only is aster 1) beautiful 2) smart and 3) nice, and not only does she like the same books that ellie does, but she is also iirc the only other nonwhite person we really see living in the entire town

aster is accepted by the other girls because she’s ~beautiful~ and because she’s desired by the most popular, richest boy in school, but it’s made very clear to us that that acceptance is provisional—that she’s still very clearly different and no one has forgotten that. her parents don’t even own their house, they speak to her in spanish at home, she didn’t grow up in squahamish (she is quite literally not from here), and no matter how much the other girls act like she’s one of them, when she’s not around they have no problem immediately bringing up the fact that she’s not and that she’s lucky to have that provisional acceptance that’s almost entirely based on her playing the part of trig’s girlfriend and eventual wife

and all of this is there in all of their interactions, in their correspondence when they’re talking about being different but especially in the actual in-person interactions between them and not ellie-writing-letters-as-paul. that’s why aster noticed her when ellie thought aster didn’t know who she was, before they’d ever had an actual conversation—because there’s an unspoken understanding between them, a camaraderie that comes with growing up as a person of color in an overwhelmingly white town. and no matter how different they might look on the surface to other people, they both know it’s just because they found different ways to survive the same oppressive loneliness that comes with being the other. that camaraderie is something that is extremely important regardless of whether it is romantic or not

#regardless of whether it is romantic or not is so important #theyre KINDRED SPIRITS #whether or not theyre romantic u know #u know that this is a great friendship #that is to come #the half of it #the half of it spoilers

c--and--b

okay but can we talk about how the half of it opens with the story of soulmates being one entity with four arms, four legs and two faces and how that’s what being whole is and then cut to aster and ellie in the hot spring with their reflections giving them that exact anatomy because they’re already whole in themselves but they don’t have the capacity to see that because they’re too busy looking at the sky

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers

cactus-pugh

THE GAY PARALLELS

and thats on alice wu and hayley kiyoko supremacy

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers #hayley kiyoko

saintdollyparton

Listen Aster Flores, no straight girl gives off the vibes you were in that hot spring. What the ACTUAL fuck?!

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers #aster flores

evocatiio

all I’m simply asking is for alice wu to get infinite funding so she can continue making high art lesbian yearning

#the half of it #alice wu #saving face

sabrinaspellmancaos

life hack for writer’s block? 😬

#the half of it #alice wu

doramilaje

THE HALF OF IT (2020) dir. Alice Wu

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers

wondersmith-and-sons

what the Half of It really shows is that there’s more than one way to do a story about queer coming-of-age, while also being a brilliant reminder that sexuality will always be intersecting with other identities when you’re young teen of colour.

in the margins of this film, there is an extremely quiet but very overt storyline about the loneliness of being a second generation immigrant in a small town that doesn’t have a prominent diaspora community. In contrast to To All the Boys, for example, where we’re shown how the Covery sisters interact with their diaspora friends and other Korean diaspora families, and how having that community (and sharing that common history with someone) is an essential part of your social life and emotional wellbeing, Ellie and her father are more or less alone in a white, conservative town.

As Ellie mentions, the closest Asian grocery store is 2 hours by bike, and to be separated from all assurance of your heritage and identity is an extremely specific kind of loneliness. In this town, they will always be the Other, and Ellie is not only extremely disconnected from her peers and her classmates, but also from herself. She’s trying to grow up in the image of her father, because it’s the only connection she has to that part of her identity, and that’s kept her detached and self-isolated.

It is crushing, which is why seeing Ellie overcome that loneliness is an equally important part of her character arc. She learns to be herself, and her sexuality, but an equally big triumph is her growing out of her self-isolation. Her friendship with Paul, being accepted by her classmates, and her longing for Aster are all equal parts of her coming-of-age.

This was a specific story told by a Chinese director, with a Chinese protagonist finding her sense of self in a town that has more or less worn away her identity. if you’re white and LGBTQ+, i am going to please ask you to stop whining about how The Half of It is not ~quEeER eNoUgh~ for you, because the movie itself has already broken the mold of how many stories about how Asian diaspora are told.

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers

mculayouts

the half of it headers. like if you save or use.

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers

luntfontanne

The Half of It (2020) dir. Alice Wu

– Gravity is matter’s response to loneliness. – Who said that? – I don’t know. – Then you said it.

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers

ckrd7

#the half of it #the half of it spoilers

vackford

Myth of Soulmates in The Half of It

So, first off - spoilers very much ahead.

But one thing that I wanted to talk about that caught my eye during The Half of It, is the use of mirror imaging.

Our first introduction to the film talks about the Myth of Soulmates created by the Greeks: “humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”

And it sort of looks like there’s a mirror splitting them down the middle.

Throughout the film you see Ellie and Aster mirroring each other and themselves.

First in the bathroom:

Talking late at night:

Then in the pool:

And finally at the end:

I think it’s also kind of interesting that when this happens they are usually being vulnerable in some respect. In the bathroom scene, Ellie overhears about Aster’s family not even owning their house. The late night chats give a chance for both characters to be open and honest with their ‘hour of secrets’. In the pool scene, Aster has literally taken Ellie to her ‘favourite secret place’. Both of them reveal aspects about their lives to each other, with Ellie even talking about her mother (which we haven’t see her do openly before). Then at the end, when we have had the big reveal and Aster is aware of the letters coming from Ellie, we have the road splitting them in two.

Finally, Ellie crosses the boundary and kisses Aster. The two halves are now whole and the soulmates have found each other.

#the half of it #spoilers #the half of it spoilers

[the half of it: spoilers]

am i the only one who doesn’t like paul? the ‘you’re going to hell thing’ just hit too hard, since i already hear that, and the fact that it happened right after he tried to kiss ellie was... not it. the thing i was excited about for ellie and paul’s friendship was his reaction to finding out ellie has the same crush as him- the trailer made it seem as though he respected it, and the difficulties she faced being a closeted lesbian. but that didn’t happen. despite him coming to terms with that, despite the fact that “people are products of the environment they grew up in” (which is, by the way, not an excuse), despite the fact that he ran after the train- his mother had a better reaction to thinking he was gay than he did to ellie.

ellie and astrid, on the other hand, are kindred spirits. whether or not they end up together romantically, it’s so obvious from their conversations in their letters and their interaction at the end of the movie that this is the start of a great friendship (if not more). when ellie says, “do you know what it’s like to finally meet someone your age who gets you?” she isn’t talking about paul. she’s talking about astrid- she created abstract graffiti with astrid! all she did with paul was stalk the girl they both liked and go shopping.

maybe it’s the impression i got personally from him, but paul isn’t the guy that i had hoped he would be, and their friendship is not that amazing tumblr post (if u know, u know).

#the half of it #spoilers #the half of it spoilers #ellie chu #aster flores #alice wu #netflix #thoi #paul munsky

jimmyhopper

To be honest, I’m Team Maeve and Aimee.

― Emma Mackey

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