Week 10: Queers Still Castrated in Media (or Not)?
Love, Simon is an adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s 2015 novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. It is about a boy named Simon who has almost everything in life; a nice family, friends, and popularity. So basically a “normal, average” life. However, he has a big secret; he’s gay. As the story continues he begins a pen “email” pal relationship with someone who calls themselves Blue, who had posted anonymously on social media that he is gay. As Simon and Blue get to know each other through email, one of Simon’s classmates finds out Simon’s sexuality through his emails with Blue and blackmails Simon to help him go out with one of Simon’s female friends. Stuck, Simon agrees to help his classmate while also trying to solve the mystery of who is Blue.
When the film Love, Simon made it onto the big screen people were ecstatic to have a film about a gay character, specifically the LQBTQ community. It had huge support even before the film was screened on theaters. And after its release, the support continued.
However, there were some mixed feelings about the film as well. Some that even came from the LGBTQ community. For instance, in the article “We're not just like you: Love, Simon and the danger of mainstreaming LGBTQ stories” by Peter Knegt, he writes, “Simon is essentially so devoid of any expressions of queerness that he might as well be the poster boy for how straight people have historically tended to want gay people to be: just like them. But we're not just like them. Maybe at one point we thought we wanted to be, but the whole point of coming out is to start embracing the fact that we aren't.”
So, in a way, while Simon tries to represent a queer character, there is also a lack of queerness to the character that has some queer audiences have difficulty relating to him. As a result when Simon says,
“My name’s Simon, I’m just like you.”
It seems that Simon speaks more to the straight audience rather than the queer audience since he seems to be trying to justify that queer and straight are not so different from each other. Furthermore, the possibility of queerness in the film also seems limited and leans towards satisfying the straight audience rather than a queer one. It is as if the film to so afraid to scare off the audience if they make their queer character too queer. This is sort of evident in the dance sequence of the film where Simon says that he will be “gay and proud” in college, but then he says, “Yeah, maybe not that gay.” Is there a limit to being gay? Or showing how gay a person is? What is wrong with being this gay? Well in this film, it seems to shows that limiting, or castration of queerness.
This castration can be seen in more parts of the film such as the fantasy almost-kiss between Simon and a classmate he believes may be Blue. Or even at the end of the film where Simon and Blue finally kiss. In this way, when something queer visually does occur it happens near the end where the audience have no choice but to sit through it since it is almost over.
Also, since queerness happens in the ends the audience doesn’t really get to be affected by the queerness and submerge themselves in a queer experience, even when the main character is supposed to be queer himself. It also doesn’t help when that actor himself is actually straight and not queer, which may cause some audience to have some more trouble having this character become a legit queer representative. While back in the day having a straight actor playing a queer character may have been a strong political move in queer progression, in today's day of age the queer audience wants more queer actors as representatives in media.
Though, while this film may lack a strong queer representation it probably had its reasons for castrating the queerness. As the very first mainstream rom-com film about a gay character coming out there were high expectations riding on this film. As a result, the creators took the safe path and presented a film that was more towards the straight audience in order to get views and probably limit criticism. However, at what cost?
From cutting the queerness, the film presents a story that is not a truthful and realistic representation of the queer community since the queer character acts more like a straight character that happens to like guys. Also, Simon’s life seems too perfect and surreal compared to an actual queer person. For example, a queer audience may have experienced the fear of coming out and being rejected by society and their family. In Love, Simon, he already knows that he will have the approval and support of his family and probably his friends too. He just wants the chance to expose his sexuality in his own terms, which is something a queer audience may relate to but it's not enough to sway the whole queer audience.
However, that’s to say that some of the queer audience does appreciate this film. While it may not be the best queer representation and it does castrate the queerness, it is a film that still manages to queer the audience. Whether it was for a straight audience to be more accepting and empathetic of queers, or even cause closeted queers to gain the courage and come out of the closet. In the end, the character Simon is one character that had caused a ripple in society that could be seen as either good or bad.
