Reasons (Other Than A Gay Protagonist) Why âLove, Simonâ Was A Ground Breaking Movie
Listen yâall. Iâm an open lesbian who lives in a small homophobic house and gets called faggot in the hallways. So when I heard that Love, Simon was coming out I was so excited to just see a person LIKE ME on the big screen. A high school student who struggles with shit that isnât just his sexuality. And because a lot of the book/movie gets forgotten in the heat of the âOh my god a gay protagonist !!!â I thought I would share WHY I adore Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda/Love, Simon so much.Â
1.) REALISTIC. FEMALE. HIGH. SCHOOLERS. Oh my god is this HUGE! Abby and Leah having different personalityâs and traits that make them discernible as characters? Holy shit that was amazing. Itâs actually incredible. Even Taylor had her own personality. They werenât cliques, they werenât always catty and trying to bitch on each other. They were just realistic female students! Not cardboard cutouts of something resembling a woman with a backpack.Â
2.) It actually shows how high-school is NOW. I mean maybe a few things here or there are a little off. But most people being pretty okay with each other and being friends without it being so âIâm in this clique-heâs in that cliqueâ was absolutely refreshing from the stupid rhetoric about high school that gets spewed out in every other teen movie tm. Not to mention the phone thing, everyone is on their phones all. the. time.
3.) The whole iced coffee thing? Yeah thatâs it. That is generation z high school culture right there.
4.) It properly discussed what it is like to be outed and why it hurts so much to be outed. You know how much straight people donât get that shit? Itâs nuts. They think they have a right to know because youâre a person in their life. They may be like Martin and see it as no big problem until they see the damage. Imagine someone with a worse home life than Simonâs family in the book/movie and Martin outing him and them finding out? A very real situation for many lgbt kids like myself. This did an amazing job of showing how even in a progressive and accepting place being outed is wrong, a breach of boundaries, and is something not to be done under any circumstances without permission from the person that you are talking about.Â
5.) Just because two people are gay, doesnât mean that they are together. I adored that part in the movie. It has so much clarification for people who just donât know about lgbt teens and people in general.Â
6.) It gave an amazing example of the kind of thing you need to say to your kid/friend if they come out to you. You talk it through. You tell them you love them. You let them know theyâre going to be okay and that you are there for them no matter what. It was a stellar exemplar to make for people in the audience.Â
7.) Say it with me kids. Even in progressive schools there are still people who will bully kids for being lgbt. Itâs not just a âwe need a bit in the movie to show Simon is strugglingâ. Like...no...this shit happens all the time. People call me faggot in the halls and other slurs. This is real people. Itâs an important thing for people to know about lgbt kids in high schoolÂ
8.) The fact that even though you know the people around you will still love you and look out for you it is still hard to come out. Itâs most likely one of the hardest things you do as an lgbt personÂ
These are the ones off the top of my head, and there are a bunch more, maybe Iâll update this with more later, but these are the eight main points that make me so happy to be living in a world with a genius writer like Becky AllberatiÂ