Love, Simon novel vs. movie comparison. Spoiler Alert! (180710)
So this is going to be a 70% factual comparison (and of course because this is tumblr i’m going to sprinkle my opinions and rants here and there) of the movie “Love, Simon” vs. the novel “Love, Simon” (originally “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertall). The list is definitely incomplete and i may add some more stuff in the future but these are the more “important” comparison of the things that caught my attention.
So here we are, my what’s-probably-going-to-be-really-awful comparison of the novel & the movie:
Where’s Alice?: Alice is Simon’s older sister who’s absent in the movie. Btw, she doesn’t normally come home for christmas, and she’s dating Theo, who’s Martin’s older brother.
Regarding Lyle, Suraj and Mr. Worth: They don’t exist in the book
and Ethan and Sophie: They were implied in the book. But in the movie Ethan got his own character and Sophie was shown as a text message
and Jackie: She doesn’t exist in the novel but i love their exchange in the movie.
as for Taylor: The opposite. His character is slightly more well developed in the novel.
Email address: Simon’s email address in the book is [email protected]. It’s [email protected] in the movie. Both are referencing to different songs (Ok so a search from the web told me that it’s Elliott Smith’s “Waltz #2″ for the former and The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunsets” for the latter)
Starting scene: In the novel, everything started when Simon forgot to log out from his email. But i found the introductory scene in the movie to be very refreshing.
Scenes that got cut: There was this part in the novel where Abby, Nick and Simon went together to Atlanta and they entered a gay bar / restaurant, and Simon got picked up by this college guy named Peter and got drunk. (And grounded for 2 weeks for the matter). As a sidenote, this was the key event that led to his parents’ acceptance in the novel, as opposed to him talking separately to his mum and dad in the movie
Scenes that got cut 2: In the novel, Simon did 2 theatre performances.
Eyeliner: In the movie it just got shown briefly that Simon performed with eyeliner. But in the novel, before the entire Martin saga, Abby drew eyeliners for Simon and (according to Abby) Simon looked “fucking hot”. Abby redrew his eyelines during their final show when they’ve patched up
Scenes that got cut 3: In the novel, after Simon and Bram were officially dating, there was this talent show where Leah played drum and Nora played the guitar (as helped by Nick). And since Alice was there it led to a pretty different ending which i’ll discuss later.
Martin is blue?!: The novel mentioned explicitly how Simon thought that Martin could possibly be blue. And the emotional havoc that follows thinking that he has fallen in love with someone who has blackmailed him and publicized that he’s gay.
Lack of interaction with Calvin?: The novel was more explicit in explaining how Simon kinda liked Calvin too (esp his bangs). The scene where he asked Calvin if he’s blue is only in the film. In the novel, Calvin fooled around with him and pushed him down the hallway in a rolling chair before the entire Martin saga happened. But after, Calvin casually mentioned that he’s bi and that they should hang out sometimes. (PS: I do think that Miles Heizer was a great choice for Cal. That bang is on fleek)
and lack of interaction with Blue...: I think the novel did a better job in developing the story on how Blue and Simon liked each other. Their exchange of emails, their convos, and how they fall for each other, romantically and “physically”.
Blue didn’t erase his email in the novel: He didn’t know anything about the tumblr saga nor did he let Simon know that he knows him. He never checks tumblr and they kept on talking. (PS: In the novel, Martin claimed that he deleted that post on tumblr before the admin could even remove it)
English test: There was this part in the novel where his teacher gave out Bram’s test results to Simon instead and it got full mark. Hint: In the novel, it was mentioned that Blue was a language genius and Simon vetted his email countlessly before sending it to him. And they tried to guess each other’s identity based on their english teacher.
Eliott Smith shirt: Blue (Bram) left an Elliott Smith tshirt on Simon’s locker with a little message (and it contains his phone number too) that Simon only found 2 weeks later as he kept that shirt under his pillow. On a side note, Simon’s parents found out that Simon was drunk bc Simon insisted to Abby that they go back to his house first (after getting drunk in Atlanta) because he needs to get that shirt. And he got grounded. (PS: The last line of the message says “So if you think i’m not attracted to you, Simon you’re crazy” AND ISNT THAT JUST THE CUTEST LITTLE THING ON EARTH OMG WHYCANTIHAVEASWEETHIGHSCHOOLLOVESTORYTOOTHOIMLATEBY1.5YEARSNOW)
Bram’s subtle hint: In the movie Brant drop some subtle (i forgot if it was oreo or halloween) hint to Simon when the gang ate together. But in the novel, that never happened and Simon was trying hard to find out who Blue was. Instead, Simon dropped some subtle hints to Calvin (which is obv not blue) and Simon also asked Blue some stuff that indicated that he thinks Calvin is blue.
Halloween party: It did exist in the novel but it was not a central event like it was in the movie. Also, Leah’s sleepover scene and John Lennon getting drunk scene were only in the movie
Waffle house: The 3 of them visited waffle house more than once in the novel. Also that screaming scene didn’t exist in the novel.
Simon making up with Leah: He carjacked Leah to waffle house in the novel. He ran up to her while she was walking her dog in the movie.
Simon’s involvement: Simon was much more subtle in getting Leah and Martin together in the novel, it’s as if he doesn’t do much. Simon didn’t make up lies in the novel, and the waffle house thing was Martin’s idea in the novel.
Martin’s public confession: Nope that didn’t exist in the novel. But i do think that it’s better to have such scene as it makes more sense why he decided to leak Simon’s secret. I found that the reasoning in the novel (Abby was disinterested in him before christmas) was rather weak compared to the embarrassment he got in the film.
The bullies: In the movie the 2 jocks were publicly mocking Simon and Ethan in cafeteria and Ms. Albright sternly scolded them. In the novel it was more like a series of subtle harassment and she dealt with them by revising some school policy conduct of anti bullying and tolerance before the theatre show, in front of the audience (because they crossed out Simon’s playwright character name (Fagin’s child) to become “Fag”). I liked the movie version better tho. The flow was better.
Coming out to his parents: There were more interaction and emphasis on how Simon came out to his parents in the movie which i found to be more heartfelt. Also his dad’s original line in the novel was: “Let me guess, you’re gay, you got someone pregnant, you got pregnant”.
Simon and his friends: I was also quite moved with the scene where during the day when school started again, this entire blackmailing saga “costs” him his friends. In the novel, Abby and Nick got together because they spent the new year together after Simon got drunk and grounded and that’s what pisses Leah off (in the movie it’s because Leah liked Simon but Simon set him up with Nick). But the novel delved deeper on how Simon felt like a jerk because he doesn’t even know simple trivia about his friends and ended up finding out more about it.
Ferris wheel scene: The part when Bram joined Simon and they kissed together at the top (and cheered by everyone) was only in the movie (EVEN THO THAT IS ALSO EQUALLY AS CUTE). In the novel, the carnival was almost over and the park was rather deserted and they just hold hands together. They shared their first kiss in Bram’s car (during one of their lunch break) where they decided to go out on an oreo date (and it was winter and it was raining too) AND IT WAS ALSO EQUALLY AS CUTE I AM JEALOUS
Bramon: They were quite cheezy as a couple in the novel AND YES I STILL FOUND IT CUTE
Ending: The ending in the movie was Simon, picking up Nick, Leah and Abby as usual, and they got 5 coffees this time, and he picks up Bram, and Leah moved to the back seat, and Bram got into a front seat and they give each other morning kiss (AND I’M JEALOUS WHY CANT I HAVE A CUTE LOVE STORY AND A BOYFRIEND LIKE THAT TOO sorrynotsorrytoethanandcasper). In the novel, Alice, Nora, and Simon’s parents are off to this restaurant called The Varsity leaving Simon and Bram alone in his house for 2 hours where they made out.
Appearances: In the novel it said that Simon was blond, had grey eyes and wore spectacles. (Hey but Nick Robinson was a good choice nevertheless. At least he got his specs on during the flashback in middle school). PS: i was imagining Martin to be this thin, somewhat nerdy, bespectacled guy with curly hair but oh well.
PS: And i think Keiynan Londsdale (Bram) is pretty cute. Way to go Simon. Great choice.