Review: Come out and fall in love with “Love, Simon”

BY ALEXANDRA SANSONE

Everyone deserves a fantastic love story and “Love, Simon” has delivered just that. Like many other romantic comedies, “Love, Simon” was full of light-hearted jokes surrounding a life-altering obstacle the main character, Simon Spier, played by Nick Robinson is attempting to overcome.

Unlike most films, the movie maintained most aspects of the book it was based on in terms of character development. In this case, the novel “Simon vs. the Homosapien Agenda” by Becky Albertalli, was made into a movie and released March 16 as a major motion picture to over two thousand theatres. The heart-warming film showcases the struggle of coming out of the closet explored in a way never seen before on the big screen.

The heart-warming film showcases the struggle of coming out of the closet explored in a way never seen before on the big screen.

The cast of “Love, Simon” did an excellent job of portraying the emotions flowing through the mind of a troubled teen. Having done so without exaggeration to the point of offensiveness, like many movies marketed to teenagers these days. The use of cell phones in the movie, for example, accurately depicts this generations addiction to the device, yet still manages to highlight the influences it has on relationships and demonstrates the lifeline it serves to navigate the confusing time one spends in high school.

The students of Creekwood High school all revolve around a website entitled “creeksecrets” that mimics the functions of popular website “ASKfm.” Through a post of an anonymous confession, Spier connects with a closeted gay student, like himself, from his school and engaged in ongoing email conversations with him.

These emails, however, fall into the wrong hands and are used as blackmail against Spier. As the movie progresses, the two boys fall in love with one another and venture along a journey of self-discovery comprised of perfectly orchestrated awkward situations and eye-opening scenes presented to the audience.

Targeting stigmas, within the film it is beautifully illustrated that while some gay men do act feminine, by society’s standards, that is not the norm for all those who are gay and that both personalities are perfectly acceptable. Correcting jokes that straddle the fine line between acceptable and highly offensive “Love, Simon” reinforces that those who are gay are not “turned” so but simply are who they are.

Correcting jokes that straddle the fine line between acceptable and highly offensive “Love, Simon” reinforces that those who are gay are not “turned” so but simply are who they are.

Towards the end of the film is a heartfelt scene between Spier and his mother in which she shares with him a monologue filled with kind words that most kids struggling with their identity need to hear, but are typically deprived of. Which is why this film is so impactful for people young and old, straight and other.

“Love, Simon” has started the normalization of the coming out process in a positive light. It provides parents with an image of what their child may be going through and even more importantly provides accurate representation in the media for LGBTQ members.

Having someone to relate to in the media helps individuals to feel less alone and gives the confidence to be who they are. The film providing a point of entry for conversations that otherwise might not have been there.

Society sees straight as the default, “Love, Simon” counters that by highlighting  the absurdity of having to come out. Doing so in a particularly comical scene in which the supporting characters come out to their parents as straight, receiving the dramatic responses usually reserved for when the LGBTQ comes out.

Society sees straight as the default, “Love, Simon” counters that by highlighting  the absurdity of having to come out.

Instead of making “Love, Simon” a “gay” movie, the focus was placed on making it a good quality, entertaining movie which in turn makes it so impactful for all of those who see it. Whether the audience is apart of the LGBTQ community or not, everyone can relate to the struggle of telling the world who they are.

Photo courtesy of  Fox Movies