Love Actually, When Harry Met Sally and Notting Hill are just a few of the staple romantic comedy films everyone would think automatically of when thinking of this genre of film. But, society has changed a lot since the release of many of this films and romantic comedy does not just apply to the white, cis heteronormative relationship between man and woman anymore there is not a yearning for the man who is more popular than the woman or that gender is a ridgid binary. These types of constructions are the reason there are many people in our contemporary society whom feel they are being misrepresented or under represented by this genre of film. This issue has brought many debate and argument for new films that represented the contemporary way of living.
The 2018 film book adaption from “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli, Love, Simon (Greg Berlanti, 2018) was one of the best representations of a homosexual relationship in a romantic comedy in the past years. The film appealed to the traditional tropes and outer form of the romantic comedy genre that everyone seems to fall for every time; the high school setting which brings with it the ideas of sex, puberty and growing up in society, friendship and trust and the ‘will they, won’t they?’ theme. However, whilst Love, Simon does bring these traditional ideas and themes for the romantic comedy film, it also has brought light and direct conversation about major contemporary issues that many LGBT+ children and young adults have to face growing up in high schools in modern society and giving an outlet for said children and young adults to project and find themselves in; shown in the main character, Simon, being a young, closeted homosexual man trying to live a life where he can be perceived as ‘normal’ amongst his peers.
Love, Simon challenges most romantic comedies through having a homosexual man as the lead character where in films like Mean Girls, Clueless and Sex and the City the LGBT+ characters are used mainly for comedic value or the stereotypical ‘gay best friend’ to further the their straight counterparts plot line or love story, Love, Simon aims to push these representations away with not only having his friends all be the straight best friends with comedic value but also, not having a tragic and heart breaking representations of gay men usually shown in cinema; Brokeback Mountain, Call Me By Your Name and Lost and Delirious being an example of this. Love, Simon actually has a happy ending where the two men get together in the end and the film ends with a heartfelt shot of the two kissing, (Opie, 2018.)
Another way Love, Simon challenges stereotypical conventions is through having the love interests not meeting until the very last sequence of the film, most – if not all, romantic comedies are heavily influenced by the main characters having to change themselves to gain attention from their love interest or by society, this is seen in many popular romantic comedies such as Easy A, She’s the Man and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before being just some of the examples of this. Love, Simon instead has Simon fall in love over email, so he is being his true self and not trying to be someone different to impress society, this also highlights the importance and influence social media has on contemporary coming of age stories.
Although the film is happy and cheerful watch, it also presses on and highlights some real world issues with being a LGBT+ individual in society, which is another reason why Love, Simon is so important for audiences. When the character of Martin threatens to ‘out’ Simon when he finds Simon’s correspondences with his love interest. This is a very personal and traumatic experience for many LGBT+ individuals in society and by having it played out in a Hollywood blockbuster is so important for the representation of what individuals in society fall victim too. Also, there is a scene where the film ask, ‘why is straight the default?’ with several of Simon’s friends coming out to their parents as straight, this is a funny scene which again challenges the idea that someone who is not straight has to come out to their family and force it upon themselves. Another interesting part is when Simon does come out to his friends, they are not angry at him for being gay, but they feel like they were owed an apology for him lying about his sexuality and his friend Leah felt embarrassed because she thought he reciprocated her feelings for him. This scene is important but also very interesting in regard to the typical ‘coming out’ scenes in film, as Simon’s friends do not care that he is gay, but that he felt he could not tell any of them, when in most films when the LGBT+ character comes out they face predjudice because they are LGBT+.
To conclude, Love, Simon is a very important and influential film for LGBT+ youth and even just the romantic comedy audiences in general, it highlights and challenges many of the stereotypical genre conventions of romantic comedy whilst still being a film of the same genre. This film has helped pave the way for new representations of LGBT+ individuals in film and even Disney are now producing a series based on the film.
References
Opie, D. (2018). ‘Love, Simon’: Why It’s The Most Important Movie of The Year. [online] Highsnobiety. Available at: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/love-simon-movie-important/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020].
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