By Clare Driscoll
It’s the classic teen romance movie. The main character is chasing down the one that they love, and through (more cheesy stuff here). The only difference? The main character is gay.
Love, Simon is the new hit movie directed by Greg Berlanti that eloquently tells the story of teenage romance in a modern age and all the feelings that go through the coming out process.
The beauty of Love, Simon is that it’s comfortingly average. This film makes a point not to stand out as a crazy teen love story but more so tries to be just like every other one. It does this in order to show that the similar feeling of love transcends gender or sexuality.
The biggest piece of representation in Love, Simon is the LGBT visibility. In past blockbuster films featuring a queer character, they are shown as a supporting character or as one who meets a tragic end, but in this film, Simon is shown going through the regular hero’s journey.
It also does a great job showing LGBT representation in other minority groups that are not shown in blockbuster films as being gay such as POC and different religious groups.
While the bid for representation is what sets this movie above the rest, there are many other great aspects of this film like acting.
While none of these actors are actually the age of high schoolers, they do a gread job expressing all the feelings of awkwardness that being a teen can come with.
All in all, while this film is your typical “teen movie”, it’s become an instant classic that we’ll be hearing about for years to come.