89 - March 30th, 2018: Love, Simon.

Journal

“I like your boots!” - Love, Simon
Today was good.
I did less today than I did yesterday, so *oof*. That really annoys me, and it frightens me because I know I have to do go to a lot of things tomorrow as well, but I should be able to get things done. The keyword there is should, but hopefully things will be fine.
The following paragraphs contain over 700 words that were written without a spellchecker, so if there are any issues there, that’s why.
The main thing that happened today was I got to go to Love, Simon, which was amazing. I don’t usually watch movies (the last one I think I watched was probably in January), but this one was totally worth it. So much of it really resonated with me: (obviously) the not being straight, but beyond that, so many of the little details were just perfect. The utter high school-ness of it all, with the teacher who isn’t paid enough and the intrusive yet well-meaning principal. The musical references: the Hamilton playbill in the background, the moment when (possibly spoilers) Abby talks about the one guy who is ‘obsessed with Les Mis’ when brainstorming possible gay people, as well as the production of Cabaret that is going on throughout the movie are all pretty great. The blue hoodie, the conversation about being madly in love with just one person, etc. were all things that I felt strongly. Besides the plot (which was fine, but not necessarily exceptional), all of the emotions and thoughts and ideas involved in the movie just felt so relevant and important and amazing, especially to me. Of course, the fact that Simon has to go through all of these painful events to come out and be accepted is: 1. depressing; 2. probably a good explanation of LGBT suicide rates; 3. slightly exaggerated in relation to all LGBT children but; 4. necessary for a plot. The fact that the parents are accepting has to make one think how much more difficult Simon’s life might be if they hadn’t been (and it’s probably fair to say a significant proportion of parents are not as accepting (e.g. mine)), but the fact that one is thinking about these things is perhaps the point of the film as a whole. Of course, I wish it was this easy (I don’t like the word ‘easy’ for this, but it’ll do for now) to have a high school relationship, either straight or gay, but that’s probably just me being angsty.
This is a lot about the film, but I suppose that portrays exactly the impact it had on and feelings it evoked in me.

Postscripts

Ok…more thoughts.
To think about it again, the character in Love, Simon and his context is probably designed (for lack of a better word) to be as identifiable as possible for the average reader, perhaps for the reason that it makes the conflict and emotions more understandable to those who are, in one form or another, averse to non-cishet relationships. Depicting the emotional pain of someone going who has to come out without many other significant alienating factors makes it easier for people to accept the character at hand. (Although for those who consider not being straight a significant alienating factor will continue to be as bigoted as always, and those sans empathy (e.g. my parents) will simply view it as means for Hollywood to push their agenda because normal relationships “don’t sell anymore” (the effort it took me to not say anything to that was exceptional).) And, not to sell the movie short, it actually dips (albeit briefly) into how much more difficult it can be to not be straight, after exploring Simon’s trials and tribulations, via Ethan, who, as a black gay kid who has a less supportive family, clearly has a significantly harder situation than Simon does, but, as is shown in the movie, has more than overcome it.
Oh, and one last thing. I thought it was kind of interesting to see the fact that these characters had spent so long in the closet. It definitely gives me a certain perspective about how much longer others have had to deal with their internal struggle, given that it took me about half a year (at most) to go from realization to being out. It was also really endearing (I don’t like that word, but it’s as close as I can get to the word I want) and inspiring (again, not sure about this word choice) to see that each and every one of them had a different process to getting there, and the closeness in age (16, 17, etc.) made it even more powerful. We aren’t alone - in fact, we’re a big enough group that there was a big Hollywood film made about us for us. That’s something that in and of itself is pretty uplifting.