Love, Simon resonated with kids exploring their sexual orientation in an internet age. While many would rightly argue that coming out has become easier for some LGBTQ+ young people during the past twenty years, the internet now poses new challenges that previous generations didn’t have to navigate. Love, Simon is now available to stream, rent or buy.
Movies such as Get Real (1998) helped open the door to Love, Simon (2018), the film adaptation of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, written by Becky Albertalli. This, in turn, opened the door to shows ranging from its TV cousin, Love, Victor, to Heartstopper and Young Royals.
Gregg Berlanti’s 2018 film adaptation closely followed Albertalli’s book, which had wowed young readers three years prior. In bringing Love, Simon to the screen, Berlanti would embrace the style and spirit of the late, great John Hughes by dovetailing a wonderfully timed comedy and a banging soundtrack with a series of classic coming-of-age narrative hooks.
However, for all its charm, humour and needle drops, the true transformative power of Love, Simon sat within its mainstream cinema release under a major Hollywood studio with a 12A certificate. Here, Berlanti’s film changed the landscape of teenage LGBTQIA+ movies forever. Love, Simon was aimed squarely at an early to mid-teen audience that movies such as Get Real should have reached but couldn’t due to its limited cinema release and fifteen certificate.
Simon (Nick Robinson) is an average student with a lovely house, supportive parents and a cooking-obsessed younger sister. His close friends, Leah (Katherine Langford), Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), and Abby (Alexandra Shipp), offer him love, companionship, laughter, and support. At the same time, his school and social life are active, creative, and busy, with after-school clubs, coffee dates, study sessions, and fancy dress parties. However, underneath all this, Simon has one big-ass secret: he is gay.
Deep down, Simon knows his friends and family would accept his secret, but he also knows that speaking it aloud may change everything, and he isn’t quite ready for that yet. Plus, Simon can’t help but question why anyone should have to come out or why “straight is the default.” But, when a fellow student anonymously writes a post on the college blog expressing his fear of coming out, Simon responds privately to the email using the alias “Jacques”. Before long, both boys strike up a secret online friendship, as Simon wonders who the mysterious boy named “Blue” really is. Is he one of his friends? A member of his drama group? Or someone he is yet to meet?
Love, Simon resonated with kids exploring their sexual orientation in an internet age. While many would rightly argue that coming out has become easier for some LGBTQ+ young people during the past twenty years, the internet now poses new challenges that previous generations didn’t have to navigate.
Social media, in particular, has opened the door to bullying and intimidation that can invade your home life, while instant messages, video sharing and photos have led to increased levels of blackmail for many LGBTQ+ kids. Love, Simon doesn’t always navigate those concerns as astutely as it could, but it does open the door to important conversations through Simon’s experiences in a movie that finally jettisons the fifteen certificate and embraces LGBTQIA+ storytelling for younger gay teens.
Follow Us