By Mia Jones
It is not up for debate, that young people are becoming powered to change, seeking to improve the world the previous generations have set up for them. Generation Z has been described as “the gayest, most trans, most racially diverse generation out there.”
With these youth growing up surrounded by social and mainstream media, some representation is sure to follow. And ‘Love, Simon’ fits the bill.
‘Love, Simon’ is an adaption of the novel Simon VS the Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. The film tells the story of 17 year old Simon Spier (Nick Robinson), a normal teenager with great friends and family but with one huge secret: nobody knows he’s gay.
Simon meets someone under the alias ‘Blue’ through their schools anonymous blog and discovers they share the same secret. While the pairs anonymous emails about love, life, and coming out are quirky and truthful — their identities to each other and truth about their sexual identity become jeopardized when one of Simon’s classmates finds their email correspondence and blackmails Simon.
‘Love, Simon’ includes a charismatic diverse cast, interracial on-screen couples, LGBTQ actors actually playing LGBTQ characters, talent from Netflix’s hit original 13 Reasons Why (Katherine Langford and Miles Heizer) and an astounding soundtrack featuring artists ranging from Troye Sivan to Whitney Houston.
It is the first romantic comedy that exists in mainstream media, targeted towards a young audience about a gay teenager. Love, Simon is able to blend a traditional campy, romantic comedy and coming of age teen movie with a relatable and honest coming out story that is important for LGBTQ youth to see today.
There is something particularly special about how many people are able to relate to Simon’s story and heal from it. This is a film that leaves thousands of teens and adults in smiles and tears. Finally, members of the LGBTQ community are seeing a major motion picture, and a happy story, of themselves on the big screen. Love, Simon is out in theatres now.
