Love, Simon
Love, Simon is a film that easily could've gone wrong. A major studio finally making a movie centered around a gay protagonist? It wouldn't be too far off to predict that it would shy away from queerness and the identity struggles that come along with it. Love, Simon is not the the most in depth look at queer identity, but it doesn't have to be. It has just enough of a look into the internal struggle that every gay person faces, even someone privileged like <PERSON>. 269
The significance of a gay coming of age comedy with a major release is not lost on me. I'm overjoyed for, maybe also a bit jealous of, LGBT youth that will grow up with stories like this. Heartwarming, hilarious, and most of all validating, Love, Simon is a landmark queer film. Not because it's explicitly trying to make a radical statement, but because by the film simply existing, by it playing in nearly every theater in America, is a radical statement within itself. 583