SIMON SAYS OPEN THE CLOSET
‘Love, Simon’ is ahead of the pack. Later films about homosexual teens will have to be more refined, writes Tymon Smith
As a genre, Young Adult (YA) has often allowed for the examination of difficult social issues through the eyes of its young protagonists — sexuality, dealing with loss, the difficulties of relationships, the impermanence of friendships and the acceptance of difference are just some of those that spring to mind from successful recent examples. In the series space, shows like the hugely popular 13 Reasons Why, On My Block, American Vandal and Pretty Little Liars have successfully satisfied teen and adult audiences with their mix of comedy, suspense and drama to explore issues affecting teenagers in the increasingly highspeed, multi-identity, modern world.
Greg Berlanti’s adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda fits into this tradition and makes use of several recognisable stars of the YA television audience in what is the first mainstream YA cinema look at the issue of teenage homosexuality and the difficulties that young gay people must face when coming out to their parents and friends.
Simon (Nick Robinson) is your average, pleasantly brought up, white middle-class American 17-year-old. He’s the son of happily married high-school sweethearts Emily (Jennifer Garner) and Nick (Josh Duhamel) and brother to budding chef Nora (Talitha Bateman), and he’s looking forward to graduation from high school and the freedoms of college that lie ahead.
The only problem is that Simon has a secret he’s been keeping from everyone — he’s gay. He hasn’t even managed to tell his close-knit crew of friends — Leah (Alexandra Shipp), Abby (Katherine Langford) and Nick (Jorge Lendeborg). When he begins a secret e-mail communication with a mysterious, fellow-closeted schoolmate named Blue, Simon sets himself on a path that will ultimately challenge him to be true to himself even if that means complicating his relationship with his family and friends.
You could argue that a story about a comfortably white, privileged kid dealing with an issue that’s a little old fashioned in the age of transgender rights and racial tensions in the Trump era is too easy — and in some ways you’d be right. Berlanti’s treatment is safe and twee and sometimes a bit too much of a nostalgic throwback to the ’80s teen comedy dramas of the late John Hughes. The jokes, music, characters and the plot are handled with an overly light touch.
But as a first step towards putting an important issue that needs to be examined forward, the film offers enough of a mix of charm and light humour to make it easily palatable to even the most conservative audiences. Its central cast have an easygoing, relatable charm in their interaction that makes for a pleasant viewing experience. While it may not hit its targets as hard as it sometimes needs to, it doesn’t alienate its audience. They are not pushed to the point at which they might have an adverse reaction to the film, or be filled with moral rectitude causing the main message of the film to be lost.
Films that are ahead of the pack in putting relevant social issues at the forefront of their narratives often are predictable in their approach. It’s up to filmmakers who come after that to create films with similar subject matter but with a refined approach so that films of this sort become more than slightly amusing, easy-to-swallow, wasn’t-that-sweet and oh-so-relevant pills.
The first mainstream Young Adult cinema look at teenage homosexuality
Love, Simon is on circuit