Trinity Literary Society and Q Soc are coming together this evening for a screening of Greg Berlanti’s incredibly successful Love, Simon. Kicking off at 6.30pm in room 5033 in the Arts Block, the film is a must-see.
Love, Simon, starring Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel and Katherine Langford, has been praised for its heart-warming and tender scenes. Most notably, however, the film has been celebrated for its apparent deftness at authentically portraying the struggles of a closeted teen in today’s world. Not only does the film deal with traits typical of a coming-of-age tale, but woven into the narrative are the struggles faced by the LGBT community from adolescence.
The film follows the story of a young high school student, Simon Spier, who withholds from his family and closest friends his most intimate secret: his sexuality. Simon attempts to remain in the closet, going under the radar and shifting his focus onto his love of drama and theatre. But when Simon falls for an anonymous classmate online, drama trickles into his own life as he grapples with the realities of falling in love for the first time and, when an email falls into the wrong hands, the reality of his sexuality being outed to the whole school.
In an email statement to The University Times, Q Soc librarian Luca Corali described Love, Simon as “exactly the kind of representation people of the LGBTQ+ community have been asking for”. Corali, who has been out for the last three years, enjoys the story for the sense of comfort it might provide to a closeted teen in finally providing a popular image one might be able to identify with. “Love, Simon is the kind of movie I needed during my adolescence; it would have helped me immensely in the process of coming out. Many do not realise it, but seeing yourself represented positively in the media does have a deep impact on somebody’s growth.”
The film reassuringly speaks to the underrepresented, and indeed, often misrepresented, truths of life as a closeted teen, but also to the woes and triumphs of a first love. While the story might follow the well-trodden path of a coming-of-age rom-com, Caroli points out that “we’ve never had a gay ‘trashy romcom; before, have we?”
The film was released last March as an adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s widely celebrated debut novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Following the screening, a discussion surrounding Albertalli’s work will take place. Aisling Kearney, the Chairperson of the Literary Society, spoke of the decision to discuss Albertalli’s tale, and Berlanti’s adaptation of it, as driven by the society’s aim to elevate the status of the young adult fiction genre. “We want to challenge this dismissiveness and show that contemporary young adult literature tackles hard subjects like social stigma, ostracisation, and the pressures of being a young adult.”
The novel is trailblazing in its efforts to confront questions of sexuality and inclusion, and its success on screen has heralded an influx of hotly anticipated LGBT films in the coming year such as A kid like Jake and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Thus, the movie may be credited with providing the impetus needed to spark a crucial, and often avoided conversation, one that may traverse frontiers and seas via the medium of cinema.
