Y'know, There's This Gripe I've Had For Years That Really Frustrates Me, And It Has To Do With Love,

Y'know, there's this gripe I've had for years that really frustrates me, and it has to do with Love, Simon and people joking about it and calling it too-pg and designed-for-straight-people and all the like. (A similar thing has happened to Heartstopper, but that's another conversation.)

I saw Love, Simon in theaters when it came out my senior year in high school. I saw it three times, once with my friends/parents on opening night, once with my brother over spring break, and once with my grandparents.

On opening night, the air in the room was electric. It was palpable. Half the heads in there were dyed various colors. Queer kids were holding hands. We were all crying and laughing and cheering as a group. My friends grabbed my hands at the part where Simon was outed and didn't let go until his parents were saying that they accepted him. My friend came out to me as non-binary. Another person in our group admitted that she had feelings for girls. It was incredible. I left shaking. This was the first mainstream queer romance movie that had ever been produced by one of the main five studios, and I know that sounds like another "first queer character from Disney" bit but you have to understand that even in 2018 this was groundbreaking. Getting to have a sweet queer rom-com where the main character was told that he got "to breathe now" after coming out meant so much to me and my friends.

But also, from a designed-for-straight-people POV (which, to be frank, it was written by a bisexual author and directed by a gay man, this was not designed for straight audiences), why is it a bad thing that it appealed to the widest possible audience? That it could make my parents and grandparents see things in a new light? My stepdad wasn't at all interested in rom-coms but he saw it with me because it was something I cared about and he hugged me when we came out of the theater. My very Catholic grandparents watched it with me and though my grandpa said he still didn't quite understand the whole 'gay thing,' all he wanted was for me to be happy and to have a happy ending like Simon did. My Nana actually cried when Simon came out and squeeze my hand when his mother told him he could breathe.

And when Martin blackmailed Simon, my mom, badass ally that she is, literally hissed "Dropkick him. Dropkick him in the balls" leading to multiple queer kids in the audience to laugh or smile. Having my parents there- the only parents, by the way, out of my group of queer and questioning friends- made multiple people realize that supportive adults were out there. That parents like those in Love, Simon do exist in real life.

When people complain about Heartstopper not being realistic or Love, Simon being too cutesy, I remember seeing Love, Simon on opening night. I remember my friend coming out and my stepdad hugging me and my mom defending us through this character. I remember the cheers that went through the audience when Bram and Simon kissed and the chatter in the foyer after the movie was over and the way that this movie made me understand that happy endings do exist.

Queer kids need happy endings. Straight people need entry points to becoming allies. Both of these things can come together in beautiful ways. They can find out about more queer culture later, but for now, let them have this. Let them all have a glimpse at a better, happier world. Let them have queer joy.

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From – Spider-Man – Deadpool MU #1

“Heartmates”

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Me listening to the same Queen songs everyday

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a solid visual representation of me in a bookstore

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stinkystonks

6 years ago

in other news tom holland is looking VERY good today despite the fact that i haven’t seen tom holland today but i know for a fact that he looked VERY good today bc he’s tom holland

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stinkystonks

6 years ago

Little things I loved about Venom (2018)

(people seemed to like the one i did for Love, Simon so here we go away)

Eddie was right, Anne is a suit is 👀👌

the part with Anne leading Eddie to the bedroom with her tie was amazing, Eddie is such a bottom I just can’t

Drake telling the little girl that she’s in charge (I know he’s a dick but that was cute)

the bartender shutting Eddie down

Eddie’s whole interaction with Maria

“Meditation doesn’t work because I bought a DVD from your cousin and it’s in Mandarin.”

also, in that scene, you could see how much Eddie wanted to help

“How’s Mr. Belvedere?”

Eddie getting suspicious when Maria wasn’t there to charge him for the newspaper

the whole part with him calling Skirth out for obviously following him (I love the parallel of him seemingly talking to himself when talking to her vs seemingly talking to himself when talking to Venom)

Eddie immediately trying to help Maria despite not knowing if it would put him in danger

the whole chase scene sequence in the woods

*grabs steak and bites it* “That’s dead!”

the lobster tank

Dan, very patiently, trying to talk to Eddie in the lobster tank

Venom randomly blurting “Food!” because big mood

Eddie screaming when he first saw Venom in the mirror and knocking himself out

the neighbor’s reaction to Venom

“Is there a parasite that could make me climb a really tall tree but like super, super fast?” Eddie you dumb bi disaster

the entire chase scene through the city, especially the angry reaction to ‘parasite’ and Eddie and Venom bantering

“Oh, that was pretty cool, I’m not gonna lie!”

pretty much all of the dialogue of that scene

“I am Venom and you are mine” wow, okay, you possessive bastard

Venom correcting Eddie to say 'we’ instead of 'I’

Eddie protecting his security guard friend

Venom admiring the city while Eddie’s just worried about the height

“No, we do not eat policeman!”

Eddie and Venom running after Anne like in that vine, you know the one

Eddie asking for help like a reasonable person, his voice breaking and everything

Venom immediately liking Anne

“Aww, that’s nice.”

“You can hear him?” “All the time.”

Eddie’s it’s been less than 48 hours don’t be overdramatic

Riot bonding with a little girl, it added an extra creep factor that was just perfect

Eddie getting pissed at Venom and Venom insisting that he can heal him and telling him not to listen to Anne and Dan

“You were killing me? What happened to we?!”

because 1. Eddie pretty much calling Venom out for being a loser and 2. Eddie was already pretty committed to being a we

Venom using the dog as a host and Anne immediately recognizing them

the whole exchange with Drake/Riot

Eddie holding his own without Venom

Eddie making out with Venom/Anne without any hesitation

Venom admitting he’s a loser

“You. It was you, Eddie.” Fucking iconic.

Eddie and Venom reaching for each other

“You talk too much.”

Riot stabbing Eddie, I literally gasped even though I already knew it happened

Venom crawling over to Eddie while vaguely romantic music played in the background

“Traitor.” “Have a nice life.”

“Goodbye, Eddie.” Like c'mon, how am I not supposed to view this as a romance

Eddie (not very successfully) hiding Venom from Anne

Stan Lee’s cameo!!! Especially Venom asking, “Who was that guy?”

the whole ending scene that tied a bunch of stuff together

that post credit scene!!! I mean!!! Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady!!! Him writing 'Welcome Eddie’ in blood!!!! The setup for Carnage!!!!

anyway Venom (2018) is one of the best romantic comedies I’ve ever seen and all the critics who gave it bad ratings are dumb cowards

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stinkystonks

6 years ago

Am I the only that is scared but also happy that mj and peter are probably going to be a thing cause of the incident with people shipping Tom and Zendaya so much that people were forcing them to be a couple, and know there will be more people shipping them now? I just hope we as a society tone it down a bit.