The Power of a Romantic Comedy: Love, Simon, and the Impact It Created
I hadn’t heard of what a romantic comedy was until my sophomore year of high school. The very first time I’d heard the term was in the common room of my dorm towards the end of the school year. When Harry Met Sally was on and my friends were cuddled up on the couch. Since then, more often than not, I find myself on the couch with my friends watching the many rom-coms I’ve never seen. Just this year I’ve been subjected to 10 Things I hate about you, Sleepless in Seattle, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and Pretty in Pink. These movies are pretty similar in terms of stylization and mood but very different from more modern-day rom-coms like Love, Simon. Of course, a rom-com is a rom-com and the part at the end where the two leads end up together will always be the same, but Love, Simon was really different in terms of how it addresses different social issues, especially in modern times with social media and the internet. As a younger generation, we grew up with the same things that these more modern characters have so it’s easier to relate to what they’re doing and saying. We understand the pop-culture references in a way we can’t really for older rom-coms in the same way the older generation won’t understand more modern pop culture. We relate more to most aspects of these movies and the social issues that affect these characters will most likely affect us too. In this way, modern rom-coms are transforming the way younger generations think about love, and I think that’s a really good thing.
I was 12 when Love, Simon came out (you see what I did there). I had recently discovered I liked Selena Gomez a bit more than Justin Beiber and not just for her music. I knew what being gay was and I knew my parents would be just as supporting and loving as they’ve always been. But that didn’t make the nervousness go away, the sliver of doubt that maybe just maybe, it would change everything about the way I’d lived thus far. Then, I watched Love, Simon. Twice. Once with my friends to see how they’d react and then again, with my parents. And when we finally got to the infamous ferris wheel scene, they cried. They cried and I cried and we were all crying but for very different reasons. They because it was a sweet movie and a beautiful love story, and I because that sliver of doubt was washed away in a sea of happy tears. The next day, I came out to my dad, and the day after that, to my mom. Love, Simon was the first movie I had ever seen with LGBTQ+ representation and a rom-com to boot. In the past, rom-coms have always been a man and a woman and a beautiful love story filled with comedy and moments that leave viewers feeling that love really does exist. And while movies like Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally were rather progressive for the time with both leading women having jobs, as times change, so do movies. It was huge for me, as a younger, more optimistic kid, to see people who identified like me love each other in a mainstream movie. It made me feel seen like I could love another girl and for it to not be weird or looked down upon. It gave me the confidence to come out to my parents because I saw that it was okay and that people who love the same sex were still allowed to love.
Now you may be wondering ‘why rom-coms specifically?’. I’m glad you asked. It’s because of the comfort they bring. The whole point of rom-coms is for the two leads to end up together no matter what happens between points A and B. Other romance movies that have the same representation like Call Me By Your Name, for example, don’t have that crutch to lean on. There is no guarantee the leads will end up together and while it would be incredible if they did, many LGBTQ+ movies especially don’t end like that (O’Malley, 2018). There is some factor that’s just too great for the leads to overcome whether it be societal or familial pressure and though that is a struggle many people in the LGBTQ community face, it’s rather discouraging. As we go on the character’s journey with them, we want to see them succeed and when they don’t, it leaves a feeling of helplessness, and for a group that has already faced a lot of that in real life, there has to be hope even in a fictional story. I haven’t talked a lot about how important the comedy aspect of Love, Simon is, but the comedy in a romantic comedy is so incredibly important in this movie as well. Not only is the comedy used to further the plotline but it also lightens the mood of very serious topics. The coming out scene comes to mind. The question, “why is straight the default” is asked and it cuts to Simon’s friends coming out to their parents as straight. It adds a much-needed comedic effect to what is actually a really scary moment for so many people. In a Glamour article, Rosa says it best; “We were scared. How we’d later identify ourselves didn’t matter back then. The same fear that Simon feels in Love, Simon washed over each of us right before we said out loud who we really are”. It isn’t about the actual coming out it’s about what happens after.
But using comedy as a means to talk about the uncomfortable without making it uncomfortable is something so important about this movie because many people would rather be ignorant and comfortable than informed and uncomfortable. They used comedy to have the best of both worlds so viewers would still be comfortable breaching an uncomfortable topic.
Modern rom-coms have a lot more power than I’ve previously given them credit for and in writing this, I’ve realized just how much Love, Simon, and movies like it that break the social mold of what romantic comedy movies are, has impacted not just me, but so many like me (Broeke, 2018). Countless reviews posted online of people thinking the same things I do, using this movie as courage to come out to friends and family, to break the mold themselves. As we progress onwards through time, I truly believe that rom-coms are opening hearts, minds, and doors to love.
Works Cited:
Broeke, Teo Van den. “Why Love, Simon is the most important film of the year.” GQ, 17 Apr. 2018, www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/love-simon-film-of-the-year. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.
“Love, Simon | Coming Out | Full HD Clip (2018).” YouTube, uploaded by NTERIX, 29 June 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wb1Hn4yOHc. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.
“Love, Simon: User Reviews.” IMDb, 2018, www.imdb.com/title/tt5164432/reviews. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.
O’Malley, Sheila. “Love, Simon.” Roger Ebert, 16 Mar. 2018, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/love-simon-2018. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.
Rosa, Christopher. “‘Love, Simon’ and the Universal Fear of Coming Out.” Glamour, 16 Mar. 2018, www.glamour.com/story/love-simon-and-the-universal-fear-of-coming-out. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.
