Aubrey Plaza Is More Than an Ex-Girlfriend
As a clinical procrastinator, I chose the last socially acceptable week to watch Hulu’s tinsel infused Happiest Season. Looking forward to savoring the last bit of holiday cheer, I tuned in hoping to find a queer film that would at least dent the mold of a traditional holiday Hallmark-ian film.
Written and directed by filmmaker and actor Clea Duvall (VEEP), the Happiest Season centers on Harper (Mackenzie Davi) and her girlfriend (Kristen Stewart)’s visit to Harper’s family for Christmas. Of course, there’s a catch: Harper hasn’t come out to her conservative family, leaving Abby to act as her “roommate.”
Unfortunately, the movie is almost as basic as my love for a seasonal latte. From the inevitable choice of a coming out story to being outed by a family member, this film feels trapped by Hollywood’s rules about what type of LGBTQ story can be told.
The first rule is the whiteness upon which this holiday film is centered. Let’s face it the casting landscape in most holiday films is similar to the perfect winter wonderland — completely and inevitably white. Like Home Alone, The Holiday, and Love Actually before it, the Happiest Season covers its cozy, eggnog, cookie-cutter stories in whitenesses, begging me to ask: who are these stories made for?
