LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD
For her birthday, I bought my girlfriend a MoviePass. I bought one for myself, too. But I swear, my intentions were nothing if not noble!
Nearly every weekend since, we have gone to a movie. I have always loved going to the movies, and MoviePass has made that experience nearly free. MoviePass, if you are reading this post, please send me stuff!
Anyway, I have come to a realization about the movie business in being such a frequent customer: there are a lot of “great” movies that end up being trash (A Wrinkle in Time), and several that you never hear about which turn out better than you would’ve ever expected (A Quiet Place).
Another thing: some of the least-appealing ones stick around much longer than they deserve. How was Sherlock Gnomes able to stick around around for so long?
I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I will watch anything, good or bad, and will still find a way to enjoy the experience (with the recent exception of A Wrinkle in Time…I mean, seriously!). This is even more true now than ever: I will watch, and have watched, just about anything.
Two of these outings, however, made me think about this blog for the first time in many months: Love, Simon, and Blockers.
For those who have not seen them, both of these movies feature lovable teenage protagonists who struggle to find a way to confess their homosexuality to their parents. In Love, Simon, this is the main character, a male, while in Blockers, it is a supporting female.
I would recommend either of these movies to anyone. Love, Simon is arguably the better of the two, but taken for what it is, Blockers is just as enjoyable.
The overwhelmingly positive reaction I observed in the theater during each of these movies at the moment their respective characters came out was nothing short of a victory for the gay community, which has struggled to find mainstream acceptance for much longer than I’ve been around. And who could help responding in such a way? These are empowering stories, even if you aren’t gay yourself.
I say all this because, while I felt just as happy for those characters as anyone else in the theater, I still found myself somewhat saddened. I mean, where is my hero?
With the exception of Sophia on Orange is the New Black (who will definitely be featured in a future post), I have never seen trans folk portrayed as anything more than a trope in mainstream media. In fact, this is what led to my “On Media” category, which will eventually be updated with more of these tropes.
No one cheers for “the man who wants to be a woman.” At least, I’ve never seen it.
But my jealousy of slightly more mainstream acceptance of homosexuality (vs. transgenderism) is not the only thing that made me envious in these movies. No, it was the realization that, despite loving the 90s, despite loving the past, I was born a few decades too soon. Brokeback Mountain is the only mainstream movie about homosexuality I remember from my highschool years, and everyone I knew at the time thought it was a joke. Now, thirteen years later, folks are cheering in the theater for Simon Spier. Maybe it’s because I have surrounded myself with more tolerant people, or maybe, there is finally some sort of cultural shift which is seeing to greater acceptance of boys who like boys.
God, I’m 28 now. What I would give to be half the age now, and to have such clarity about who and what I am. Jealously is an ugly shade on anyone, but I can’t help it. I just want someone to cheer for me.
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