#Becky Albertalli

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

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.

[stay-close]

Do you ever have those random nights where your brain won’t shut off, even though your body feels like five hundred pounds of exhausted.

Becky Albertalli

[thehopefulquotes]

Do you ever have those random nights where your brain won’t shut off, even though your body feels like five hundred pounds of exhausted.

Becky Albertalli

[thoughtkick]

Do you ever have those random nights where your brain won’t shut off, even though your body feels like five hundred pounds of exhausted.

Becky Albertalli

[perfectquote]

Do you ever have those random nights where your brain won’t shut off, even though your body feels like five hundred pounds of exhausted.

Becky Albertalli

[czech-hunter-reject]

Not to be the guy posting about Love, Simon in 2024, but I absolutely had to share this Letterboxd review of the film I just came across 🥹 the impact this film had!! ❤️

[resqectable]

Do you ever have those random nights where your brain won’t shut off, even though your body feels like five hundred pounds of exhausted.

Becky Albertalli

[quotemadness]

Do you ever have those random nights where your brain won’t shut off, even though your body feels like five hundred pounds of exhausted.

Becky Albertalli

[aseaofquotes]

Becky Albertalli, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

[heartstopperthoughts]

Ummm is Imogen going to have an Imogen, Obviously plotline???

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Bram Greenfield- Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Kodiak Celius- The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

Remy Pendergast- Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco

Adam Parrish- The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

[marauders-bs]

find you a book that makes you grin like a dumbass because it's what you wish you had

[perfectfeelings]

The way you can memorize someone’s gestures but never know their thoughts. And the feeling that people are like house with vast rooms and tiny windows. The way you can feel so exposed, anyway.

Becky Albertalli, Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda

[quotefeeling]

Do you ever have those random nights where your brain won’t shut off, even though your body feels like five hundred pounds of exhausted.

Becky Albertalli

[perfectquote]

The way you can memorize someone’s gestures but never know their thoughts. And the feeling that people are like house with vast rooms and tiny windows. The way you can feel so exposed, anyway.

Becky Albertalli, Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda

[heavensgateiowa]

shoutout to becky albertalli. got absolutely lambasted for her very intelligent and heartfelt queer book because of its oversimplified, hollywood-ified, hit and miss but ultimately fine film adaptation (which never gets credit for being the victory that it was for queer rep because… people who couldn’t watch priscilla queen of the desert or paris is burning without passing out from shock decided it wasn’t ‘good enough’). she comes out. she gets lambasted some more. she writes a new romance book about comphet and allyship going hand in hand and breaking out of expectations, and manages to write a character you want to kill MORE than martin addison, to represent all of those swooning queers (but also acknowledge that they’re acting from a place of real trauma, even if their behaviour is unacceptable).

anyway give that woman her dues and if you’re in the mood for a delightful sapphic YA romance that’s also a massive middle finger to people who try to dictate the identities of others, go read imogen, obviously