Hollywood’s youth seems like it genuinely wants to leave the industry better than they found it, by making some changes in on-screen representation.
Katherine Langford of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why did an interview with BuzzFeed alongside her Love, Simon co-star Nick Robinson, where she talked about wanting to direct movies one day. She described her dream movie to make, which involves a love story between two girls. “I really like the idea of capturing parts of yourself that you keep to yourself and you don’t show to people. I think that’s really cool,” she said. “I had this idea to tell when you fall in love with someone, but from a girl’s perspective for another girl. I had a friend who told me about that. She just had a really beautiful story.”
Since the high school coming out story in Love, Simon has been received really well, fans have been wanting there to be a similar movie that would give visibility to girls in the LGBTQ community.
There do appear to be a lot of similarities in the plots of movies depicting same-sex love stories, and the sooner we see more diversity in the way the stories are told, the better.
can y’all just… imagine a lesbian equivalent to love simon??? all the fluff and innocence of 2 young girls coming out to supportive families and falling in love with no sexualizing them or weird unhealthy power dynamics or one involved with a guy on the side and a HAPPY ENDING
— love, destynie (@voidofcolour) March 19, 2018
While Langford says she “(doesn’t) feel ready to direct something” just yet, this project wouldn’t be her first time exploring fairly uncharted territory for teen viewers. 13 Reasons Why (controversially) discussed issues of depression, suicide, and sexual assault—and now, Love, Simon is sparking conversations about the gay experience in high school.
It’s super cool that this is how Katherine wants to branch out, and I hope she gets to see her dream movie become a reality!