Love, Victor review: more gay teen angst solid Love, Simon sp-off | US televisn | The Guardian

Contents:

• HULU’S LOVE, VICTOR IS UGHT UP THE MYTHOLOGY OF WHE GAYNS
• IS MICHAEL CIMO GAY? WHO IS HE DATG?
• HULU’S “LOVE, VICTOR”: ARE LAKE AND LUCY GAY OR BISEXUAL?
• LOVE, VICTOR REVIEW: MORE GAY TEEN ANGST SOLID LOVE, SIMON SP-OFF
• LOVE, VICTOR REP: THE PERFECT LEVEL OF GAY
• 'LOVE, VICTOR': HULU'S GAY TEEN ROM- WAS DUMPED BY DISNEY+: WHY THAT SENDS THE WRONG MSAGE
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS
• LOVE, VICTOR IS ABOUT TO BE THE GAYT THG YOU CAN WATCH ON DISNEY+
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ REVIEW: TV’S CUTT GAY ROM-COM MATUR SEASON 2
• LOVE, VICTOR PROV YOU DON'T NEED TO BE GAY TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS

HULU’S LOVE, VICTOR IS UGHT UP THE MYTHOLOGY OF WHE GAYNS

Specifilly, Victor's journey to disver his sexualy sets Love, Victor apart om Love, Simon a big the first few mut of Love, Simon, viewers learned the ma character, Simon, is gay, when the narratn allus to a csh he has on a garner. Victor's story, however, begs when he's a sophomore, and unlike Simon, he don't yet know what is sexualy is.

Unlike Simon, whose journey the movie was centered on his g-out, Victor's Season 1 story was about a cliffhanger of a Season 1 fale — Victor's parents tellg him they're separatg and him tellg them he's gay return — fans are hopeful this is jt the start of Victor's story, and that a Season 2 will follow up wh his next, Victor Season 1 is streamg now on Hulu. Victor is gog through a siar crisis of personal and sexual inty: Though movg to a new town suggts he will be ee to explore his attractn to men, the sual homophobia he experienc at school, at home wh his fay reelg om the move, and by his awkward only iend Felix (Anthony Turpel); the nontatns wh the popular bully on the basketball team Andrew (Mason Goodg), and the social prsure (mixed wh ternalized homophobia) to date a popular girl, Mia (Rachel Naomi Hilson), all make his g of queerns slightly msier than many on screen reprentatns.

But over the season, Victor and Simon velop a rrponnce over Instagram DM, turng the character om the first movie to a gay mentor for the trated, sred, and nfed Victor. Curly, by dog so, Love, Victor plit s own tentns regardg reprentatn, creatg and ntributg to a mythology of whe gayns. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, ma: to simply state that was the first g out movie, or the first gay teen movie, or the first gay movie whout a tragic endg would be an erasure of the queer media that me before, like The Edge of Seventeen, But I’m a Cheerlear, and The Wise Kids.

IS MICHAEL CIMO GAY? WHO IS HE DATG?

It was the first major, stud-released gay teen movie, and one that was, for all s mers, subject to thoughtful and valid cricism regardg the sulary of s queer perspectiv: s wealthy, whe, mascule prentg lead (played by a straight actor) whose primary goal was to assure the (possibly straight) dience that he was jt like them.

As he dol out advice on gettg ed to high school a new place, negotiatg nservative parents, and figurg out feelgs for a guy at school (Benji, also whe), Simon be one of the primary reference pots for Victor’s ia of gayns. Such a bar begs to alce to a potentially poisono polil project of homonormativy, an ial of queerns that still subscrib to systems and stutns that privilege whe, cisgenr, middle class, heterosexual prentg queer people at the expense of queer and trans people who are not afford the same liberti due to stutnal and systemic jtic (ed by scholar Lisa Duggan). Whe gays, whatever their ocsnal efulns, have long been cled to throw others unr the b.

It may be a lot of untentnal baggage to slg around Love, Simon or Love, Victor, but given the plex history of creatn, distributn, and accs of the stori, ’s a necsary asterisk on the praise they receive (the film was ld for s portrayal of a gay youth) and cricisms they garner. But the voic rema subsumed to one person after the episo ends; Simon reverts back to a gay sage, and the acknowledgment of what his diverse roommat had to offer is fotten. Love, Simon featur another character, ever so briefly, one whose prentatn of queerns was explicly dichotomized between Simon’s gayns.

HULU’S “LOVE, VICTOR”: ARE LAKE AND LUCY GAY OR BISEXUAL?

Ethan (Clark Moore), an open, gay, Black femme character whose self-assurance and lived- performance pensated for their mimal screentime. Simon is sure, the film, to separate himself om Ethan and the kd of gay that danc to Whney Hoton, but — cue sentimental mic — the end, he learns om Ethan.

Simon adms himself that his and Victor’s experienc are almost fundamentally different, a tac self-awarens on the show’s part as far as the lim of whe gayns beg “one size fs all. ” And while there’s sure to be difference of experience wh the other characters of lor (who I thk would be quicker to adm their own fallibily), image the sense of terry they uld have, a psychologil pth afford to them ls equently than their whe gay unterparts. If there were a queer of lor leadg Victor to a gay promised land, as were, at least there’d be an unrstandg that queerns exists beyond what’s whe ont of .

""Love, Victor" follows up on the 2018 movie "Love, Simon, " which was the first gay teen romantic edy ma by a major Hollywood stud. Two nservativ — Neil Gorsuch and Chief Jtice John Roberts — surprised progrsive advot when they joed liberal lleagu supportg the screen, Ortiz hop that by showg a nservative Lato fay g to terms wh their loved one's LGBTQ inty, viewers n siarly see how attus toward gay, lbian and trans people are changg , who believ sexualy and inty are part of a lifelong journey that lls on people to be te to themselv, wants to liver posive msag about change and thenticy to viewers on and off screen.

LOVE, VICTOR REVIEW: MORE GAY TEEN ANGST SOLID LOVE, SIMON SP-OFF

"I don't want to put myself a box and put myself a posn where if I were to e out as bi or as gay 10 years om now, that I was fendg an inty that was beg te to myself.

LOVE, VICTOR REP: THE PERFECT LEVEL OF GAY

” I said y and they then replied, “Let’s not pretend like [Victor’s] not gog to end up wh the basic whe gay. But what’s worse than missg out on the opportuny to prent a Lato teen disverg his bisexualy, a story rarely seen entertament media, was the ia that Victor ultimately chose the “basic whe gay” my iend bemoaned about. Meanwhile, we’re ma to watch Victor choose another person whose only character tras are that he works at a ffee shop, is a heavy-hand broken relatnship, and is gay.

Keep md, bisexualy is not out of the norm for the source material and gay men are not the only LGBTQ stori told this anchise.

“Over the season, Victor and Simon velop a rrponnce over Instagram DM, turng the character om the first movie to a gay mentor for the trated, sred, and nfed Victor.

'LOVE, VICTOR': HULU'S GAY TEEN ROM- WAS DUMPED BY DISNEY+: WHY THAT SENDS THE WRONG MSAGE

Curly, by dog so, Love, Victor plit s own tentns regardg reprentatn, creatg and ntributg to a mythology of whe gayns. Then he accepts Benji’s story of havg sex wh a girl as a precipice for intifyg as gay. He beme one wh the character and played his part so perfectly that fans soon started wonrg if Michael is gay real life.

However, Michael has repeatedly mentned how exced he was to portray a gay person the show and how much work he put to thentite his performance. In an terview wh People, Michael revealed that his gay played a signifint role gettg him ready for the show. That was a really big drivg force for me, as well as I have a lot of iends that are gay.

On the flip si, Michael found himself an ongog bate that argued whether the portrayal of gay characters should be rtricted to real-life gay actors. Michael even mentned that numero people advised him agast playg a gay character for his first major role.

‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS

Michael wanted to eradite the stereotype and stigma agast gay rol and th took up the challenge to portray Victor.

The Homo Sapiens Agenda, ” about a closeted gay teenager forced to e out after beg blackmailed. Lake, on the other hand, may disver that she is bisexual rather than gay, as the scenar for her and Lucy is primarily created wh Lake as bisexual. An example of this was when stead of tellg his iends to not act, "that [gay] way" at his birthday party bee his father and grandfather told him to, he turned around and told them no.

By season 2 they eventfully bee an openly gay uple, which practilly everyone acceptg and supportive of their relatnship.

LOVE, VICTOR IS ABOUT TO BE THE GAYT THG YOU CAN WATCH ON DISNEY+

Victor and Rahim fally met when Pilar troduce them to each other, hop to get some advice to now openly gay kid Creek wood.

The Homo Sapiens Agenda, " about a closeted gay teenager who is forced to e out after beg blackmailed. The story of a closeted high schooler figurg out his sexualy had been told on the outskirts for years smaller films, but posng at the centre of a wi-releasg stud edy was unprecented, and s most succs was a sign yet aga that reprentatn is not only important but there’s not exactly been a sh to make more gay-onted films of s size sce (Billy Eichner’s Judd Apatow-produced Universal rom is set to be the next), s impact n be felt on the smaller screen as LGBT characters have ntued to further populate teen shows, om supportg characters Riverdale to, most notably, Euphoria which dared to allow a queer character to arrival of sp-off seri Love, Victor then feels both evable and many ways, harr to celebrate. His fay is the relig, blue-llar equivalent of Simon’s, new to the area after a cross-untry move and, unsure of whether he’s gay or bisexual, Victor cis to reach out to Simon, rather angrily on Instagram, after a disastro first day at ’s a far-fetched vice that’s rried through the season, an almost nstant stream of msag between the pair that’s much ls volvg and much ls believable than the myster email flirtatn that powered the movie.

It’s ls ncrete this time round wh Victor tryg to date a girl Mia (Rachel Naomi Hilson) while velopg a csh on a gay guy, Benji (Gee Sear), he works wh, and how this msy unsurens plays out is one of the show’s strengths, Aptaker and Berger refg to make as simple as Victor simply wantg a beard to throw others off the while the show do briefly dabble wh knottier issu of performative genr rol and hered bigotry, ’s a mostly easy ri, a slightly gay versn of a CW show but arguably, given how horny that work has bee, way more sexls. Makg Victor a twky, basketball-playg teen who fds iends stantly stas the fantasy world of the movie but oddly, the homophobic tnts that Simon and his gay classmate endured have been entirely excised.

‘LOVE, VICTOR’ REVIEW: TV’S CUTT GAY ROM-COM MATUR SEASON 2

Benji, Victor’s openly gay object of affectn, appears to gli through school and the muny at large whout ristance om those around him, a utopian ial that’s sweet but unlikely.

The mere existence of a gay-led teen show on a major streamg platform still feels like an enuragg move the right directn, but this is a baby step at bt. That is the biggt qutn on Victor Salazar’s md, as he grappl wh his evolvg inty as an openly gay (former) star athlete at Creekwood High. After reachg a major tone his relatnship wh Benji, Victor — who was told last season that “there’s no one way to be gay” — is forced to nont another load qutn: Is he willg to sacrifice a part of his inty to fe a new one?

Then, at Benji’s after-school “fay and iends ncert, ” ’s llg Victor “the least gay gay person alive. “Bee apparently, I’m too gay for the locker room, but I’m not gay enough for Benji and his iends.

LOVE, VICTOR PROV YOU DON'T NEED TO BE GAY TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS

If anyone has a problem wh , they n answer to me, ” Andrew says before Victor rightfully nonts him about not wantg to “risk your reputatn for the gay kid. “This is our way of sayg that you n be as gay as you want, whatever way that you want, and we will forever stand [by] you, ” Andrew says, before the other teammat the moment (but, hey, at least they are tryg!

While he's fortable wh who he is, he's anx to tell his Mulism fay that he's gay and go through great lengths to hi om his to the role, Keyvan spoke wh his real-life fay about the state of Mlim LGBTQ+ folks. Victor and Benji are on a break at this pot and the two get to var hijks on their skip day, even htg up a gay bar and sgg Jt Bieber karaoke. I thk 's for whatever reason, the studs thk helps the viewer feel more fortable wh the ia of this person beg gay bee they're whe, whatever that is.

While Hollywood has broken new ground wh rerd LGBTQ reprentatn and nuanced gay storytellg, Walt Disney Co. " So I was disappoted, but not at all surprised, when Disney+ revealed Febary that "Love, Victor" – a seri spoff of groundbreakg 2018 gay movie "Love, Simon" – would no longer premiere on the fay-iendly service due to s "adult them. More:Watch the LGBTQ-iendly TV shows, films to honor Pri MonthHavg watched the 10-episo first season of "Love, Victor, " 's hard not to see Disney+'s choice to dump the g-of-age edy as wardly and homophobic; an easy way of passg off the show to sister service Hulu, whout any of the potential backlash om tolerant, pearl-clutchg "Love, Simon, " " Victor" centers on a wsome high-school boy stgglg to e to terms wh his sexualy.