Love, Victor review: A Hulu seri burned by whe gayns - Polygon

Contents:

• 'LOVE, VICTOR': HULU'S GAY TEEN ROM- WAS DUMPED BY DISNEY+: WHY THAT SENDS THE WRONG MSAGE
• HULU’S LOVE, VICTOR IS UGHT UP THE MYTHOLOGY OF WHE GAYNS
• LOVE, VICTOR PROV YOU DON'T NEED TO BE GAY TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS
• LOVE, VICTOR REVIEW: MORE GAY TEEN ANGST SOLID LOVE, SIMON SP-OFF
• LOVE, VICTOR REP: THE PERFECT LEVEL OF GAY
• IS MICHAEL CIMO GAY? WHO IS HE DATG?

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

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.

While Hollywood has broken new ground wh rerd LGBTQ reprentatn and nuanced gay storytellg, Walt Disney Co.

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

" 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. But he quickly velops a secret csh on Benji (Gee Sear), an openly gay, almost illy dreamy barista at the ffee shop where Victor works part-time. One uld argue that "Love, Victor" is on Hulu, rather than Disney+, bee of subject matter that has nothg to do wh s ma character beg gay.

A lot of gay g of age films tend to be short films or B movi, but Berlanti's film had a really good script, good st and was a top qualy maly young st "Love, Victor" is good wh a few cross over characters om "Love, Simon" and the script is good.

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

It's on a streamg service so probably has a better chance of beg renewed than if was on work gets a season 2, there are so few gay characters on TV that 's great to see gay characters portrayed a posive light. 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.

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.

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

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). 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.

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.

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

” 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 . One major issue I have wh “Love, Victor, ” and many other shows reprentg members the LGBTQ+ muny, is that Cimo himself is not gay, yet reprents a gay character.

Acrdg to an terview wh People magaze, Cimo nsulted not only a gay relative but iends the LGBTQ+ muny to effectively perform the role, but this is only a ncsn of such an oversight. Michael Cimo, the straight star of Hulu’s gay-themed g-of-age seri “Love, Victor, ” says he has been attacked by some the LGBTQ muny and even some of his own fay members.

In a new terview wh Attu, Cimo — who plays the tular Victor — says: “I got some homophobic ments — I kd of expected that to happen. “It’s weird … [the Latx muny] is liberal when to thgs about Latos, but when to gay rights, ’s like, eh, qutn mark, ” Cimo said the terview.

LOVE, VICTOR REP: THE PERFECT LEVEL OF GAY

Meanwhile, the young actor has also faced fierce blowback for takg a role that an out gay actor might have played.

“But there are some straight actors who play gay characters, who are all about supportg LGBT rights while they’re promotg their project, but once they’re done, a year later, ’s kd of fotten. ”Straight actors playg gay rol has been the subject of bate for some time, often hgg on Hollywood’s history of forcg gay actors to the closet real life and offerg only limed chanc to explore the humany of gay characters on-screen. Grant, who received an Osr nomatn for playg a gay character “Can You Ever Five Me?, ” said: “I’ve always had that ncern...

The transgenr movement and the #MeToo movement means, how n you jtify heterosexual actors playg gay characters?

IS MICHAEL CIMO GAY? WHO IS HE DATG?

Criss, who has famoly played queer characters cludg Andrew Cunanan “The Assassatn of Gianni Versace: Amerin Crime Story” and Hedwig “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” onstage, said he wouldn’t take gay rol anymore, bee “I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy takg a gay man’s role.

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.