![]() ![]() It was the first major, studio-released gay teen movie, and one that was, for all its merits, subject to thoughtful and valid criticism regarding the insularity of its queer perspectives: its wealthy, white, masculine presenting lead (played by a straight actor) whose primary goal was to assure the (possibly straight) audience that he was just like them. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, made: to simply state that it was the first coming out movie, or the first gay teen movie, or the first gay movie without a tragic ending would be an erasure of the queer media that came before, like The Edge of Seventeen, But I’m a Cheerleader, and The Wise Kids. One has to be very specific when describing the milestone that Love, Simon, directed by Greg Berlanti and based on Becky Albertalli’s YA novel Simon vs. Curiously, by doing so, Love, Victor complicates its own intentions regarding representation, creating and contributing to a mythology of white gayness. But over the season, Victor and Simon develop a correspondence over Instagram DM, turning the character from the first movie into a gay mentor for the frustrated, scared, and confused Victor. Victor is going through a similar crisis of personal and sexual identity: Though moving to a new town suggests he will be free to explore his attraction to men, the casual homophobia he experiences at school, at home with his family reeling from the move, and by his awkward only friend Felix (Anthony Turpel) the confrontations with the popular bully on the basketball team Andrew (Mason Gooding), and the social pressure (mixed with internalized homophobia) to date a popular girl, Mia (Rachel Naomi Hilson), all make his coming of queerness slightly messier than many on screen representations. that exist somewhat in opposition to Simon’s conventional “All-American Boy” archetype. There are more details, nuances, and specificities to his character and his background - his race, his class background, his family’s relationship to religion, etc. That is to say, contrary to Simon (Nick Robinson), Victor is not “just like you,” and that’s a good thing. I'm like, ' Mom, geez.As the camera slowly pans over piled up moving boxes filled with scuffed up shoes, a Puerto Rican flag, trophies, and a drawing of the state of Texas, the premiere of Love, Victor, a 10-episode Hulu spin-off of the 2018 film Love Simon, establishes who Victor (Michael Cimino) thinks he is and who he has known himself to be. Like, this really sexual teaser and she was crying her eyes out. "It's an honor, honestly," the 20-year-old blushes. "And then here we are now!" The role is not only his biggest to date, but by centering a Latinx lead in the biggest LGBTQ-fronted show of the year, Love, Victor is as groundbreaking as Love, Simon was before it. ![]() "I saw Love, Simon with a few of my friends and I literally walked out being like, 'Man, I cannot wait to be part of a project like this," Cimino says. ![]() To bring their Victor to life, the team cast Michael Cimino, a relative newcomer best known for playing the teenage love interest in Annabelle Comes Home. Unlike Ethan, Victor is undoubtably "straight-passing," even becoming the star jock of his basketball team - which the creators say they included to explore homophobia in athletics come season 2.) (It's worth pointing out that Love, Simon did include such a character: Ethan, the out, femme POC dubbed " the real hero" of the movie. "There was a desire to view this story through a non-white lens, to try to show the realistic struggles that LGBTQ teenagers deal with when their families are loving and well-intentioned but have their own biases," executive producer Brian Tanen explains. Victor's family is also proudly Latino, making his coming out story - like those on One Day at a Time and Vida before it - necessary representation for the Latinx LGBTQ community. ![]()
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