Some Thoughts About Dear Evan Hansen

 I've seen Dear Evan Hansen twice and I have to say that I have been tremendously disappointed at the reaction to the movie. I really love the movie and thought it was absolutely wonderful. I've seen a few main criticisms, most of which strike me as a little ridiculous. I want to address those before getting to my thoughts.

The first (and most prominent) criticism is Ben Platt's age. He was 27 while this was being filmed, which is 10 years older than Evan. I don't care about this as much as other people, mainly because so many shows over the years have cast people in their mid to late twenties as teenagers in teen dramas. My personal issue is that the makeup department tried so hard to de-age him that it made it obvious that he was older than Evan. If they hadn't tried so hard, I don't think it would have been as obvious. That said, I also get the feeling that there are some people who want to find something to dislike about the movie or Ben and just glom onto this as an excuse.

Another criticism that I have seen is that someone would be belting out a song and people around them would ignore it (one example was Evan singing "Waving Through a Window"). This particular criticism was completely ridiculous because that is such a staple of musicals; particularly for a song like "Waving Through a Window" which is more of an internal monologue that Evan is having with himself. Another criticism akin to this was people complaining that characters would randomly burst into song. Both of those criticisms are what I would call bad faith criticisms of people who are looking for an excuse to dislike the movie.

I've never seen the musical on stage, but I have listened to the soundtrack, read the book, and (obviously) seen the movie. I have to say that I pretty much love all the songs equally whether or they are from the Broadway soundtrack or the movie. The only two songs where I prefer one or the other was "Sincerely Me" where I prefer the movie version and "You Will Be Found" where I prefer the Broadway version. I preferred the movie version of "Sincerely Me" because I think Colton Ryan's voice is better than Michael Faist's. As far as "You Will Be Found" goes, there is nothing in particular that I can point to that I like better, I just prefer it. As far as the new songs, I love both of them. I do wish that they had kept in "Disappear" and maybe "Good for You", but have to admit to being glad they cut "To Break in a Glove" and am agnostic about "Anybody Have a Map?".

Talking about changes, I was not overly fond of making Alana the founder of the Connor Project. It isn't so much about them expanding Alana (which I have no problem with), but I think it was better when Evan starts it himself. I also didn't get why they made a big deal about creating new characters, only to give them each 1 line in "You Will Be Found". That just struck me as a weird thing to do. I know changes will be made, but these were the changes I wasn't terribly fond of.

As for a more general criticism I've heard, I don't see Evan Hansen as an evil or bad person. Lots of people look at him and say that he is basically a con artist who is trying to take advantage of a family in grief. What people don't seem to get is that the originator of the lie wasn't Evan, it was Cynthia and Larry. They found the note Connor took from Evan in Connor's pocket and created a story that Evan and Connor were great friends. Evan tried to deny it and tell them otherwise, but they refused to listen. Then, as Evan was trying to leave, Cynthia grabbed his arm with the cast and saw Connor's name on it and became even more convinced that the story she and Larry created was true. And when they asked Evan to come over for dinner, he again tried to say otherwise, but they again wouldn't listen to him. And they fought in front of him, which is something that is guaranteed to make a person suffering from anxiety go into a mode where they will do anything to dissipate that anxiety and tension (I suffer from anxiety and do the same thing myself so often). He was trying to stop them from fighting and the only way that he could see to do that was to tell them a story they wanted to hear.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Evan is blameless or anything, but I think that people need to not just blame him. We have to acknowledge that the blame for this situation needs to be spread around. Just blaming Evan easy, but it misses a lot of the other things that happened here. I also have to admit to some issues with Alana and Jared. Jared is just mean to Evan, who looks at him as a friend, which upsets me because there is a parallel in my life where I had someone I thought was a friend just totally betray me. As for Alana, I find it hard to believe that she didn't notice the inconsistencies in the emails, so I find it annoying that she only seemed to be good with him as long as he was doing what she wanted.

Sorry this is a little scattered, but I have had a lot of thoughts. Please go see this movie if you have a chance!

Some Thoughts on Love, Simon

I just saw Love, Simon for the second time in theaters, which is really unusual for me.  Actually, the only time I have ever seen a movie more than once in theaters was when I saw Good Will Hunting three times in a weekend at a discount theater when I was in college.

Love, Simon (for those of you who do not know) is a movie based on a book.  It is a fairly standard teen romance movie, except for the fact that the main character is gay.  The movie revolves around Simon writing with another closeted gay kid at his school.  Simon is blackmailed by another student who has seen the emails.  Simon is forced to do some pretty mean things to his friends in order to stay in the closet because the guy who has his emails likes one of his friends.  Eventually the whole thing comes out and Simon's friends shun him because of what he did.  It ends with Simon and the other closeted kid ultimately getting together.  I won't reveal who the kid is, just in case you haven't seen the movie yet.

The reason I really love the movie is because it is so relatable.  If you are queer, you will know the terror that Simon feels when he is threatened with being outed.  Coming out of the closet is a terrifying and deeply personal process, and to have yourself prematurely outed is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen to someone who is not ready to come out yet.  Coming out is about you telling the world who you are on a deep level and to have that choice ripped out of your hands is traumatizing in a way that is very hard to explain.  I was lucky that I was able to come out on my own terms when I was ready, even if I was in my 20s at the time.  I can't imagine what it would be like to have someone take that choice away from me.  When Simon confronts the guy who outed him, he says that "Coming out is my thing and you took that away from me!" (or words close to that).  That is absolutely the case.  When people say that "Oh I knew that he/she was gay!" or "Oh, yeah, I knew it.", they are trivializing what it means to come out.  It is not about you and what you know or think you know, it's about the person coming out revealing who they are to you.  Even if you suspected, never say that.  Thank the person for coming out to you and revealing who they are.

Another part I loved about the movie is that they had a montage where the Simon's friends came out tot heir parents as heterosexual, which was in some of the trailers.  I loved that because we do live in a heteronormative world where people assume that you are heterosexual unless you specifically say otherwise.  Watching the parents reactions, especially the over the top black mother, was completely hilarious.  It was also very satisfying to see.

Something else that was relatable was watching Simon try and figure out his feelings and when he tried to flirt with other guys without actually flirting.  One of my favorite scenes was at the beginning of the movies (also in trailers) where Simon compliments a guy on his boots after surreptitiously watching him from his window.  I remember trying to covertly watch guys and see who I thought was hot.  I'm sure lots of straight guys (and girls) do it too, but they can be more open about it because heterosexual is the default in our world.

Then there was the scene where one of Simon's girl friends wanted to talk about hot guys with him after he came out to her (before the emails were released).  It was totally awkward and super funny.  He so did not know how to handle the whole situation, particularly because there was already a guy who he liked, even though the guy turned out to be straight.  Again, this is something I can totally relate to.  I remember guy watching with my sister after I came out.  It was a little awkward at first, but it was still lots of fun to do.

I also loved the way his parents handled everything.  His dad failed at first, trying to use awkward humour to deflect the moment, but Simon's mom was perfect.  She let Simon come to her in his own time and talk when he was ready.  I did love that Simon's dad redeemed himself and apologized for anything that he had done which made Simon feel uncomfortable about coming out earlier.  When he hugged Simon, I had flashbacks to the time I came out to my dad and he hugged me and just thanked me for telling him.  That was perfect.

Then there was the scene where Simon came out to his family.  n voice overs and emails with Blue (the other kid), he said that he hadn't come out because he didn't want things to change.  And that is the thing about coming out.  While you are still the same person (as Simon asserts), you are revealing something major about yourself that will invariably affect how people see you.  And that is very, very scary.

My only quibble with the movie is that Nick Robinson, who played Simon, is straight.  While not totally disqualifying, I think I would have preferred seeing a gay guy actually play the Simon in the movie.  Not a huge thing, but it would have been nice.

I really hope that this movie is the first movie of its kind.  Representation is important and having mainstream studios make a movie which shows the process of coming out and what it can be like to be a closeted person in the world we live in.  Please go see this movie because while it may not be a perfect movie or the ultimate, it is an honest representation of growing up queer.