Everyone Is Extremely Excited About Netflix’s New Queer Teen Rom-Com
Queerantine viewing.
Netflix dropped the trailer for their upcoming movie The Half of It, a coming-of-age story centred around a teenager named Ellie Chu, and lots of people are excited.
No matter how old I get as a queer person, I will never stop being thrilled when I see a movie or TV show that features a queer character. Even though it is a lot more prevalent in 2020 than it used to be, it still is pretty rare for one of us to be a main focus. Now, after their success with teen rom-coms like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Netflix has expanded into the field with the upcoming movie The Half of It.
Dear @netflix, can you please release The Half of It early for all of us queer lockdown folks please
— leah (@friesfanclub) April 10, 2020
The movie focuses on Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), a high school student living with her widowed dad, who makes extra cash on the side writing her classmates’ papers. Things kick off when sweet jock Paul Munksy (Daniel Diemer) hires her to write love notes to the popular girl Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire) on his behalf. The catch is that Ellie writes the notes while also having a crush on Aster, and forming an unlikely friendship with Paul.
“i’m ellie chu”
“yea i know”#thehalfofit pic.twitter.com/lqv6fma1M0— noelle (@lgbtbess) April 9, 2020
Complicated!!! Absolutely perfect rom-com setup. You gotta love it! Of course, the movie is exciting for another reason, which is that Ellie is a Chinese-American woman. If white queer people haven’t seen themselves that much, just imagine how little representation other people have experienced.
i don't really like……… rally for representation in media that much bc i don't expect anything but i started crying watching the trailer for the half of it bc omg….. lesbian chinese american person……………… dats me ………… ?
— zach ? (@xiaolongbaobabe) April 9, 2020
my bff just told me she teared up when she saw the half of it trailer because as a chinese lesbian she never thought she would be so *seen* in a movie ?? @thatalicewu thank u so much ma'am
— val ☀️ (@sapphicxrey) April 9, 2020
Importantly, the representation extends to behind the scenes as well, with the movie written and directed by Alice Wu. Wu is the filmmaker behind the iconic 2004 queer romantic comedy Saving Face, which stars two Asian-American leads, and which is one of the best queer movies that has been made (in my gay opinion).
I can't get over the fact that 'The Half of It' is:
1. a film centering a queer asian character
2. written/directed by a queer asian woman (@thatalicewu)
3. about queer *friendship*These stories shouldn't be rare, but they are. I literally can't wait for this. pic.twitter.com/bTEAP9bAwm
— The Most (@Most) April 9, 2020
The other reason the movie has excited so many people is because it seems like it won’t have a typical ending, and instead it will be focusing on another vital part of being queer: friendship. The tagline of the movie trailer is “Not every love story is a romance”, hinting that the main thrust of the movie will be between Ellie and Paul. And that’s beautiful.
the half of it is gonna give us this friendship and i could not be more elated pic.twitter.com/6ajXFjayMX
— ari ✾ camp nano/tma spoilers (@arimxndoza) April 9, 2020
This is especially true for young queers in situations where they might not have the chance to meet other queers, or to yet be part of a community. Having friends of all genders and sexualities (even straight ment!) to support you and defend you and love you while you figure out who you are is so important, and not something that has often been explored on film.
i love that the half of it is showing a lesbian who will learn to love and accept herself because of friendship because i can relate to that a LOT my friends are the ones who helped me accepted a lot of things about me, my sexuality included
— the half of it lives in my mind, rent free x (@crisanascazzie) April 11, 2020
The Half of It comes out on the 1st of May.